Part III: Revelation
Chapter V: In Which a Long-Awaited Reunion Occurs
The week leading up to the match was an odd one. That Sunday, everyone had heard about Ron and kept asking Corinna what happened. Especially Lavender. She demanded to know why she wasn't contacted. She was his girlfriend, after all. Corinna just told her to take it up with him, and then took one of the secret passageways to get away unseen.
Every night after practice, Harry would sit next to Corinna and complain about McLaggen, about how he acted like he could play every position better than everyone else and how he needed constantly reminder on who the captain was. She didn't even pay much attention, just giving a "Yeah," or "Screw him!" where important. She might have attempted to do her homework during this, but that would probably be much too rude.
On Saturday morning, she found herself walking with Terry and Seamus to the stadium. Terry was in support of Gryffindor since the game was against Hufflepuff. "But all bets are off once we get to Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor."
Corinna just started humming the tune of "Weasley is Our King" and Terry sulked.
It was a bright day outside with very little breeze. Corinna saw as Harry shook hands with the Hufflepuff captain (some seventh year; she couldn't recall the name). They rose up and Harry seemed to need to remind McLaggen to go to the Gryffindor hoops. Soon there were off and it seemed that Luna Lovegood had somehow got the honor of being the quidditch announcer. The most interesting parts when she started talking about things that were not a part of the game, like the shape of clouds. It was at least more palatable than when McLaggen started criticizing the other players instead of defending the hoops like he was supposed to.
"What was Harry thinking?" Seamus demanded. "Peeves would have made a better keeper."
"Don't give him any ideas," muttered Corinna. She glanced up to see Harry circling the pitch in search of the golden snitch. He didn't seem to be paying much attention to his teammates as McLaggen suddenly had possession of a beater's bat he took from Peakes.
"I can't watch," said Seamus, rather dramatically. "Tell me when it's over."
Corinna wished she had blocked her eyes like Seamus had. She watched in horror as McLaggen hit the bludger and sent it careening towards Harry. With a sickening thwack, Harry fell off his broom and was falling limply. The two beaters converged almost instantly to catch him from falling, and Dean went to grab his broom. They lowered him to the ground and the teachers converged on Harry.
"I'm going to kill him," said Corinna as she moved to stand, but Terry grabbed her arm from preventing her from moving.
"It looks like Hooch is doing that for you," said Terry as he stared at the teachers were who now moving Harry's body from the pitch. "Merlin, he looks as white as—"
"Don't say it," Corinna hissed as she followed Harry until they had disappeared into the locker room and, presumably, to get him to the Hospital Wing.
It was a tense few minutes with people talking all around them. Corinna heard none of it, and barely saw the other players as they circled around Hooch to discuss what happened. She was quite surprised to see that they had all went back onto their brooms and went back into positions, even McLaggen. Ginny volunteered to be seeker and, while she was good, they were still down a chaser and they were still allowing McLaggen to play.
Not wanting to sit through the match, Corinna stood up. Terry made to follow her, but she told him that she wanted to be alone. That much was true, a fact she regretted once she got to the Hospital Wing and the doors were firmly shut. She paced outside them, unable to sit still while she waited for news. Eventually, the Gryffindor quidditch team sans McLaggen were making their way down the hall.
"Heard anything?" asked Ginny, who was heading up the lead of the group.
"She won't let me in. Won't even answer when I knock now. Did you at least leave a little bit of McLaggen for me to hex?"
"No guarantees," said Dean. Since both him and Ginny were in the DA last year, Corinna wasn't surprised.
Eventually, Hermione came down. She was stuck in the crowd trying to leave the stadium. "I also saw McLaggen," and Corinna knew she would not have her shot. "You lot didn't leave much for me to do."
Ginny just smirked at Hermione.
The doors to the hospital wing finally opened and Madame Pomfrey looked exasperated. "Only six visitors at a time."
One of the beaters—the one who isn't Peakes and Corinna honestly couldn't remember his name—volunteered to come back later. With his back turned to them as he headed for the staircase, the others filed into the dormitory with Corinna and Hermione taking up the lead.
Harry still looked pale, but he had more color to him than the sheets around him, at least. He had his head wrapped in some bandages and Madame Pomfrey explained to them that he suffered a cracked skull and a concussion. Ron was talking animatedly to the rest of the team, but Corinna didn't hear much of it.
People filtered in and out all afternoon. Ginny came back once she showered, and even Terry and Seamus had stopped by. Terry, for his part, only kept the teasing that Gryffindor lost by over two-hundred points to a minimum. But, the fact that Ginny threatened him with a bat-bogey hex was probably the root cause for keeping it to a minimum.
It wasn't even curfew yet when Madame Pomfrey was ushering everyone out of the hospital wing. She suspected that Harry would wake soon, and he shouldn't get over-excited. "We'll just visit in the morning, then," said Corinna as she joined the others as they left the hospital wing. As excited as Corinna was to hex McLaggen further into oblivion, he wasn't in the common room, which was an oddly somber affair as they tended to whenever Gryffindor lost a quidditch match. Not wanting to sit around and socialize any longer, she made her way to the girl's dormitory and laid down on the bed without changing into pajamas.
Hermione and Corinna went and visited Harry and Ron as early as the possibly good, much to Madame Pomfrey's annoyance. But, since it was within curfew and as long as they promised not to over-excite Harry, she let them in.
"How are you feeling?" Corinna asked as she sat down next to Harry. Hermione, she noted, sat closer to Ron.
"Like I was hit in the head with a bludger," Harry said bluntly, but he seemed to be in much better spirits than Corinna expected, especially since Ron filled him in on their spectacular loss. "Have you gotten your second detention for cursing McLaggen."
"First off, I don't think McGonagall would give me detention for that since she also gave him a dressing down." At least, that is what Ginny told them. "And second, I haven't even gotten my chance to hex him. Your team and Hermione took care of that."
"You sound disappointed."
Corinna rolled her eyes as she automatically took Harry's hand. She still saw the limp form falling from his broom whenever she looked over at him. It was hard to shake from her mind.
"Just promise me you won't have McLaggen for the next match," said Corinna, finding it much easier to joke than to deal with the lurching feeling inside her. "It's the only thing that keeps Terry humble."
"Nope, I will be in keeping shape," said Ron, also seeming in better spirits.
"Oh, good," said Corinna and Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I thought you said you weren't all that interested in Quidditch," said Harry.
"Do you want your girlfriend to support you or not, Potter?" asked Corinna, and she immediately cringed. That was the first time she had called Harry by his family name, and she thought she sounded like Bellatrix.
No one else seemed to notice, especially since Ron started talking strategy with Harry, but he didn't seem fully into it. His mind seemed to be a million miles away. Hermione had to remind them that they still had homework that needed to be done and they both groaned. It almost became routine throughout the day that they would attempt to do homework, and someone would come by and visit. The only time that things deviated was when Lavender came in and Ron pretended to have fallen asleep with his Herbology text on his face. Lavender kept shooting daggers at Hermione until she gave up and left the Hospital Wing.
"You're going to have to talk to her sometime," said Harry when Ron pulled the Herbology book back down. "If you want to break up with her, just get it over with."
Ron muttered something under his breath, but Corinna didn't quite catch it. They let it go as Hermione gladly looked over their essays. That was, according to Harry, a sign that things were going back to normal. Even Hermione offered to look over Corinna's, which she gladly obliged. At least, until she got her essay back and it was marked up more than it would normally be.
"Don't feel so bad," said Harry as she showed her his essay. That did make Corinna feel a tiny bit better as she went about rewriting her essay.
It was a bit before curfew that Madame Pomfrey kicked Hermione and Corinna out of the Hospital Wing, but they were back that very morning when they were officially released. Other than running into a very young looking first year who dropped their scales and Hermione gladly repaired them for her, and Luna who delivered a letter to Harry to visit Dumbledore that evening, the day went by as it normally did. Corinna, Hermione, and Ron had stayed up to hear from him about what Dumbledore had to say, which boiled down to You-Know-Who blaming a murder on a house elf so he could take a couple of priceless heirlooms that were supposedly owned by two of the founders of Hogwarts, and how he wanted to take up the Defense Against the Dark Arts post but Dumbledore had refused and ever since they have not been able to keep a teacher for more than a year.
But what was more important was Harry getting that memory from Slughorn. It was, according to Dumbledore, the missing piece of the puzzle to help everything else make sense.
That next Sunday, they sat by the fire late into the night. Harry, unable to think of anything throughout the week, was now pouring over his annotated copy of his Advanced Potion-Making text. Hermione, of course, was convinced that he wasn't going to be able to find anything that will be helpful in his endeavor. Ron was hunched over his Defense essay as he was busy panicking earlier about the Appartion test coming up on the twenty-first of April. There would also be heavily supervised practices to take place in Hogsmeade leading up to it. Corinna and Harry weren't all bothered by it since they wouldn't be able to take the test yet, but Ron was worried as he hadn't managed to Apparate yet. Corinna pointed out that she hadn't either, but he wasn't hearing anything of it.
It also didn't help that Ron had been using a Spell-Check quill with it's spell wearing off. Hermione had to intervene so that he didn't have to completely rewrite his essay. She took his essay and pulled out her wand to spell the spelling mistakes away.
"I love you, Hermione."
Hermione turned pink. "Don't let Lavender hear you saying that."
"I won't. Or maybe I will, then she'll ditch me."
"Why don't you ditch her if you want to finish it?" asked Harry.
"You haven't ever chucked anyone, have you? You and Cho just—"
"Sort of fell apart, yeah."
"It's really not that difficult, Ron," said Corinna, trying not to let the Cho comments get to her.
"You broke up with a bloke who likes other blokes," Ron pointed out.
"I still broke up with him."
"And remained the best of mates. You and Terry probably laughed when you two broke up."
Corinna had no rebuttal to that. "Still, if you're miserable, you need to end it. It's what's best for both you and Lavender."
"You know, I just noticed something," said Ron, obviously trying to change the subject from him and Lavender's failed relationship. "You dated blokes that have rhyming names. Harry, Terry."
"Good thing that's a common rhyme," said Corinna without missing a beat. "I could potentially date a Barry or a Jerry or I could really go off the rails and date a Carrie. But let's get back to the problem at hand instead of pointing out something that's inconsequential, shall we?"
"There," said Hermione, handing back the essay to Ron.
"Thanks a million," said Ron, ignoring Corinna as he took his essay back. "Can I borrow your quill for the conclusion?"
Corinna rolled her eyes as she took one of her quills from her bag and handed it off to Ron since it seemed that Harry was a million miles away as he looked about the now-empty common room. Now that Ron was focusing on finishing his essay, it was oddly quiet in the common room with only the scratching of the quill and the crackle of fire and the crack of an Apparating house elf.
Corinna nearly jumped out of the couch she shared with Harry when a house elf she had never met before appeared in front of them. Harry seemed to have known him as he said, "Kreacher."
There was another crack and a house elf that Corinna recognized from last year. It was the same house elf that came to Harry to warn him that Umbridge had found out that they were hosting D.A. meetings in the Room of Requirement. What was his name again?
"Dobby has been helping too, Harry Potter! And Kreacher ought to tell Dobby when he is coming to see Harry Potter so they can make their reports together!"
"What is this?" said Corinna.
"What's going on Harry?" Hermione demanded.
Harry hesitated a moment as he looked between Corinna and Hermione. "Well, they've been following Malfoy for me."
"Night and day," added Kreacher.
"Dobby has not slept for a week, Harry Potter!"
"You haven't slept, Dobby?" asked Hermione, looking indignant. "But surely, Harry, you didn't tell him not to—"
"No, of course I didn't," said Harry. "Dobby, you can sleep, all right? But has either of you found out anything?"
"Master Malfoy moves with the nobility that befits his pure blood," said Kreacher. "His features recall the fine bones of my mistress and his manners are those of—"
"Draco Malfoy is a bad boy!" said Dobby. "A bad boy who—who—" He made to dive for the fire, but Harry caught him as if he was expecting Dobby to do something of the sort. "Thank you, Harry Potter. Dobby still finds it difficult to speak ill of his old masters."
"Wait, you used to be the Malfoy's house elf?" asked Corinna, her brows furrowing.
"Yes, and Kreacher used to be Sirius's until he gave me his house and, by extension, Kreacher," said Harry, rather impatiently.
"And Kreacher should know that Draco Malfoy is not a good master to a house elf," added Dobby.
Harry moved them along to focus on what Malfoy had been doing.
"Master Malfoy eats in the Great Hall, he sleeps in a dormitory in the dungeons, he attends his classes in a variety of—"
"Dobby, you tell me. Has he been going anywhere he shouldn't have?"
"Harry Potter, sir, the Malfoy boy is breaking no rules that Dobby can discover, but he is still keen to avoid detection. He has been making regular visits to the seventh floor with a variety of other students, who keep watch for him while he enters—"
"The Room of Requirement! That's where he's been sneaking off to! That's where he's doing…whatever he's doing! And I bet that's why he's been disappearing off the map—come to think of it, I've never seen the Room of Requirement on there!"
"Maybe the Marauders never knew the room was there," said Ron.
"I think it'll be part of the magic of the room," said Hermione. "If you need it to be unplottable, it will be."
"Dobby, have you managed to get in to have a look at what Malfoy's doing?"
"No, Harry Potter, that is impossible."
"No, it's not. Malfoy got into our headquarters there last year, so I'll be able to get in and spy on him, no problem."
"But I don't think you will, Harry," said Hermione. "Malfoy already knew exactly how we were using the room, didn't he, because that stupid Marietta had blabbed. He needed the room to become the headquarters of the D.A., so it did. But you don't know what the room becomes when Malfoy goes in there, so you don't know what to ask it to transform into."
"There'll be a way around that," said Harry. "You've done brilliantly, Dobby."
"Kreacher's done well, too," added Hermione.
"The Mudblood is speaking to Kreacher. Kreacher will pretend he cannot hear—"
"Get out of it," Harry snapped. Kreacher disappeared after a low bow, and Harry turned to Dobby. "You'd better go and get some sleep too, Dobby."
"Thank you, Harry Potter, sir!" He, too, vanished.
"How good is this?" asked Harry, turning back to the others once the elves were gone. Ron was busy trying to salvage his essay, as the surprise visit caused him to spill ink all over it. Hermione just took it from him and syphoned the ink off with her wand.
"But what's all this about him going up there with a variety of students?" asked Hermione. "How many people are in on it? You wouldn't think he'd trust lots of them to know what he's doing—"
"Yeah, that is weird," said Harry. "Corinna and I heard him telling Crabbe it wasn't Crabbe's business what he was doing. So, what's he telling all these…all these…Merlin, I've been stupid! It's obvious, isn't it? There was a great vat of it down in the dungeon. He couldn't nicked some any time during that lesson."
"Nicked what?" asked Corinna.
"Polyjuice Potion. He stole some of the Polyjuice Potion Slughorn showed us in our first Potions lesson. There aren't a whole variety of students standing guard for Malfoy, it's just Crabbe and Goyle as usual. Yeah, it all fits! They're stupid enough to do what they're told even if he won't tell them what he's up to, but he doesn't want them to be seen lurking around outside the Room of Requirement, so he's got them taking Polyjuice to make them look like other people…Those two girls I saw him with when he missed quidditch—ha! Crabbe and Goyle!"
"Do you mean to say," said Hermione, "that that little girl whose scales I repaired—?"
"Yeah, of course! Of Course! Malfoy must've been inside the room at the time, so she—what am I talking about?—he dropped the scales to tell Malfoy not to come out, because there was someone there! And there was that girl who dropped the toadspawn, too! We've been walking past him all the time and not realizing it!"
"He's got Crabbe and Goyle transforming into girls?" asked Ron. "Blimey, no wonder they don't look to happy these days. I'm surprised they don't tell him where to stuff it."
"Well, they wouldn't, would they, if he's shown them his Dark Mark?"
"The Dark Mark we don't know exists," Hermione pointed out as she handed Ron back his essay.
"We'll see," said Harry.
"Yes, we will. But, Harry, before you get all excited, I still don't think you'll be able to get into the Room of Requirement without knowing what's there first. And I don't think you should forget that what you're supposed to be concentrating on is getting that memory from Slughorn." She slung her bag over her shoulder. "Good night."
They watched her go up to the girl's dormitory. "What do you two think?"
"Wish I could Disapparate like a house elf," said Ron. "I'd have that Apparition Test in the bag."
"I think you're forgetting which cousin you are dating," said Corinna.
"Wait, cousins," said Harry, which was not what Corinna wanted him to pick up on. "What if you talked to Malfoy like you did with Umbridge."
"Fat chance," said Corinna, rolling her eyes. "First of all, with Umbridge, I was going off her relationship with my grandfather. From there, I just had to say and do the right things to get her to trust me. And, even then, I'm pretty sure she was still aware of what I was doing. Even if I had the entire year to try to get on Malfoy's good side, do you think he would trust me with something like this? Like you heard, he wouldn't even trust Crabbe to know exactly what he was doing, and they have been mates since at least our first year, if not before since I'm sure their old Death Eater parents are chummy. He wouldn't trust me to piss on him if he was on fire." She made a face. "Not that I would, mind you."
"Okay, I see your point," said Harry with a sigh. "Just a thought."
"Well, get it out of your head," said Corinna. She leaned up and gave Harry a kiss. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight."
The other two mumbled it back as Corinna went up the stairs.
Since she spent most evenings in the common room with Harry and the others, she dedicated her free periods to spending it with Terry and occasionally Seamus, in the library. Today, it seemed, it was just Terry.
"Excited for the Apparition test?" asked Corinna since she was caught up on her homework.
"No," said Terry, who was looking miserable. "I was barely able to get it down on Saturday and the test is only a few weeks away. There's no way I'll be able to do it perfect by the time it comes around."
"I'm sure you will," said Corinna gently. He lucked out as his birthday was just a few days before the test. "If not, you can come with me when Dora takes me after summer term."
"I know, but, wouldn't it be so cool to Apparate as soon as I get off the train?" asked Terry.
"I mean, it's not that big of a deal."
"Says the girl who's already done side-along Apparition. You just have to hang out with your cousin. My parents don't even like Apparating unless they have to. My parents take the Underground to work."
"I mean, that's understandable," said Corinna. Now that she was used to the feeling, it was alright. The problem was that she could not seem to manage to actually Apparate. "Listen, I know this is a bit off topic, but you by any chance know how to get into the kitchens?"
"Well, yeah," said Terry like it was obvious. "My sister taught me my first year. It's in the basement behind the painting of the fruit bowl. You just tickle the pear."
"That's not a euphemism, is it?" asked Corinna.
"Not unless you ask nicely," said Terry. "Why do you ask, anyway?"
"Just something I should have done a long time ago but have been avoiding," said Corinna as she grabbed her bag. "I'll see you in Defense."
She left the library and made her way down the stairs just at the start of break. She joined the flow of Hufflepuffs who were going to their common room. She broke off when she came across the painting Terry described. She stared at the painting for a long moment, as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world.
Corinna didn't pretend to not know why she didn't ask about this sooner. She knew since the end of her fourth year that Winky had joined the Hogwarts house elves after her father had given her clothes. She had all of her fifth year and most of her sixth to visit and she didn't. Much like she couldn't bring herself to go into her brother's room or needed to be drunk to visit her father's study: she may still be Corinna Crouch, but she was no longer that Corinna Crouch, and she didn't want to go back to that time if she could avoid it.
With a steadying sigh, she tickled the pear and it wiggled a bit before the portrait swung open to reveal the bustling kitchens. House elves were scurrying every which way and gave Corinna no mind. She immediately spotted Dobby and Kreacher, who both looked better after getting some sleep.
"Corinna Crouch, miss," said Dobby, bowing deeply. Kreacher just sneered at her. She may be as much of a Black as Malfoy, but she was not extended the same courtesy. She was just fine with that.
"Hi, Dobby, Kreacher," said Corinna. Now that she was here, she wasn't sure what to do or what to say. "I was…I was actually looking for Winky, my old house elf."
"Winky is not well, Corinna Crouch," said Dobby. "Winky is only drinking and neglects her duties. Dobby picks up the extra work as to not let the other house elves revolt against Winky."
"Okay," said Corinna, guilt rising up inside her. She should have tried before this instead of just hoping to chance across Winky. Hindsight proved that she wouldn't have seen Winky anyway. "Okay, thank you Dobby." She turned to leave, but then turned back around. "Actually, Dobby, could you just tell her that I was asking about her and that I am still thinking about her."
"Of course, Corinna Crouch," said Dobby, bowing low again. "Anything for a friend of Harry Potter."
"Thanks," said Corinna and officially turned on her heel to head out of the kitchens. She hadn't realized how much time she had spent dawdling going into the kitchen as break was nearly over. She booked it up the stairs, but even then, she was going to be late for Defense.
And, so it seemed, was Harry.
"Oh, great," said Corinna when they met up in the corridor leading to the classroom.
"Snape is going to have a field day with this one," agreed Harry.
Knowing what was going to happen either way, they walked into the classroom at the same time.
"Late again Potter, Crouch," Snape muttered as they rushed to their seats. "Ten points from Gryffindor." Corinna thought they were going to get off easy for Snape, but then he added, "Each."
They weren't even that late as many people where still on their feet and getting organized for class. She glanced over and saw Terry smirking and she gave him a rude gesture as Snape had his back turned to them. Once everyone had their essays on their desks, Snape summoned them to his desk and placed them in a neat pile. He was about to dive into talking about the Cruciatus Curse when Seamus asked what the difference between an Inferius and a ghost, as an article in the Daily Prophet mentioned them.
"No, there wasn't," said Snape. "If you had actually read the article in question, Mr. Finnigan, you would have known that the so-called Inferius was nothing but a smelly, sneaky thief by the name of Mundungus Fletcher."
"I thought Snape and Mundungus were on the same side," Harry muttered to Ron, Hermione, and Corinna. "Shouldn't he be upset Mundungus has been arrest—"
"But Potter seems to have a lot to say on the subject," said Snape loudly. "Let us ask Potter how we would tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost."
Everyone turned to face Harry, and Corinna gave him an encouraging smile since she hadn't a clue. "Er, well—ghosts are transparent—"
"Oh, very good," said Snape, his lip curling. "Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. 'Ghosts are transparent.'"
The class around them were laughing and smirking, but none as loud as Pansy Parkinson. "Yeah, ghosts are transparent," continued Harry despite the leering, "but Inferni are dead bodies, aren't they? So they'd be solid—"
"A five-year-old could have told us as much. The Inferius is a corpse that has been reanimated by a dark wizard's spells. It is not alive, it is merely used like a puppet to do the wizard's bidding. A ghost, as I trust that you are all aware by now, is the imprint of a departed soul left upon the earth, and of course, as Potter so wisely tells us, transparent."
"Well, what Harry said is the most useful if we're trying to tell them apart," defended Ron. "When we come face-to-face with one down a dark alley, we're going to be having a look to see if it's solid, aren't we, we're not going to be asking, 'Excuse me, are you the imprint of a departed soul?'"
Laughter rippled through the class, but it was immediately quelled by Snape's sneer. "Another ten points from Gryffindor. I would expect nothing more sophisticated from you, Ronald Weasley, the boy so solid he cannot Apparate half an inch across a room."
"No," Hermione hissed to Harry as he opened his mouth. "There's no point, you'll just end up in detention again."
Snape then told them to open their books to read about the Cruciatus curse. It was a bit tense after that and many were eager to leave class. Lavender had caught up with Ron and Hermione mysteriously disappeared. She was glad that Terry met up with her so she didn't have to deal with Lavender as both Ron and Harry said they needed to go to the lavatories.
"So, was that whole kitchen thing a distraction so you could meet up with Potter instead?" asked Terry with Seamus and Dean trailing behind them, still talking about Inferni.
"No," muttered Corinna, "both of us being late was a coincidence," and she only had one guess as to what Harry was up to. "I went to see my old house elf."
"Oh." Terry immediately lost his teasing mood. "How'd that go?"
"Didn't see her. I talked to Dobby, one of the other house elves, and he said she is drunk a lot of the time. She doesn't even do her work and he picks up the slack."
"I'm so sorry," said Terry with a frown. "Are you going to try again?"
"I asked Dobby to pass her along a message, so we'll see. I probably took too long to see her in the first place. I basically abandoned her…"
"I'm going to point out that you really don't owe her anything as she was dismissed by your father and no longer your house elf. But I also know you, Corinna. You don't see it that way since you were so close."
"I still should have done something sooner."
"You weren't ready and, apparently, neither is she." Terry placed a hand on Corinna's shoulder. "Don't be so hard on yourself for taking the time you need to come to terms with what happened to you."
Corinna always thought that she avoided Winky because she would remind her of the time before. Now she was wondering if there ever was a before or after—a clear divide on when her life turned upside down. In a way, it had always been like that, it just took awhile for it to manifest itself.
The week went on without much fanfare, punctuated by Harry trying to corner Slughorn after class to no avail. They had a small birthday party for Terry in one of the empty classrooms as he had friends outside of Ravenclaw and he very much appreciated the pastries that Aunt Andromeda made for him, as well as the anti-filching wallet that Corinna thought he might like as his always getting his stolen in the Underground. ("I blame Muggle trousers," he muttered.) It was supposed to emit a loud noise if someone that wasn't Terry tried to take it from his pocket, something that Seamus just had to try out, but everyone knew what he was actually trying to do. He had been in better spirits lately since him and his mum have been sending letters back and forth. She still wasn't fully on board, but Seamus was at least welcome back home, which was definitely progress.
On Sunday, the sixth years who were of age were lined up in the Entrance Hall to head down to Hogsmeade for Apparition practice, the last time they will be able to practice before the test. Corinna had a pang of jealousy since she had to wait until summer. At least she was finally able to Apparate at the end of the last lesson. That gave her a little hope for when she took the test.
"You'd do better," said Hermione when Harry confided in them that he was going to do another attempt at the Room of Requirement, "to go straight to Slughorn's office and try and get that memory from him."
"I've been trying! He doesn't want to talk to me, Hermione! He can tell I've been trying to get him on his own again, and he's not going to let it happen!"
"Well, you've just got to keep at it, haven't you?"
The short queue was moving closer to Filch and his secrecy sensor, so Harry and Corinna moved out of the line so they wouldn't be overheard by the caretaker. They moved towards the marble staircase, but she stopped at the base of it. "Just an hour," she reminded him. Letting Harry have his time to stalk Malfoy wasn't completely altruistic. It just happened to work out in her favor. "I'll see you soon."
Once Harry disappeared (quite literally) up the stairs, she turned back towards the entrance to the basement. She was a bundle of nerves as she made her way back to the kitchens and went inside. The house elves were busy at work preparing lunch and paid Corinna no mind. She just rushed past them to the back corner where Winky was sitting on an overturned crate, clutching a half empty bottle of butterbeer to her chest. Dobby stood by her and Corinna was quite relieved that Kreacher wasn't around. She didn't want to deal with his snark.
"M-m-mistress Corin-hic-inna," Winky croaked, her already large, round eyes seemed impossibly larger and rounder.
"Hey, Winky," said Corinna as she sat down in the impossibly short stool. Even for her height, her knees were bunched to her chest. "It's good to see you again. I'm sorry I didn't visit earlier."
Winky sniffled loudly and started rocking on the crate. She mumbled things that Corinna could barely catch, but she did hear Winky call herself a disappointment.
"You aren't a disappointment," said Corinna firmly. "What happened wasn't your fault."
"If only Winky could keep Master Barty in the tent," said Winky, her voice stumbling from the drink.
Corinna thought it would have better for someone to stab her in the heart. It would have hurt a lot less. "I should have stayed. I abandoned both of you when you needed me most." As much as she now despised her then-brother, she knew how much he meant to Winky. She owed her that much. "It's my fault my father gave you clothes."
Winky was full on sobbing now, spilling the butterbeer down the front of her soiled shirt. She went to catch Winky before she fell off, but Dobby intervened faster as he seemed prepared for such a fall. Winky was quickly growing distraught as another house elf came and draped a blanket over Winky.
"Come back later, Corinna Crouch," Dobby pleaded as Winky dumped the rest of her butterbeer onto her face when she tried to take another drink. "Dobby will try to keep Winky from the butterbeer."
There were a million things she wanted to do and say to Winky, but all she could do was nod and leave the kitchen. Tears prickled her eyes as she straightened up and tried to ignore the failed attempt at talking with Winky. She still had some time before she was planning on dragging Harry away from the Room of Requirement, so she went into her dormitory to quickly freshen up. She didn't think it was much of an improvement, but she grabbed her bag anyway and made her way to meet Harry.
He was alone when he threw off his cloak and looked annoyed at his lack of progress. "Hey," he said and immediately looked concerned. "You okay? You look like you were…"
"Crying?" Corinna supplied and was immediately annoyed with herself. "It's not that big of a deal. I just tried to talk with Winky and, well, I think I made things worse."
"Dobby did mention that she's always drunk," said Harry as they walked towards the staircase together.
"I just wish there was something I could do, but I'm at a loss."
"I'm sure you'll think of something."
Corinna let that statement fall as she tried to move away from talking about it. "I'm guessing you didn't have any luck with the Room?"
"Obviously," said Harry. "I did run into your cousin. Tonks, that is."
Corinna's brows furrowed. "What was she doing in the castle?" What she really wanted to ask was why Dora hadn't come to see her.
"Dunno," Harry admitted, "all she mentioned was that she wanted to talk to Dumbledore, but he's gone again. But I think she wanted to talk about Sirius."
"Sirius? Why?"
"Well, I mentioned him, and she got all weepy."
Sirius was their cousin and it was weird losing a family member they barely knew, but she didn't think that Dora and Sirius were all that close. If she was going to be weepy over someone, well, it wasn't someone she was going to mention to Harry. It wasn't her place to talk about Dora's personal life.
"Figure she misses him a lot," he added when Corinna hadn't said anything.
"Yeah, I'm sure," she mumbled as they made their way back to the Entrance Hall.
"What are we doing anyway?" asked Harry.
"We are finally going to have a proper date," said Corinna. "I hardly count Slughorn's party as one, since it wasn't all that fun and ended with us eavesdropping on Malfoy and Snape."
"Really, because I thought it officially ended with us snogging in front of the Fat Lady."
"Anyway," said Corinna forcefully, "since we mostly just hang around the common room and, most of the time, it is with Ron and Hermione, I thought we could go sit out by the lake and have a picnic." She had nicked some extra food at lunch the previous day and used a cooling charm to keep it fresh. "And, yes, it is still chilly, but that is why you are invited to help keep me warm."
"Oh, I see how it is," teased Harry as he draped his arm over Corinna's shoulder.
They had laid out her bedspread by the lake and Corinna offered him a sandwich, which he gladly accepted even if it was slightly soggy from being leftover. They kept the topics of discussion light, with Harry talking of his plans on how he plans on beating Ravenclaw ("As long as you don't go telling Boot," warned Harry, which earned him a playful nudge to his side from Corinna.) and Corinna talked about how much happier she has been since moving in with Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted ("You will like them," Corinna insisted, "especially since Aunt Andromeda used to play seeker when she was at Hogwarts."). They kept flipflopping topics until Corinna found herself underneath Harry. Even the rocks digging into her back didn't stop her from enjoying some of the things they did.
