- CHAPTER NINE -

Deceiving Impressions

Harry was woken up the next morning by Hermione stirring next to him. Blinking tiredly, he opened his eyes and was greeted by his girlfriend smiling brightly at him.

"Good morning," she whispered to a yawning Harry and kissed him on his lips. "I'd love to stay, but I really should return to my dorm before Lavender and Parvati wake up."

Harry pouted a bit at that but nodded reluctantly. He watched as his girlfriend quickly threw over her nightgown and wrapped her morning dress around her. She then carefully opened the curtains around Harry's bed and peeked into the dorm.

As the curtains opened, the silencing charms around the bed broke, and Harry could hear Ron and Seamus snoring. The boys were still sleeping soundly – unsurprisingly, as it was only a few minutes past seven in the morning. The curtains around the beds of Neville and Dean were closed, and no noises could be heard from them.

Hermione rose from the bed and picked up Harry's Invisibility Cloak from the floor where she had dropped it the night before. She threw the cloak over herself and disappeared from Harry's sight.

Only the quiet footsteps moving towards the door allowed Harry to track his girlfriend's movement while he put on some shorts and a T-shirt.

Hermione had almost gotten to the door of the dorm when the door was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

A dull thump was heard as the door hit Hermione, who yelped in surprise as she was pushed back and fell backwards to the floor, causing the Invisibility Cloak to slip off her.

With wide eyes, she looked up at the figure standing in the doorway to the dormitory.

"Neville-?"

"Hermione-?"

"-What were you doing out there?"

"-What are you doing in here?"

Hermione's cheeks pinked slightly, while Neville blushed heavily. He was still wearing the robes he had worn at the ball, though they were in a very dishevelled state. His shirt was hanging out of his trousers and was buttoned incorrectly.

The boy quickly stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. At the same time, Harry got up from the bed and approached Hermione and Neville at the entrance of the dorm.

"Well," Harry began, keeping his voice quiet and chuckling a bit awkwardly. "I guess we were doing quite similar things."

"Uhm, well," Neville stuttered and blushed an even deeper crimson. "We- Luna- we weren't - we did not- uhm..."

"Hey, no need to tell us anything," Harry interrupted the boy and helped up his girlfriend from the floor.

"Yes, and it would be quite hypocritical of us to judge you," Hermione added, "as long as you're respecting Luna's wishes, you-"

"No!" Neville interrupted, "I mean, yes! I- uhm... I mean, she started- uhm... I think I'll be quiet now."

"Yes, good idea," Harry said with a grin. "Let's just-"

He paused when he noticed the handle of the door to the dorm slowly being pushed down. With a creak, the door slowly swung open again, revealing Dean standing in the doorway.

A shocked expression appeared on the dark-skinned boy's face as he saw his three surprised classmates standing right in front of him. Just like Neville, Dean was still more or less dressed in what had been his dress robes for the ball.

There was a long pause, during which the four students looked at each other quietly. The amused smirks of Harry and Hermione were contrasted by Neville's embarrassed expression and the frightened look of Dean.

"Uhm... hi guys," Dean finally mumbled.

"Good morning, Dean," Harry answered brightly.

The boy in the doorway groaned. "I am so dead!"

"Listen, Dean," Harry replied chuckling, "we won't tell Ron or the twins that you were out there all night with Ginny, and you won't tell anyone that Hermione was in here all night with me. Deal?"

"Deal," Dean confirmed, visibly relieved. "And we didn't-"

Harry waved his hand dismissively.

"We don't need to hear it, Dean," he interrupted. "Just know that if you hurt Ginny, her brothers won't be the only ones who'll kill you. Are we clear?"

Hermione nodded in agreement, giving Dean a stern look.

The dark-skinned boy gulped.

"Clear," he confirmed.

"Great," Hermione said and turned towards Harry. "I'll meet you in the common room in twenty minutes?"

Harry nodded and watched after his girlfriend as she left the room, throwing the Invisibility Cloak over herself once more. When she disappeared from his view, he returned his attention to his dorm mates in front of him. Both boys were smirking at him.

"You tease me, I'll tease you," Harry told them before they could open their mouths. "Let's just not do that."

The other two boys clearly had a hard time keeping their comments to themselves, but they nodded nonetheless.

Harry gave them a grateful smile and left for the bathroom. He was just glad that Ron was still asleep, snoring loudly, oblivious to everything that had just happened. Things might have turned very unpleasant otherwise, especially for Dean.

#

Harry and Hermione were among the first students at breakfast that morning. Only a handful of students old enough to having attended the ball were not sleeping in, and the Great Hall was rather empty. Therefore, the couple could converse quietly without any fear of being overheard.

"Well, I think they are making good couples," Harry said, still amused by what had happened in the dorm earlier. "Especially Luna and Neville, they are good for each other."

"Yes," Hermione agreed, but then she frowned slightly. "I just hope they aren't moving too fast."

Harry chuckled. "Like us, you mean?"

"That's different!" Hermione disagreed, but couldn't help but smile at her boyfriend.

"You know that Neville will always be a perfect gentleman," Harry stated, "and Ginny certainly can watch out for herself."

"Yes, I know," Hermione replied.

"Anyway," she then said after a pause, "what are the plans for today? Should we check if Cedric's advice about the golden egg is correct?"

"Should we sneak into the prefects' bath after curfew today?" Harry suggested.

"You know," Hermione replied, "the prefects' bath is probably quite popular with the prefects as a dating location. We'll probably have a better chance at finding it empty if we just go there this morning."

"Right," Harry agreed, "let's do that."

"Besides," Hermione added, "it would be nice to relax in the water a bit. My legs are still aching from all the dancing yesterday."

Harry nodded. His legs were quite sore, too.

But then, another problem occurred to him.

"Do you have any swimwear?" he asked his girlfriend. "Because I don't."

"Oh," Hermione replied and frowned. "I don't have any here at Hogwarts."

But then she shrugged and grinned at him. "Oh well, we'll just have to make do without, I guess."

"Uhh... Oh! OH! Yes, good point!" Harry agreed excitedly.

He then finished his breakfast in what had to be a new personal best time.

#

It turned out that Hermione's suggestion had a serious downside. While the couple had a lot of fun in the prefect's bath that morning, they didn't achieve their original objective. When they had to leave the bath to return to the Great Hall for lunch, they still hadn't gotten around to opening the golden egg in the water. They had just been way too distracted with each other to bother with trivialities like finding out more about the second task of the Triwizard Tournament.

They returned to the prefects' bath in the afternoon, and this time, Hermione transfigured some swimwear for both her and Harry. Harry was a bit disappointed by the very conservatively cut one-piece swimsuit his girlfriend was wearing until Hermione reminded him that transfigurations didn't last. His mood immediately perked up at that.

But before they could engage in more enjoyable activities once more, they had to listen to the clue in the golden egg. With both of them in the huge bathtub, Hermione fetched the egg from the side of the tub and placed it underwater.

Harry lowered his head under the surface, Hermione following suit. She then slowly opened the egg. Instead of loud screeching, eerie voices were singing from the open egg in Hermione's hands.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching, ponder this:

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took,

But past an hour – the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

Having listened to the song, the couple emerged from the water.

"All right, so you have to retrieve some possession of yours from the bottom of the lake within one hour," Harry summarised. "Sounds better than fighting a dragon."

"Almost sounds too easy," Hermione replied.

Harry had to agree with that.

After a pause, he spoke again, "As they won't tell you about the task, that possession would have to be taken without your knowledge. What do you reckon they'll take from you?"

"I don't know," Hermione replied and started nibbling on her bottom lip, deep in thought.

Harry contemplated the question for a while, too, before he grinned. "My bet would be your copy of Hogwarts a History."

Hermione gasped in shock. "They wouldn't dare!"

"Or the biggest, most ancient tome on Arithmancy in your possession," Harry continued.

"But- but the books would get wet!" Hermione fretted.

Harry shrugged. "Well, they'll probably put some protective charms on the items they take."

"But what if the charms fail? Oh no! Could I hide my books with you before the task, please?" Hermione pleaded.

"Sure," Harry agreed. "If you think that will help. But they'll just take something else, then... They might even take Crookshanks."

"He would really hate that! He hates water!" Hermione chuckled, but quickly got serious again. "We'll have to hide him, too."

"Okay," Harry confirmed. "What else might they take?"

They both pondered the question for a while.

The silence was broken when Hermione gasped.

"Shit!" she exclaimed.

Harry laughed, amused by his girlfriend's uncharacteristic outburst. "Hermione! Language!"

"It's you," she stated flatly, ignoring his comment.

"Me? What about me?" Harry wondered.

"You are what I'll sorely miss. They'll take you," Hermione said, clearly worried.

"Uhm, thanks," Harry said hesitantly, "but I'm a Who, not a What."

"I don't think we should take the poem that literally," Hermione replied. "The ending is obviously hyperbole, too. Think about it! Human hostages would give the task a much higher entertainment value. After we had to battle a dragon for the first task, they won't be content with having us swimming through the Black Lake to fetch a book for the second task."

"Do you really think they would endanger students like that?" Harry asked.

Hermione gave him an incredulous look. "What part about 'We had to battle a dragon for the first task' didn't you understand?"

"Right," Harry muttered. "I guess I could just refuse when they ask me to be your hostage?"

Hermione smiled sadly at him. "And risk that Ginny, Luna, or Neville get taken instead?

Harry ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "You're right, I wouldn't do that. I guess we'll have to trust the organisers to ensure the safety of the hostages... well, fuck!"

Hermione didn't chide him for his language.

"Well, how about this," Harry said after a pause, "I'll agree to be your hostage, as long as Dumbledore agrees to get involved himself this time, and takes charge of our safety. I think he'll probably want to do that, anyway. But if he doesn't agree to do that, I will refuse to participate, and we'll tell all our friends to refuse, too."

"Okay," his girlfriend agreed reluctantly, "I guess that's the best we can do."

There was another long pause before Hermione sighed. "Now I almost wished it was my copy of Hogwarts a History that will be taken."

"Almost?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Oh," Hermione said and waved her hand dismissively, a slight smirk on her lips. "You always come out of our adventures all right. My books, on the other hand... I really don't want them getting wet."

"Well, I'm glad to see that you have your priorities straight," Harry grumbled.

"Oh, you poor boy," Hermione said with a pout and swam closer to him. "Let me see how I might make it up to you."

All thoughts about the second task were forgotten for the rest of the afternoon.

#

With a good idea what awaited them for the second task, Harry and Hermione spent most of the Christmas break coming up with strategies and researching water creatures and useful spells for swimming and diving.

The biggest issue was breathing underwater. Hermione was learning the Bubble-Head Charm and was able to perform it by the end of the break, though her bubbles weren't lasting long enough yet.

The charm had a severe drawback, though. If it failed for whatever reason while she was in the lake, Hermione would have to recast it silently, as she wouldn't be able to pronounce the spell underwater. She knew that she wouldn't be able to do that.

Unfortunately, they hadn't found a better solution yet. Harry was trying to convince Hermione to use Muggle scuba diving gear, but Hermione remained unconvinced. She insisted that a magical solution would be simpler and that it was only a matter of time until she would find one.

On the last day of the Christmas break, the couple was sitting in the library once more. Hermione was reading a tome on Ancient Runes, trying to solve the problem of breathing underwater. Harry, in the meantime, was compiling a list of the creatures that could be found in the Black Lake and the best spells to fight them.

"It would be best to stay out of the kelp and seaweed to avoid the grindylows," Harry said to Hermione as he read about the water demons.

"Yes," Hermione agreed and sighed. "But how can I do that, when I have to search the entire lake for the hostages?"

"We would need to know the location of the hostages," Harry replied. "Could you put some kind of tracking charm on me, maybe?"

"I could," Hermione answered with a frown, "but we can't be sure that Dumbledore won't cancel it when he's putting the hostages under the lake."

"Right," Harry agreed. "But it sure would be nice to have some more specific information."

There was a pause before Harry grinned at his girlfriend.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

#

"Well, Hagrid, how are things?" Harry asked the half-giant after their Care of Magical Creatures class the next day.

It was the first day of classes after the Christmas break. He and Hermione were lingering back after the other students had made hasty retreats back towards the castle, glad to get away from Hagrid's increasingly large and increasingly aggressive Blast-ended Skrewts.

Hagrid gave Harry a suspicious look. "I'm good, Harry. How are yeh?"

"Oh, I'm fine," Harry began and shrugged. "Just a bit worried about Hermione, of course, with the second task of the tournament coming up. I hope-"

"Ah, I'm seein' what yer doin' there!" Hagrid interrupted. "Yer not foolin' me again!"

He gave the couple a stern look and continued, "I won' tell yeh that for the second task yeh'll have to rescue a hostage from the merpeople village in the Black Lake."

There was a long silence between them.

"Hagrid," Hermione then said with some exasperation, "please tell me that you've just done that on purpose."

"Dunno what yer talkin' 'bout, Hermione," Hagrid replied, good-natured. "Good luck, and don' tell anyone that I slipped up again. Off yeh go, now!"

With that, the groundkeeper shuffled towards his hut, but Harry was pretty sure that he had seen a mischievous smile under the big guy's beard.

Harry chuckled as he and Hermione ware walking back towards the castle. "Gotta love him!"

"Yes, that was nice of him," Hermione agreed. "So, the merpeople village... I guess it could be worse. If I swim at the surface of the lake until I'm above the village and then dive straight down, I should be able to avoid all of the more dangerous creatures in the lake."

"That's great," Harry replied. "So we only have to worry about diving now. If you would just ask your parents to send you some scuba diving gear..."

Their discussion was still ongoing when they walked through the gates of the castle.

#

The week continued at a leisurely pace. On Thursday afternoon, they had the first Defence class of the new year. Harry was surprised when Professor Moody asked him to stay back after the lesson had ended.

He quickly whispered to Hermione that he would meet her in the library afterwards and approached Moody at the teacher's desk.

"How can I help you, Professor?" Harry asked the retired Auror.

Instead of answering Harry, the Professor waited until the other students had left the room and then waved his wand and erected a silencing ward on the door of the classroom.

"Potter," the old man began, "I wanted to talk about what you said to me at the Yule Ball..."

"Oh, what about it?" Harry asked with surprise.

"Yes, well, first, I wanted to thank you for keeping my secrets," Moody replied.

"Of course, Professor. No need to thank me."

There was a pause, during which Moody eyed Harry critically.

"You know, I find this very interesting. Why would you help us?" Moody finally inquired.

"Keeping your secrets really isn't helping much," Harry answered with a shrug. "But let me know if I can somehow help with changing things."

"So, you really do support our cause?" Moody asked, sizing up the boy in front of him.

"You mean to build a society in which you can publicly reveal who you really are and people will support you?" Harry clarified.

Moody chuckled. "Well, that's one way to put it."

"Sure, I'm all for it," Harry said. "The way any kind of minorities, non-human species or Muggle-born are treated really ought to change."

Crouch Jr, posing as Alastor Moody, nodded in agreement. All this filth really needed to be put back in its place, after all. "Well, I'm glad to hear it, boy. I'll let you know if something comes up."

"Great," Harry agreed.

"Will you tell me how you found out about me?" Moody then asked Harry.

Harry frowned slightly, wondering how he should answer the question. On the one hand, he really wanted to keep the Marauder's Map a secret. It was one of the few mementoes he had left from his parents. On the other hand, he needed someone to watch the Marauder's Map during the second task to ensure that Voldemort wouldn't be able to sneak in under disguise. Harry had thought about asking Neville, Luna, and Ginny to watch the map and inform Dumbledore of any suspicious activities. But obviously, Alastor Moody, the renowned Auror, would be much better suited for this task. Also, Harry's friends wouldn't be put in danger. There really was only one choice for Harry.

"Well, Professor," Harry began, "I have an artefact – a magical map – that can tell me the name and location of every person in Hogwarts."

Moody paled at that. "Every person?" he whispered.

"Yes, but don't worry, I won't cause you or him any trouble," Harry replied to calm the man, who was obviously worried that Harry would expose how many nights the Professor and Crouch were spending together in the castle.

"Sir," Harry continued, "I'd be willing to give you that map, as long as you'll agree to return it to me at the end of the term."

"I can certainly agree to that," Moody replied, much calmer now and clearly very interested.

Harry fetched the Marauder's Map from his bookbag and handed it to the Professor. After all, having to do without the map for a few months was a very small price to pay if it would ensure the safety of his friends and the entire school.

"Just tap the parchment with your wand and say 'I solemnly swear I'm up to no good' to reveal the map and say 'Mischief managed' to clear it," Harry informed the old Auror.

Moody nodded. "All right, let's test this."

He held up the parchment in front of him and tapped his wand against it. "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."

Harry stood opposite of Moody and therefore couldn't see the map, but the amazed expression on Moody's face clearly told him that the Professor had successfully revealed the map.

A few moments later, Moody muttered, "Mischief managed," and he lowered the map on the desk.

"I have to thank you, Potter," Moody then stated with a smirk, "That will certainly help to keep watch on a certain bothersome headmaster!"

Harry smiled. Having the paranoid Ex-Auror keeping close watch on the former Death Eater Karkaroff was certainly a good thing.

"I think it would also be good to watch the comings and goings during the second task. Make sure that there aren't any uninvited visitors where they shouldn't be," Harry suggested.

Remembering how many Aurors had been present during the first task, Crouch Jr nodded in agreement at that. "I'll definitely do that."

"Great," Harry replied, very relieved that someone trustworthy would be watching over the second task of the tournament. "Was there anything else, Professor?"

"No, thank you," Moody replied, "Off you go, Potter."

Harry turned to leave the classroom. Just before he opened the door, Moody laughed out loud behind him.

"And let me tell you," the Professor called after him, "you're really doing a fine job posing as Gryffindor's Golden Boy. A quite impressive cover! And that's coming from me!"

Harry was unsure what the old, slightly crazy former Auror was getting at, but simply shrugged and smiled in response to what he presumed to be some weird compliment. He then left the classroom to catch up with Hermione.

#

"What did the Professor want?" Hermione asked Harry as he sat down next to her at her desk in the library.

"Remember how I told you that I spoke to Professor Moody during the ball and told him that not everyone is as prejudiced as he might think? Well, he asked me how I knew about him and Crouch."

"Oh, what did you tell him?" Hermione asked curiously.

"I told him about the map," Harry replied, causing Hermione to raise her eyebrows in surprise.

"I gave him the map so that he can keep watch during the second task," Harry continued. "As I'll probably be your hostage, I won't be able to do it like we had planned it originally."

"You're right. Good thinking, Harry," Hermione replied. "Even though I'm surprised that you were willing to give the map away."

"Yes, but Mad-Eye promised that he would return the map at the end of the year," Harry answered. With a grin, he added, "And with my Invisibility Cloak, we don't really need the map to sneak around some more, anyway."

"Sneak around some more?" Hermione repeated with an arched eyebrow. "What other adventures do you have planned for us, Mister?"

"Oh, nothing new. But as long as they don't change the password for the prefects' bathroom, it might be nice to return there from time to time," Harry replied.

Hermione tried to look at him disapprovingly, but Harry could see that she was very much in favour of his suggestion.

"Fine," Hermione finally conceded with a huff. "But if we get caught, I'm holding you responsible for it."

Harry chuckled. He could agree to that. The reward was certainly worth the risk.

"Did Professor Moody talk about anything else?" Hermione then asked. "Maybe to give you a hint about the task?"

"Well, not really," Harry answered, "I just told him to tell me if I might somehow help to change things for them. You know, some words from the Boy-Who-Lived to the Prophet on the virtue of tolerance... I don't know how much people would listen to me, but I could try..."

Hermione beamed at him. "That's really sweet of you, Harry."

"I'd do the same for the house-elves, too, of course," Harry added.

Hermione lunged from her chair and embraced Harry in a tight hug, giving him a deep kiss.

"Thanks, Harry," she whispered to him when they finally separated. "You know that I don't think much of Divination, but I foresee another trip to the prefects' bath in your immediate future."

Harry grinned at that. "I'd like that very much."

"Chrm chrm."

Harry and Hermione looked up startled when the librarian Madam Pince cleared her throat, glaring at the couple with disapproval.

Reluctantly, Hermione got up from Harry's lap and returned to her chair.

"Well," Harry then said with a more quiet voice, "What have you been looking at while I was gone?"

"Breathing underwater," Hermione replied. "I found an interesting rune set to conjure air, but I don't know how I could make it work for me..."

"Well, if you would ask your parents for a book on scuba diving..." Harry began.

They were still discussing the best approach to breathing underwater when they entered the Great Hall for dinner in the evening.

"If the Bubble-Head Charm fails, you would have to redo it silently, because you would be underwater. It's too risky!" Harry said to Hermione, probably for the thousandth time.

"I agree," Hermione replied as they sat down next to Neville and Luna at the Gryffindor table. "But I think I'm onto something with the runes."

"We don't have that much time left," Harry pointed out.

"I'd need a lot of time to learn how to operate scuba diving gear, too," his girlfriend replied. "Even if we could get all the equipment somewhere, we have no idea how to operate it. We don't know the first thing about scuba diving. It's not that easy. How would we check if everything works properly? There's a reason why you need a diving certification to go diving by yourself in most countries!"

"Yes, it'd be difficult to learn it from a book. But I'm certain that you could do it. And think of the advantages! You wouldn't need silent spell-casting, and the dry-suit would protect you from the cold and probably even grindylow bites."

"There are spells against the cold, too," Hermione said with an exasperated sigh. "I just don't want to operate such equipment without any personal instruction."

"What are you talking about?" Neville asked, looking at the couple quizzically.

"Whether it would be better to use scuba diving gear or a Bubble-Head Charm or runes to stay underwater for a long time," Harry explained to the boy.

Neville frowned. "I don't know what a scabba driving gear is, but I know that Gillyweed would be safer than a Bubble-Head Charm."

"What's that?" Hermione asked. "I've never read about a magical plant with that name."

"I don't think it's in any of the school books, not even for the NEWT classes," Neville replied. "It's pretty rare in Britain. Anyway, its effect is that you grow gills at your neck to breath underwater. You also get webbing between your fingers and toes for easier swimming, and you're somewhat resistant to cold temperatures in water. The effect of one dosage lasts for maybe one hour."

Harry and Hermione shared an astonished glance.

"That sounds perfect," Hermione stated.

"Can you still speak when you're under the effect of Gillyweed?" Harry asked Neville.

"I guess so," the boy answered hesitantly, "You cannot breathe with your lungs, but you should be able to speak. Except that you're underwater."

Hermione, catching on to what Harry was getting at, asked, "How do the gills work, exactly? Are they connected to your throat, or are they separate? If you have a bubble of air around your head, would water enter through the gills into your throat and into that bubble? Or would there be no connection?"

"Uhm... no connection, I think," Neville replied.

"That's good," Harry said, nodding slowly. "So, we could combine our solutions."

"Right," Hermione agreed. "I can rely on the Gillyweed for breathing, and put up a Bubble-Head Charm for easy spell-casting. Even if the bubble fails, it wouldn't be a great loss."

"Or maybe you could just use a diving face mask to speak easily," Harry suggested. "And a dry suit to keep you warm, and protect you from grindylows and such."

Hermione smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Okay, that's a good plan," she said. "Now, we only have to acquire the supplies."

"You can owl-order the Gillyweed easily," Neville told the couple.

"And could you maybe just ask your parents for the diving gear?" Harry asked. "You could borrow Hedwig to send them a letter, and Hedwig could deliver a package from them to us."

Hermione frowned. "They don't know that I'm participating in the tournament. But... but I guess I could ask them to send me those things for an Ancient Runes project."

Harry clapped his hands in excitement.

"Great!" he exclaimed. "Plan B is starting to look pretty solid now! Though, I still expect that Plan A will probably work, anyway."

Hermione chuckled. "Yes, but it's always better to be prepared."

#

The next day, Hermione sent Hedwig to her parents and a school owl to the apothecary in Diagon Alley. She received several dosages of Gillyweed on the day after that, and Hedwig returned with a huge package from her parents a week later.

After some successful testing of the Gillyweed and the diving gear in the prefects' bathroom (among other things), Harry was very confident about Hermione's chances in the upcoming second task of the tournament. It was still several weeks away, but his girlfriend was already perfectly prepared for the task, in his opinion.

In the following week, the last week of January, Harry was once more held back by Professor Moody after the Defence class.

After the classroom had emptied of all other students, Moody cast several privacy charms, before he began with a low voice, "Now, I have discussed things with my Master, and we-"

Harry's eyes widened in shock.

"Your MASTER?" he exclaimed, visibly sick. "Please, that's way too much information! Oh, Merlin! I don't want to know this. I have to find a bathroom!"

With that, he bolted out of the classroom.

Crouch Jr, posing as Alastor Moody, was left gaping after the boy.

#

Barty Crouch Jr was still unsure what to make of the encounter with young Harry Potter when he met with the Dark Lord in an abandoned part of the castle's dungeons a short while later.

"Well, what did the boy say?" Riddle asked with impatience.

"The boy ran away as soon as I mentioned you, my Lord," Crouch answered pensively, still looking a bit miffed. "Apparently, he didn't trust himself with that kind of information. It seemed as if he had become physically unwell at even thinking about being involved this deeply."

Riddle thought about this turn of events for a while.

"Interesting," he finally said. "I have to admit that I'm quite impressed with the boy. Even if he was a bit rude, he has actually shown some good sense. We might have been a bit hasty in involving him. He might not be able to keep our secrets when questioned by the old meddler. Very well, we won't involve the boy for now. Supply him with study material on Occlumency when you meet him again in class. Until he has mastered the art of secluding his mind, we won't approach him again."

"As you wish, my Lord," Crouch replied, bowed and left the room.