Chapter Fifty-Five: According to Plan

Daphne silently stared at Harry.

He stared back. Hermione and Ron looked as horrified as he did.

Fred, George, and Ginny all seemed to remember Sirius's warning from the holidays, even though Sirius had logically expected trouble around the tournament, not that Harry would be entered against his will.

A wave of chattering went through the hall as people discussed the — for them — unexpected turn of events.

"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore called again. "Harry! Up here, if you please!"

"Well…here we go again, I suppose," Harry said ruefully.

With a last glance at Daphne, Hermione, and Ron, he got up and walked forward until he stood in front of Dumbledore.

"Well…through the door, Harry," Dumbledore said.

Daphne saw that he wasn't smiling, but whether that was because he'd expected this turn of events or actually thought Harry had entered himself, she didn't know.

Dumbledore discussed something with the other Headmasters, Bagman, and Crouch, and shortly after Bagman went into the champions' waiting room after Harry.

"What do you think they'll do?" Ginny asked anxiously.

"Surely they can't make him compete? He's too young," Hermione said.

"Do you really believe that?" Daphne asked flatly.

"I'd honestly like to congratulate Harry on making it in," Fred said. "If only because it means we've got a Gryffindor champion…but I don't think he'd appreciate it much."

"Why wouldn't he?" Lee Jordan asked. "It's brilliant! He can beat Diggory again!"

"Er, Lee, you know how Harry is always getting into weird and dangerous situations? Yeah, this is one of them," George said.

"So? Party in the common room tonight!" Lee shouted, and many others around him joined in enthusiastically.

"Why can't I be the big hero for a change?" Ron asked sourly.

"You…do realize Harry really, really doesn't want this, right?" Daphne asked.

Ron made a frustrated noise. "I know! It's just…" He shook his head. "Never mind. I'm going to bed."

"Don't start blaming Harry for this," Daphne said warningly. "He needs your support. You know the rest of the school won't believe him. The speed at which people here draw stupid conclusions is ridiculous and the people who don't are mostly in Slytherin, and guess what? They tend to hate Harry, so they'll happily feed the rumors."

"I won't blame Harry," Ron said irritably. "I don't blame him. Doesn't mean I like it." He got up and left the Great Hall.

"Look, Moody's going in as well. Maybe he can sort this out," Hermione said.

"He'll probably have had the same thought as Tracey and I had, or at least something along those lines," Daphne mused. "If he were the one who did it, he could probably explain exactly what he did without sounding suspicious at all."

"You think Moody put him in?" Hermione asked.

Daphne shrugged. "I don't know. There's usually something weird about our Defense teachers, and I doubt Maxime or Karkaroff would want to sabotage their own champions by giving Hogwarts a second one…although either of them might be guilty. Harry needs to write to Sirius about it; maybe he'll know more."

"Do you think Snape could have done it?" Ginny asked.

"He could have, but while he certainly wouldn't mind all the hate Harry is going to get, I doubt he'd try to kill Harry under the nose of both Dumbledore and an ex-Auror who is known for being paranoid," Daphne said. She sighed. "We'll just have to wait and see, I guess…You guys go have fun at the party in your common room. I'm…going to talk to my friends in Slytherin to see if we might be able to do some damage control for Harry."

She said goodnight to the others and went over to the Slytherin table, which was now also emptying as people began to file out to their common rooms.

"You were spot on, apparently," she said to Tracey.

"I'm sure Potter will be delighted," Tracey replied sarcastically. "So, now what? Are we just going to spread our theory as a rumor? Not many people would believe it, probably, but attempted murder usually does well in the rumor mill regardless."

Daphne nodded slowly. "I think that might work. Beyond that…I'm going to try and find out who put Harry's name in that goblet, and Moody is my first suspect."

"I doubt he'd confess the moment you ask him," Tracey said.

"I'm not going to confront him directly," Daphne said. "Last year, we discovered that Ron's pet rat was actually an Animagus because Kneazles went wild around him. I have Nyx with me now, so I figured tomorrow at breakfast I'd just…walk past Moody while carrying Nyx. If she gets aggressive towards him, he's dishonest."

"That wouldn't be much proof," Tracey pointed out. "Hagrid said that Kneazles even get apprehensive about people who are late in returning borrowed items."

"You didn't see how they acted around Ron's rat. That was pure, unadulterated loathing," Daphne said.

Tracey shook her head. "Well, I know better than trying to dissuade you from your plans…I'll just go and tell everyone else we've got some rumors to spread."

"Alright, Nyx," Daphne whispered just before entering the Great Hall the next morning. "Just stay under the table for a bit, and then run past the teachers' table. I'll come and 'catch' you, and you'll be able to get a good look at Moody, okay?"

It was a slightly different plan than she'd had the night before, but she'd decided that simply walking past Moody while carrying Nyx would be a bit too suspicious, so she'd have to stage something slightly more believable.

Nyx didn't seem very eager to be in the Great Hall, surrounded by so many people, but that would only make it more likely she'd try to bolt at some point.

Of course, students weren't supposed to bring their pets into the Hall at mealtimes, but she knew that plenty of them ignored that rule, and she was a Slytherin, anyway. Breaking the rules was expected of her.

She entered the Great Hall in a group of people, none of whom cared in the slightest that she had her pet with her. She sat down in her usual spot at the Gryffindor table and dropped Nyx off under it. To her surprise, only Ron was in the Great Hall.

"Hermione and Harry are taking a walk," he said. "Hermione figured Harry wouldn't want to be in Great Hall just yet. I, er, preferred a big breakfast. Don't give me that look," he added when he saw Daphne's expression. "Harry and I aren't fighting. But when I'm hungry I'm not the nicest person."

"You're a complete menace," Ginny said, sitting down next to him. She looked at Daphne. "Honestly. One time we had dinner an hour later than usual and you'd have thought he was dying of starvation. You haven't heard complaining until you've seen Ron miss a single meal."

Daphne chuckled.

"Thank you, Ginny," Ron said grumpily. "Anyway, that's why I decided to get a proper breakfast. I think Harry's going to write to Sirius when he's done eating."

"So why'd you bring Nyx?" Ginny asked, who was petting her under the table.

"She's going to see if Moody is hiding something," Daphne said.

"Like with Scabbers," Ron realized.

"Exactly. If she goes as crazy around Moody as Crookshanks did with Pettigrew, he's probably bad news."

Daphne looked under the table. "Ready, Nyx?" she asked.

Nyx gave her a fairly annoyed stare, but then meowed once and took off running. Daphne got up and ran after her, trying to look like a student who was about to be caught doing something she shouldn't. Well, she was a student about to be caught doing something she shouldn't; she just didn't care about getting caught in the slightest and figured she should at least look a bit apprehensive about it.

When she ran past the teacher's table, she saw Snape giving her a curious look, meaning his expression was exactly as sour as it usually was, just with one eyebrow slightly raised.

Before she could 'catch up' with Nyx, however, Moody had already gotten up to intercept her — and to Daphne's astonishment, she was happily purring in his arms.

Moody grinned his lopsided grin when Daphne approached.

"Nice pet, Miss Greengrass. Very useful one, too. Kneazles are very good at spotting untrustworthy people. I have three at home," he said. His grin widened a small bit. "Though I suspect you knew that, given that I saw you giving her instructions before you came into the Hall."

Daphne's look flicked to Moody's magical eye. Of course! He could see through walls.

"Miss Greengrass," Snape said from behind her. "I do believe you're aware bringing pets into the Great Hall isn't allowed?"

He glared at Moody, who kept his magical eye on Snape as he unconcernedly petted Nyx.

"Yes, sir. It won't happen again, sir," Daphne said.

She knew lying would be pointless, and since Moody had seen through her trick immediately, she figured Snape would know it as well.

"I'll go bring her back to the common room," Daphne said, taking over Nyx from Moody.

"I'll accompany you outside the Hall for a moment," Moody said. "I'd like a word."

Now Daphne was beginning to get a bit worried. Though Nyx seemed to like Moody, that didn't mean he wasn't going to punish her for suspecting him in the first place.

They left the Great Hall — Daphne saw Ron and Ginny giving her worried looks — and stepped into an empty corridor.

"I take it you believe Potter's been framed, then?" Moody asked.

"Yes, sir," Daphne said.

"And you suspected me," he said.

It wasn't a question, but Daphne still said, "Yes, sir."

She waited for a moment, but she was pretty surprised when Moody laughed.

"Very good!" he said.

Daphne blinked. "You…don't mind me suspecting you?" she asked.

"Certainly not. It shows you have been listening to me and not taking everything at face value." He scoffed. "I'd nearly go as far as to say you'd make a better Headmaster than those other two. Didn't even consider the possibility someone was trying to do Potter in, despite how obvious it was. I presume you thought it was me because of Quirrell in your first year?"

"Yes, and because you're a powerful wizard. Maxime and Karkaroff are also on my list of suspects, but you were easiest to verify," Daphne said.

"Kneazles are smart, but they aren't infallible," Moody said warningly. "If you know what you're doing, you can make pheromones that attract them and spray them on yourself. That way, even Voldemort himself could appear like a good person to a Kneazle." He snorted derisively. "Not that most wizards know that, of course."

"Are you saying I should still be suspecting you, then?" Daphne asked apprehensively.

"You should be suspecting everyone at all times, in order of likelihood. I can say I didn't do it, but how would you know for sure? Even Veritaserum can be resisted, as can the Imperius Curse. Torture is unreliable. There are magical detection methods like Sneakoscopes, but they're too imprecise. I can tell you that I didn't bring any Kneazle pheromones with me to Hogwarts — never had to use any — but whether or not you believe me is up to you," Moody said.

"What do you believe Voldemort's plan is, entering Harry into the Tournament?" Daphne asked.

"Hard to say. I would assume it is to get him killed, but it seems a very uncertain way to do so. If I were to guess, I would say it's a plan meant to come to fruition at the final task. If that's the case, the culprit will likely seek to aid Potter in order to help him succeed until then," Moody said. He didn't seem at all interested in knowing why Daphne knew about Voldemort's involvement, but he had answered the question seemingly truthfully.

"So Harry will really have to compete?" Daphne asked.

"Yes. The magical contract on the Goblet of Fire binds anyone whose name comes out of it," Moody said. "It cannot be broken by any means that I know of."

"So what if Harry just…fails his tasks? Takes the safe option every time?"

"Miss Greengrass, magical contracts like this one are among the most dangerous magic in existence. Trying to circumvent them has historically had…gruesome results. Potter will be safer competing to the best of his ability than by trying to get out of it."

Daphne nodded slowly. She'd been afraid of that, but hearing it out loud still wasn't nice.

"You should probably go to your friends," Moody said, his magical eye focused on something behind Daphne. "They seem to be worried about you."

Daphne grinned. "Well…you're not off the suspects list yet, but you're at least lower on it, now," she said.

"Good to hear, though you shouldn't reveal your trust so readily," Moody warned.

"I might be lying," Daphne said casually as she walked away.

She wasn't, and she knew Moody knew it as well, but she liked having the last word and Moody would probably consider it amusing.

Ron and Ginny were indeed waiting for her near the doors of the Great Hall, anxious to hear what Moody wanted.

"He has to be one of the oddest teachers we've ever had," Ron said with a shake of his head after Daphne had told them what she'd discussed with Moody. "Can you imagine how Snape would react if we accused him of anything? We'd be serving detentions for a decade."

"So do you think it's him?" Ginny asked.

"I doubt it. I asked him what Voldemort's plan could be by entering Harry and he didn't even bat an eye before answering. If he'd said Voldemort wasn't likely to be involved, or responded in any way surprised that I knew about it, I'd have been more suspicious, but he just answered the question as if he'd expected me to ask it."

"How would he know that you know that You-Know-Who is involved?" Ron asked, then added, "This is getting way too difficult to keep up with already."

"When I was in the hospital wing after the first Imperius Curse lesson he told me he'd asked Dumbledore about the things that had happened here in the past few years, and that our names kept coming up. I expected him to have expected that I expected that Voldemort was involved."

She grinned at Ron, both for deliberately making her sentence more confusing than it had to be, and his expression at hearing Voldemort's name for the third time in about a minute.

"Well, I'll see you at dinner. I've got some rumors to spread around with the rest of S.I.N…."

When Daphne sat down next to Harry at dinner that night, it was clear that he hadn't had a very good day, and given the number of angry glares he — and the rest of Gryffindor — seemed to get, she could understand why.

"Moody did try to stick up for me," he said, when Daphne told him about breakfast. "He had the same theory as you and Tracey, nearly word-for-word, but Karkaroff just said he was being too paranoid and Maxime was too busy accusing Dumbledore of making a mistake with the Age Line. At least Snape kept his mouth shut, though he did seem to enjoy watching me get accused."

"What about Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch?" Hermione asked.

Harry shrugged. "Bagman seemed surprised, but enthusiastic about the whole thing. Crouch just said we had to follow the rules, and that I therefore had to compete. He didn't seem to care one way or another personally."

"D'you think it could have been either of them?" Ron asked.

Harry shrugged angrily. "It could've been anyone. I doubt it was Dumbledore, and I don't think it was Moody, but for all I know he's just trying to gain my trust. I just wish whoever did it would show themselves already, then I could hex them into a million pieces."

"And when we find out who it is, I won't stop you," Daphne said. "But for the time being all can you do is to keep your eyes open. Someone in this school is trying to kill you. All you can do now is wait for Sirius's reply and hope he'll have an idea."

She only wished she was as calm as she pretended to be, but in reality, she didn't think Harry would ever get the chance to hex the culprit into a million pieces. There simply wouldn't be enough left after Daphne was done with them.

I really, really wanted to write something along the lines of 'Harry made his way over to Dumbledore, who shouted, "DID YOU PUT YOUR NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIRE HARRY!" and then power-bombed him into the floor of the Great Hall before dropping the people's elbow on him', in reference to the Lego 'book vs. movie' skit, but sadly, this isn't that kind of story.