Ch. 13
A few weeks before the Second Task, there was another Hogsmeade weekend. Harry, Hermione and Ron were on their way to get some butterbeers from the Three Broomsticks when they ran into Rita Skeeter. Rita was positively glowing over seeing him, however the boy was not thrilled at all.
"Leave my mom out of your articles!" Harry snarled. "You've angered the whole family, including my great-grandfather!"
"Well, how about giving me an interview then? Tell me about your home life and the Tori Mars that you know?" Rita said, pulling out her Quick Notes Quill.
For a moment, Harry was tempted to wehn Hermione suddenly pushed in front of him, snarling. "You're a horrible woman! You don't care who you trample, as long as you get a story!"
"Hermione, let's go. She's not worth our time." Harry said. He grabbed Hermione and walked away, but he could hear the Quill scratching out a story.
"She'll be after you next, Hermione," Ron cautioned.
"Let her try, I've got nothing in my past that she can twist." Hermione said.
Sloane met up with them the next day in the library. Harry had discovered the final clue of the Puzzle Box, and it seemed to point to a caving expedition. He was now intent on finding any information of the caverns under Hogwarts.
"You'll never guess what I heard," Sloane said, sliding between Harry and Hermione.
"What?" Harry asked, pouring over a map of the catacombs under Hogwarts. A lot of the map was marked as guess work. Harry and Hermione had a feeling that no one had really ever gone underneath the castle.
"Someone broke into Snape's office last night. Whoever it was, stole some ingredients from his private storage and some personal belongings." Sloane said.
"He tell you this?" Hermione asked.
Sloane grinned. "Nope, and I can't get into trouble for telling you. I heard it from some third-year Hufflepuffs in the hall."
"Wow. Whoever did that was brave." Harry commented.
Sloane suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Harry, it wasn't the ingredients that caused Snape to be angry when he found out. This person stole the blood oath."
"What!" Harry felt his blood drain from his face. "He'll think I did it! Someone stole the only way I can prove that I'm not doing anything wrong, and I bet I'm number one on his list."
"Right. Whatever you do, be an angel in class, bro. He's really upset." Sloane cautioned.
Harry sighed and went back to memorizing the map. Fate and Trouble had done it to him again.
That night, Harry wrote a long letter to Sirius and another to Lupin, explaining his blood oath and the problem with the paper missing. He also pleaded with them to not tell Tori, and that the oath was his idea and not Snape's. He then went into detail over his anxiety of the Second Task. Something he loved would be taken and his goal would be to get it back in an hour's time. Did either of them know of anything that lurked under the school that he should be made aware of? Did either of them even know what was under the school?
A few days later, Sirius wrote back asking for the date of the next Hogsmeade trip. Harry shrugged as he answered the owl and then left for Care for Magical Creatures.
Hagrid's Skrewts were now down to two, namely Bob and Mary Sue. The two survivors had killed all the other Skrewts. Harry and Sloane had a bet running on which one would live to the end of the year, though Hermione said it would serve them both right if the Skrewts mated.
Instead of watching over the Skrewts, Hagrid taught them about unicorns. He found their lack of poisonous fangs disappointing, but he did know an awful lot and the lessons were well liked.
The evening before the Task, Harry was in the library with Sloane, researching any subterraneous creatures known to roam near Hogwarts. A good Light Spell seemed to be the cure for most of them.
"Hey, Sloane," Draco's voice interrupted the study time. Both boys looked up to see the blond Slytherian walking over to them.
"Hi Draco. What's up?" Sloane said. Harry merely nodded to acknowledge the fact that he had seen Draco.
"Professor Snape needs to see you. He said it was urgent." Draco said.
Sloane and Harry looked at each other. As Sloane stood up, Harry gave a faint, singsong whisper of, "Sloane's in trouble." Sloane laughed and ruffled Harry's hair before leaving.
"Good luck tomorrow, Potter," Draco sneered. "Don't give any monsters indigestion."
"I'll bear that in mind, Malfoy. Thank you." Harry said, returning to his studies.
Harry was ready for anything when he left for the Second Task. He was ushered to the entrance of the catacombs with the other Champions. By the slightly scared look on Cedric's face, Harry wondered if he had figured out the Puzzle Box.
Bagman gave the signal and the four of them were off. Once he was away from the judges, Harry pulled out his wand and whispered a simple direction spell. He had a feeling that what he was supposed to get would be in the largest cavern, which was north of where he was standing.
He kept his wand lit as he ran down the corridors. Every once in a while, he used the direction spell. However, each time he did, he'd hear things creeping towards him in the dark. They'd scream and scamper once his wand was lit again, though. This was way too easy, which made Harry very nervous. A few times he came across the burnt form of some subterranian creature.
Wasting no time, with the direction spell and what Harry had memorized from the map, he made his way quickly to the largest cavern. To his surprise, Sloane was tied to a stalagmite, along with Hermione, Cho and a pretty little girl with long silvery hair that made Harry think of Fluer.
There was a glowing orb above them, but the light was growing fainter as the seconds ticked on. It suddenly occurred to Harry that when an hour was up, the orb would vanish and the creatures that the light kept at bay would surge forward.
Harry rushed forward and started to untie Sloane when he heard footsteps. Cedric appeared, causing more things to scatter from his lighted wand. Cedric didn't pause as he used a knife to cut Cho's ropes and help her up. Once she was free of the stalagmite, she woke up.
"Get going!" Cedric told Harry. "Fluer and Krum are on their way."
Harry nodded and finished untying Sloane. Once Sloane was up, Harry paused long enough to loosen the ties on Hermione and the girl, and send a few extra orbs up to keep the monsters at bay.
Sloane grinned. "Not staying to help them?"
"I highly doubt that Dumbledore would actually allow them to come to harm, but I'm not taking any chances. Those orbs will last two more hours." Harry said. He and Sloane ran for the exit, stopping only to point Krum and Fluer in the right direction when they passed.
On the way back to the front line, Harry was surprised by something large and hairy with big teeth. The light spell did not bother it as it tried to rip Harry's arms off. Sloane, feeling useless without his wand, grabbed Harry's wand and screamed a blasting spell. It worked too good and the boys and the monster were sent through the floor.
Sloane groaned and stood up, dusting himself off. He stared at the strange room they had fallen into. Water dripped from the ceiling and there was a long walkway with statues of rearing snakes on either side. Turning, he saw that behind was a huge statue of Salazar Slytherian.
"Where are we?" Harry moaned. He sat up, rubbing his head. The fuzzy creature lay still underneath him, it's head at an unnatural angle.
"I don't know. The Salazar fanclub funhouse, I think," Sloane said. "Let's get going. I don't think this was part of the Task."
Harry nodded and the two boys tried to find a way out. After poking around, they found a door behind the statue that led them to the Slytherian common rooms. Harry whistled and commented on how nice the leather couches were. They made their way back out to the Second Task, surprising the teachers when they showed up behind them.
Word of how Harry had helped and cared for the other Champions had earned him enough points to remain in first place, now tied with Cedric. Krum and Fluer had been grateful for the extra light and the loosened ropes, not to mention being pointed in the right direction. Fluer was so thrilled at getting her sister back that she gave Harry and Sloane a kiss on the cheek.
A few days later, Rita Skeeter's newest article came out, though she no longer published in the Daily Prophet. True to Ron's prediction, she had gone after Hermione. Pansy Parkinson had kindly given Hermione the article before Potions. Harry was suddenly loathed to read it when he caught Sloane's guarded features.
Hermione nearly laughed as she read the article. It was about her, all right. However, it painted her as the unfaithful girlfriend to Harry. She was stringing Harry along by playing with the hearts of both Victor Krum and Sloane Mars. It even hinted to her making Love Potions.
"Well, that's a load of crap," Hermione mused.
"Gee, Hermione, I wish I knew we were dating. I'd have asked you to the Yule Ball." Harry said. Hermione frowned at him, not appreciating his sense of humor.
Harry gave her a grin and started unpacking what he'd need to the Wit-Sharpening Potion. He ignored the giggling from the Slytherian girls or the fact that Draco was flashing POTTER STINKS across the dungeon whenever he could.
Hermione suddenly stopped crushing her scarab beetles. "I wonder how she knew?"
"Knew what?" Harry asked. "You're not really making Love Potions, are you?"
"No, silly. How did Rita know that Krum had asked me to visit him over summer?" Hermione said, referring to the article.
"When was this?" Ron asked, his face darkening.
Hermione went back to her beetles. "After the Second Task. He said that he had never felt this way for anyone and wanted to know if I could visit over the summer."
"What did you say?" Ron asked.
"Fascinating as your social life undoubtedly is, Miss Granger," an icy voice said from behind them, "I must ask that you refrain from discussing it in my class. Ten points from Gryffindor."
Snape glided over to their table, his dark eyes taking in the three students.
"Ah . . . reading magazines under the table as well?" Snape said silkily, pulling the article from where Hermione had stashed it. "A further ten points from Gryffindor . . . oh, but of course, Potter must keep up with his press cuttings."
Harry felt his heart drop as Snape gave him an unpleasant smile.
"Harry Potter's Secret Heartache . . . dear me, what is ailing you now, Potter?" Snape read.
"I don't suppose asking you to not read that will do me any good?" Harry said. When Snape glared at him, Harry added a very meak "please".
Snape merely sneered at him and turned back to the article. Harry was right, it didn't do any good as Snape read it out loud. It was a hundred times worse to hear his professor read it, and he paused at the end of each sentence to let the Slytherians have a hearty laugh. At least, Sloane wasn't laughing. His face was burning like Harry's and Hermione's.
"How touching," Snape mocked, rolling the magazine up. "Well, I'd better split the three of you up so you can concentrate on Potions and not your sordid little love triangles. Weasley, you stay here, Miss Granger, over there by Miss Parkinson. Potter, that table in the front by my desk. Move, now!"
Harry sighed and grabbed his things. He wondered how his mom could ever even see anything besides a sneering, hateful old man. He was beginning to think that Snape had used a Love Potion on Tori because there was no way if he presented the same face he showed Harry to Tori that she would ever stay near him.
Snape followed Harry and watched as he set his station up and proceeded to finish his potion.
"All of this press attention seems to have inflated your already huge ego, Potter," Snape hissed quietly, once the rest of the class had settled down.
Harry ignored him. He knew why Snape hated him and he wasn't going to rise to the bait. Besides, a few words from him and Sloane, and Snape might not have a date next Christmas. Tori would never allow anyone to terrorize her children.
"You might be laboring under the delusion that the entire wizarding world is impressed with you, Potter. You might even have your adopted mom so enamored with you, that you think you can manipulate her, but let me tell you something, Potter. To me, you are nothing more then a nasty little boy who considers rules to be beneath you, just like your father."
Harry tried tuning him out as he finished his potion. Now it needed to simmer before he added the last ingredient.
"Fair warning, Potter," Snape continued, his voice even softer and far more dangerous then before, "pint-sized celebrity or not, if you take one more midnight stroll into my office again -"
"I haven't been in your office!" Harry said. He had wondered how long it would take for Snape to accuse him of the missing blood oath.
"Don't lie to me. That parchment with your oath is missing, as well as some potion ingredients and . . . " Snape hesitated. "Only you would gain by taking that parchment." Snape hissed, his black eyes boring into Harry's green ones.
Harry stared back, determined to not blink. He had stared down snakes before and he wouldn't loose to Snape. He knew he was innocent, and had nothing to fear from Snape.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Harry said. "I'd never take the one thing that could prove to you that I'm following the rules."
"I know you were out of bed that night, Potter." Snape sneered. "Now, Mad-Eye Moody may have joined your fan club, but I won't tolerate your behavior!"
Harry made a mental note that Moody had been in the halls of the dungeons on the night that the parchment was taken. Though he wasn't sure why the ex-Auror might want the blood oath, he had known about it. Only those who had been in the room when he was announced as the fourth champion had known that Snape had a blood oath from Harry. Of those people, only Karkaroff would have been on Harry's list of people most likely to steal it, and that was just because Harry didn't trust the man.
"I'll be sure to remember that if I ever have the urge to go anywhere near your office," Harry said coolly.
Snape's eyes flashed. He reached into his robes and Harry was certain that he'd bring his wand out and hex him. He hoped that Sloane was watching. However, Snape only brought out a small bottle with a clear potion in it.
"Do you know what this is, Potter?" Snape asked, his eyes glittering dangerously.
"I can name seven potions or it's water." Harry answered. "Can I have another clue?"
"It is Veritaserum - a Truth Potion so powerful that three drops will have you spilling your innermost secrets for all to hear." Snape whispered viciously. He had clearly not liked Harry being flippant. "Now, this is a controlled potion, Potter, and regrettablyit's uses on students are very restricted,but unless you watch your step, you may find that my hands slips" - he shook the bottle slightly - "right over your evening pumpkin juice. And then, Potter, we'll find out if you've been in my office or not."
Harry was tempted to tell him that he drank water or sweet tea at meal time, and any pumpkin juice he tampered wouldn't be his, but decided against it. He had a feeling that Snape would explode if he spoke at the moment. Besides, he had a few secrets that he wanted to keep. Like being in contact with Sirius, for one, or his crush on Cho.
Snape glared at him until a knock on the dungeon door distracted him. Karkaroff walked in, marching up to Snape.
"We need to talk," Karkaroff said, his lips barely moving. He seemed determined that no one overhear him.
"After my lesson, Karkaroff," Snape muttered. He tried to walk past the foreign headmaster, but Karkaroff grabbed him by his arm.
"I want to talk now, while you can't run away, Severus."
"After my lesson," Snape repeated, shaking the man off.
Harry pretended to hold up the final ingredient to his potion - armadillo bile - to measure it perfectly. He took a quick glance at the two men. Karkaroff seemed worried and Snape was furious. Harry deliberately knocked over the jar of bile with two minutes to the bell. He slipped under the desk to clean up the mess, intent on hearing what Karkaroff had to say.
"What is so urgent?" he heard Snape hiss.
"This," Karkaroff said. Harry peered around the edge of his table to see Karkaroff showing Snape something on his left inner forearm.
"Put it away!" Snape cried, looking around the classroom.
"You must have noticed, Severus!" Karkaroff began.
"Later!" Snape snapped. "Potter, Mars! What are you two doing?"
Harry held up the rag of armadillo bile and noticed that Sloane had done the same thing. They looked at each other, surprised.
"Cleaning up my armadillo bile, sir," they both said in unison.
Snape actually rubbed his temples as he glared at the two of them. "It always amazes me that Tori didn't strangle you two in your sleep if you gave her half as much problems as you give me," Snape muttered. Harry doubted that they were meant to hear that.
"Get out, now!" Snape yelled, sending both boys running for the door.
"You are so clumsy!" Sloane said, giving Harry a playful push.
"Me? You spilled too!" Harry countered.
The next day was Hogsmeade weekend. Harry packed a lunch for Sirius by sneaking food from the lunch table. He knew that the parchment would be showing black by now, but he no longer had to worry about Snape finding out. He just hoped that who ever took the parchment didn't fully understand what it meant.
Sirius greeted Harry, Hermione and Ron in dog form at the boarders of Hogsmeade. They followed him to a hidden cave where he had Buckbeak the hippogriff. Within minutes of their arrival, they gave Sirius the chicken they brought.
"What are you doing here, Sirius?" Harry asked as he watched his godfather eat the chicken in an almost dog-like fashion.
"Fulfilling my duties as a godfather," Sirius said, gnawing on a chicken bone. He grinned at Harry, but saw the anxiety on his face. "I wanted to be on the spot in case anything happened. I've been taking the Daily Prophet and things seem to be getting fishier."
Harry looked at the papers scattered around. He picked them up and looked at some of the headlines. Mysterious Illness of Bartemius Crounch, Ministry Witch and Companion Still Missing, and Guerra Family of Italy Urges Ministry to Find Bertha Jenkins and May Albers.
Harry frowned, "So, it was May Albers."
"Do you know her, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Yea, she's my aunt May. You remember, the one who traveled to Greece a lot and sent us the information on three-headed dogs." Harry said.
"Oh Harry," Hermione moaned. "I hope she's all right."
"Doubtful," Sirius said between chicken legs. "You know that Voldemort is rumored to be in Albania. He may be up to his old tricks again."
"Thank you for that comforting thought." Harry muttered.
"So, any news at Hogwarts?" Sirius asked after a short pause. Several people, particularly if they were friends with Harry's birth parents, didn't understand why he was so loyal to the Mars Family.
"Just that someone broke into Snape's office one night and stole my blood oath." Harry said. "Moody was there that night because Snape thinks that he was protecting me."
"Someone was in Snape's office? What else was missing?" Sirius asked.
"Some potion ingredients, but no one has mentioned what kinds they were." Harry shrugged. "Snape suspects me, but I know I didn't do it."
Sirius looked off into space a bit. "Stealing potion ingredients was something your father and I would do. We'd go back to the dorm and mix them together for a surprise for the Slytherians." He smiled dreamily. "Those were the days."
Harry moaned. "Great. If anything like that happens, I'm suspect number one."
"Do you know if Moody was patrolling near the dungeons that night?" Hermione asked. "It sounds strange that he'd be anywhere near Snape's office."
Harry shrugged. "Hermione, I wasn't there."
"Maybe it was Moody? Maybe he was searching Snape's office?" Ron said. "After all, Moody was the best Auror around, and that greasy git has Death Eater written all over him."
"Look, Dumbledore trusts Snape," Hermione said. "He'd never let Snape teach if he had been a Death Eater."
"I say poisonous toadstools don't change their spots," Ron answered.
"What do you think, Sirius?" Harry said, knowing that the two of them would start bickering if he didn't distract them.
"I think they both have a point," Sirius said. "I've been wondering why Dumbledore hired Snape, especially since he's always been interested in the Dark Arts. He was famous for that in school. The only person who knew more about the Dark Arts was Tori Mars, and Snape hung out with a group of Slytherians who all turned out to be Death Eaters."
Sirius held up his fingers and ticked off the names. "Rosier and Wilkes - both killed by Aurors a year before Voldemort fell. The Lastranges - married couple in Azkaban. Avery - heard he wormed his way out by saying he was under the Imperius Curse. As far as I know, Snape was never accused of being a Death Eater. Not that that's any indication. Many of them were never caught and Snape is cunning enough to have kept himself out of trouble."
"Snape knows Karkaroff pretty well, but they're both trying to keep it quiet." Ron said.
"Karkaroff was a transfer student for a year or so. I don't recall him and Snape ever talking back then." Sirius muttered.
"Except for yesterday," Harry said. "Karkaroff barged into Potions and showed Snape something on his arm."
Sirius shrugged. "I don't know what that could be, but if Karkaroff is worried and going to Snape for answers . . . "
"I still say that Dumbledore trusts him." Hermione huffed.
It was soon time to go. Sirius reminded Harry to be careful, and Harry promised that he would.
Back at the school, Sloane was having an encounter of his own. Didier Fontaine had pulled Sloane into his office, intent on talking to him.
The caretaker's assistant tried to make him feel at home with sweet tea and general questions. He asked about Tori and how Sloane was doing. Sloane had learned that Didier used to date his mom, though Tori said that it wasn't anything special and Didier made it sound like they were on the verge of getting married.
"Your mother and I were always together, you know," Didier said, giving Sloane a smile that sent shivers down his spine. "I never felt that way about anyone but your mother."
Sloane quickly excused himself, saying he remembered an important meeting. In truth, he was meeting up with Draco to work on their Defense homework.
On his way out, something stopped him. It was a little flash from the corner of his eye. He turned to investigate. There, on Didier's desk, was the picture that Sloane had sent his father.
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A/N: Please review. Pretty please with cherries on top! Mmmm, cherries!