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"Mr Bagman?" he whispered in shock.
"C- Call… off…" the man gasped weakly before he fell silent and his hand dropped down beside him limply.
Andrew's eyes were wide in shock.
"Mr Bagman, call off what? What are you trying to say?!"
It was no use however as the man stayed silent. Only shallow breaths left his mouth and nothing else.
Book 4 – Chapter 34: Dumbledore's Offer
The news of Ludo Bagman's death was all the rage in Hogwarts as many students felt a rising amount of fear at the tense atmosphere. The man was brought in by professors and declared dead almost immediately after being admitted into the Hospital Wing.
The events following saw many people within the Headmaster's office to discuss what had recently happened on school grounds.
"Albus, this is bad. Really, really bad."
"I understand that, Cornelius, but what would you have me do?"
"Catch the culprit responsible for this, of course! It happened on school grounds did it not?!"
The aged man sighed quietly.
"What do you mean? Question all of the students? Have Aurors invade their privacy by searching their belongings? I do not understand just what course of action you believe would be beneficial in this situation."
"Minister, is I may?"
"Oh, Lucius! Please do."
The blonde aristocrat sat back in his seat and looked over at Dumbledore, his face calm, but his eyes predatory.
"Headmaster, I believe one of the last person to see our esteemed deceased colleague was none other than Andrew Potter, was it not?"
Dumbledore's eyes narrowed for a brief moment before he nodded.
"Yes, him along with Mister Krum."
"Hmm, yes, but Mister Krum had left to inform the Professors of Ludo's discovery. Leaving young Mister Potter alone with him."
"What are you suggesting, Lucius?"
"Simply that we bring the boy in and ask him some questions. Mayhaps he spotted something we missed."
"Yes! Yes, that sounds like a brilliant option. Call the boy here, Dumbledore." Fudge jumped in like an overexcited puppy.
"This is highly unprofessional, young Mister Potter has just gone through a huge amount of stress since the discovery of Mister Bagman. Summoning him here and forcing him to relive this is inhumane."
"Dumbledore a ministry official is dead! The public is in a panic. We need answers and if that Potter boy can shed any light on the investigation, I believe it is well worth the sacrifice of a small amount of pride!" Fudge demanded heatedly.
The Minister though would be quick to regret taking such a tone with one of the strongest wizards in the world though, as the room suddenly felt several degrees colder and the Headmaster simply regarded him with a cold glare.
"Understand one thing, Cornelius, you may be the Minister of Magic, but I and I alone am the Headmaster of this school. I and I alone have the power to dictate what happens within these walls and I alone have the right to decide what is the best thing for my students. I do not believe Mister Potter has the answers you seek. If he had, he would have already shared them. Now, I believe it is time for the both of you to leave my office."
It was nothing short of a demand and both men found they couldn't refute anything Dumbledore had said, as neither had seen the man look this angry before. Scrambling to collect his things the Minister moved as quickly as possible to floo back to the Ministry while Malfoy senior moved calmly but quickly to head back to his own home.
Once alone Dumbledore released a sigh and leaned back in his seat. It seemed as though the forces of Darkness were moving once more, they didn't have much time. He called for a house elf to summon Harry to his office. He only had so much time left.
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Hermione had managed to get the map from Harry with only a small amount of haggling and met up with Su. The two girls were once more in the back of the library hidden by a bookshelf in order to continue their investigation.
"So, we know she's a bug. But that doesn't help much when there are so many places in this bleeding school for regular sized people to hide, just how are we going to find, Skeeter?"
"With this." Hermione presented the parchment proudly.
"No offense Hermione, but how is a spare piece of parchment going to help us catch Skeeter?"
The Gryffindor smiled slyly before brandishing her wand and making sure no one was around to see or hear them.
"I solemnly swear, that I am up to no good."
Su watched in fascination as words started filling the pages.
"Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs present, the Marauders map?" she read out loud while wearing a frown. "It's a map?"
"Not just a map." Hermione answered cryptically. She opened the parchment up and watched as Su's eyes filled with wonder.
"This is amazing. What are the enchantments on this? Who made it? I'm assuming it's these Marauders. Who are they? How does it track everyone in the school?"
Hermione grinned. "Su, calm down. We'll do a full breakdown of this of treasure in a moment, but do you understand now, just how we can catch our little reporter?"
"Oh, this is genius."
"Exactly, now all we have to do is give her something juicy to bait her out of hiding."
The two girls shared a predatory grin as they began planning while every now and again making notes about the map they were going to investigate.
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Ron sat in the courtyard reading a magazine which had a fascinating column on healthy ways to communicate with your partner as Lavender sat beside him, her head resting on his shoulder. They weren't officially a couple, but the two were seen together more often than not especially after attending the Yule Ball together.
"You really like that article, huh?"
"It's good. There's a whole thing about listening to what someone says and processing it before giving a response. Like I know that's what people should do, but they give tips on how to do it when you're having a heated argument. It's really good."
Lavender smiled. "Hey, what did you want to do once you leave Hogwarts?"
The question brought the redhead up short. He frowned and placed the magazine down, using a finger to keep his place.
"I'm not really sure. I'd love to play Quidditch for the Cannons."
"What if that doesn't work out?" Lavender asked curiously.
"Hmm, I really don't know."
"Well, you like those articles, right? Maybe you should do something like that."
"What like a mind healer?"
"No, more like a relationship healer. I mean, don't get me wrong all the things written in those magazines are amazing, but they're too general, you know?"
Ron thought and nodded. They were rather broad in the advice they gave.
"Are relationship healers a thing?"
"In the muggle world, sure. They're called psychologists. They work with people to help them with stuff they don't or can't help themselves with. They make some pretty decent money too."
"But that's in the muggle world, right? I don't know the first thing about that stuff."
"Hermione's a muggle-born, she can help you out. Maybe you can even take Muggle studies. You know brush up on some of the history. The information is all really outdated though so…"
Ron hummed. "Hermione's a great study but she's also a pretty crappy teacher, I don't know if she'll be able to help me out that mu- Hold on! You're a half-blood, right?"
Lavender nodded.
"What if you helped me? I mean-" a blush slowly made it's way up his neck. "We hang out together, right? So, it wouldn't be anything new."
The girl smiled against his shoulder and wrapped an arm around his waist pulling him closer to her, and sighing at the warmth.
"If you're alright with that."
Ron smiled and rested his cheek against the top of her head, "Of course, I am."
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"Sir?" Harry called out as he entered the Headmaster's office.
"Ah, Harry please do come in. Have a seat."
Harry closed the door behind him and made it over to the chair the Headmaster gestured to, before sitting and looked at the man with a look of curiosity.
"I hope you will forgive me for my lack of free time, Harry. A lot has been happening recently that has called for my attention."
"It's no problem, Professor. What can I help you with?"
"Harry, I feel as though we have been mainly focussed on theory work recently. I am sure you are dying to do some actual practical work."
The young man felt excitement bubbling from within him. "Yes sir."
The older man chuckled at the enthusiasm. "Well, tonight meet me at the base of my office. Shall we say a around nine?"
The young man nodded vigorously and stood to leave the office when Dumbledore called out to him once more.
"Before then, you must sadly do a bit of research. Find out what these spells do and come up with interesting ways to counter them, if you wouldn't mind. If you can not think of a creative way to counter one of them, just learn the text book method. Either way, you must have a way to prevent these spells. Now then, you may go."
"Yes sir! See you later." Harry called out excitedly as he rushed out of the door and decided to immediately go towards the library.
Dumbledore watched the young man and chuckled to himself before his thoughts turned back to the tournament. Things were getting out of hand, and Crouch Jnr had still not revealed anything about Voldemort's plans. Why was he stationed in Hogwarts? What did the Dark Lord need that was here? Sighing he knew he wouldn't have the answers, as such he decided to go out for a little while, perhaps enjoy the sun that had decided to pay them a visit after weeks of dreary overcast weather.
