Chapter Six:

Peeves' Problem

CHRISTINE felt her breaths catch in her throat at the towering sight of the intimidating structure of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry before her. She was a few paces away from breaking into a run, though she tried to control herself. Her heart was thundering so loudly against her ribs that she was sure people could hear her.

The steps. She was right in front of the school's steps. Was it too late to go back? Unfortunately, no.

For a moment, the witch's awestruck and wide dark eyes gazed at the weathered old gray steps of the ancient and proud building. She wondered if one of the daunting statues of the gargoyles from above were watching her from above, spying on her, seeing right through Barty's Invisibility Cloak, assessing why she had come, and seeing through her.

She knew she could not stand out here forever.

As much as she might like to, the appropriate parties might be notified if she did. She knew the grotesque statues had been enchanted to provide the Hogwarts Headmaster with warnings and updates of the goings on around his school.

The warlock would most certainly take an interest in a member of the Lestrange family standing outside the school when not invited. The overwhelmed witch mumbled a quick prayer to Merlin and anybody else in the afterlife who might listen to a witch's prayer like hers before darting forward and making her way up the cracked steps as fast as her legs could take her. As she made it toward the entrance, she came to a grinding halt in hesitation.

Her unblinking eyes looked towards the chipped door handles Christine knew she needed to grab onto.

A slight breeze blew past her just then, the soft fabric of the Invisibility Cloak flowing to the side of her, accidentally exposing the bottom half of her feet and a view of her long gray skirt.

She nearly squeaked in surprise but clamped a hand over her mouth and hurried to cover herself with the other hand. Her free hand had a mind of its own as she raised it to the door.

Her slender fingers curled around the handle. "I really am a stupid witch who never learns her place," Christine whisper-hissed through clenched teeth, speaking in a low voice barely above a whisper.

Before she could second guess herself, with a firm twist and a harsh shove, the massive doors to the school creaked open. Through the now-open door, delicate dark brown eyes hidden from the rest of the world peered nervously into the darkness, her nervous eyes making a quick scan of the Great Hall for any sign of Barty.

She breathed out a heavy sigh when she did not immediately see "Moody" wandering the hallway and realized she would have a few minutes to explore the castle, just like the days when she was a student. Not allowing herself to have any second thoughts, the witch bravely slipped through the door and vanished into the darkness, letting the heavy oak doors creak shut rather loudly behind her. She flinched and immediately rested her back against the oak panel of the door, still keeping a hand over her mouth to stifle the sounds of her breathing, but she saw no one.

Only when she was satisfied that she was well and truly alone did she let herself lower her hand. Christine was sure that nobody had spotted her outside as the staff was likely still attending the start-of-term feast.

At least, she hoped that nobody saw her.

She grimaced. Her breaths caught in her throat at the sight of the Great Hall as she twisted her head this way and that, trying to take it all in and marveling at how just the Hall itself had not changed a whit since graduating. Lit torches in their sconces lined the walls. The lights from the small fires draped over Christine's form and she was horrified to see that despite being invisible, her silhouette was still cast on the opposite wall, her shadow looking like she was dancing.

She took a small hesitant step forward into the shadows. She exhaled a shaky breath as she bravely and perhaps a bit foolishly, lowered the hood of her Invisibility Cloak. Barty was sure to bloody murder her himself if she were caught wandering the halls and found by a student or Merlin forbid, a teacher.

Christine was not sure how she would explain herself then though she thought she would deal with the matter if it crossed that bridge. Her mind was stuck on one thing and one thing only. Sweet, temporary freedom.

Exploring the castle as herself, with no disguises, no pretenses. To walk among the halls freely, without Barty's stupid Invisibility Cloak was a dream come true for her. Her hands moving of their own accord, she folded Barty's Invisibility Cloak and tucked it deep into the main compartment of her black handbag she had magically enchanted with an Extension Charm, tucking it away for safekeeping. She would not be here long.

Surely, she wouldn't need it, Christine tried to convince herself. The staff were still at the feast and would be at least another hour, Christine rationalized, nodding to herself. Her dark hair framed her face haphazardly as she tried to keep to the cover of darkness of the shadows as best as she was able as she slunk along the walls of the first floor of Hogwarts.

Even after all this time, it was still so breathtaking. If only Mother could see me now, she thought, and then the thought immediately stirred a horrible bittersweet feeling within her.

A pressure began to build without warning behind the witch's shining eyes. She sniffed and hurriedly wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand, not wanting her tears to fall. She could not—would not—think of her. Christine shook her head to herself and forced thoughts of her mother to the pit of her stomach and focused on finding Barty. She did not think she could explain this sudden pull to the man, or the desire welling in her heart to talk with him more.

Surely, he would be furious to learn she'd disobeyed an order.

He would likely not want to carry on a conversation with her, yet she could not stop thinking about how perhaps she had misjudged the wizard who was trying his best to make her feel comfortable throughout their assignment. Christine came to stand at the Grand Staircase and was undecided whether to turn left or right and decided left. Before she could take one step left, however, the sound of a low cackling snort reached her ears, and she froze in her tracks. The blood drained from her face. She did not even need to look into a mirror at her reflection to see she was as pale as a ghost.

"Fuck," she swore, the curse word escaping her lips through gritted teeth as she gingerly turned around on her heels.

Another cry almost left her lips as she found herself face-to-face with admittedly the last person she expected to see or had been hoping for. Her heart was in her throat, and she very nearly screamed to find Peeves the Poltergeist floating inches from her. If Peeves had been human, he might have been a good-looking chap, though it was the mischief in the poltergeist's eyes that kept the creature from being something you could truly like. His thick tuft of wild orange hair stuck up in every direction. His clothing was tousled, a wild array of colors that was almost offensive to the human eye, and none of which were matching. His nearly transparent skin was a light shade of blue.

Christine swallowed a lump as Peeves said nothing at first by way of greeting, though the mischievous poltergeist's eyes narrowed in suspicion as his eyes twinkled in mischievous delight.

Her face turned beet red as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other and awkwardly cleared her throat as she struggled to think of something to say to break the silence. She needed a plausible story, one Peeves would believe.

Christine began to fret where she stood, rooted to her spot, only able to blink owlishly at Peeves as he floated lazily in front of her, arms across over his broad chest. The edges of Peeves' lips curled up into a smirk.

"Christine Lestrange, how did you do it? When you snuck into Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, how did you get in with the Headmaster not even noticing? Or old Broody 'Mad-Eye' Moody. His mechanical eye sees through Invisibility Cloaks, Lestrange, did you know, Chrissy?" Peeves purred in a smooth and languid voice that immediately set her on edge.

Christine clenched her teeth and balled her small hands into fists at her side as she tried to ignore the fact the poltergeist with a penchant for mischief was clearly trying to get a rise out of her by using Antonin Dolohov's nickname for her, unknowing or perhaps he did know, that the two of them had once had history together during their schooling.

Christine made a noise of dissent through her nose that sounded like a snort as she fought the urge to roll her eyes. Casting a quick cursory glance to her left and right to make sure no other souls were wandering about the Great Hall, seeing no one, she breathed a sigh of relief and let herself relax. She returned her attention back towards Peeves, whose mischievous eyes had grown beady and were narrowed in suspicion as the poltergeist waited for a remark on what the hell she was doing here in the castle unauthorized and how she had snuck into the school undetected by a living soul.

"You're looking at me like I'm a ghost, Peeves," she murmured, knitting her eyebrows together.

"Ghosts could do better than you, witch, you were foolish if you snuck in like this and allowed yourself to be spotted, by me, no less," Peeves snapped, though not maliciously as the poltergeist floated lazily in mid-air in front of her, still keeping his arms crossed. He seemed to be searching her face for something, though what, Christine couldn't say, and she decided she didn't want to know. Whatever Peeves wanted of her, it wasn't going to be good, she thought. "Tell Old Peeves how you got in, Chrissy, and mum's the word, I won't tell a soul. Not even the Headmaster has to know, witch."

Christine's brows rose so far up onto her forehead that they almost receded into her hairline as she gaped at Peeves, her jaw going slightly slack in surprise. The poltergeist's grin widened and she imagined Peeves had his fingers crossed behind his back. And yet, the fact that he had not caused a ruckus when he'd spotted her aimlessly wandering the halls and not reported her to a teacher yet, gave her reason to hope. She felt some hope swell in her chest and wracked her brain for a suitable enough excuse. After a moment, she came up with one that she thought the malicious creature would enjoy, though the joke itself was rather cruel in its nature, but it was right up Peeves' alley in terms of mischief.

Christine let out a frustrated sigh and leaned against the cold stone wall, careful to stick to the shadows and keep her voice low. She swallowed down hard and when she did, it felt as though she were swallowing knives, and her heart was in her throat as it pounded painfully and her ears began to burn. Her throat began to itch with a vicious fever closing on her the longer she clung to the shadows of this cold hallway. She shivered and struggled to find her voice for a moment.

"Invisibility Cloak, Peeves, if you must know, but why did you really stop me? What is it you want? Is there something that I can do for you, Peeves?" she questioned, and then immediately cursed herself as she saw a flash of realization dart across Peeves' face. "What is it going to take for you to...keep quiet about this? I don't want anyone to know that I am here, Peeves, please," she questioned, trying her best to maintain as calm and level-headed a voice as possible.

For a brief, fleeting moment, as a flicker of anger darted across her features, she thought she saw Peeves briefly float away in discomfort, likely seeing the shadow of the sinister side of the Lestrange family that she had unfortunately inherited from Father, but the poltergeist recovered quickly and the edges of his mouth turned down in a twisted frown. She was sure without needing to glance into a mirror she was looking like the shadow of Bellatrix, her cousin's wife.

"I've heard about you, Prissy Chrissy, since your graduation. The Malfoy boy speaks of you from time to time to his friends, the fat tubs of lard Crabbe and Goyle," Peeves snorted, but then his grin widened to almost Cheshire Cat-like proportions. For a moment, Christine wondered if Barty had taken a liking to Peeves when they were students here. "Old Broody Moody's put away nearly half of your family. Half the cells in Azkaban are full of your family, witch. Witches and Wizards that the old mental bit put away. Have you come to revenge, eh? Is that it? Tell the truth, or I tell everyone you're here." Peeves' voice was uncharacteristically cold and there was no malice in the poltergeist's tone now.

"What did you have in mind, hmm? Are you going to haunt the halls of Hogwarts and make Broody Moody think he's losing his mind when he sees you? Is that why you brought the cloak? To torment the school's new batty Defense Against the Dark arts professor?" Peeves asked. A genuine note of interest seeped its way to the surface of the poltergeist's voice now as he moved to hover a mere precious few inches from her face, his nose touching hers and rendering the witch feeling as though someone had just doused a bucket of ice-cold water all over her face. She recoiled.

Christine stiffened.

"Perhaps," she snapped, with an angry bark in her voice, huffing in indignation and folding her arms across her chest. She instantly flinched, hearing Bellatrix in herself, but it was too late to take back her words.

Perhaps if she went along with it, it gave her a more plausible excuse to be here and Peeves would not tell on her.

"I've heard rumors about you, Prissy Chrissy, since you left. You're one of them now, allied to the Dark Lord. You were there this summer at the World Cup?"

Christine felt a surge in her temper flare and the words were ripped from her lips before she could stop herself from speaking out of anger to the poltergeist.

"If you've really heard so much about me as you claim, Peeves, what else do you need to know about me? You seem to already know everything important."

Peeves sneered, and was now hovering so close that their noses touched.

"That you put your...misguided mischief to good use."

Christine fell silent for a long moment, letting her mind mull over the mischievous poltergeist's words and searching Peeves' face for any hint of a lie, though his expression, for once, was as grim as a grave and he did not seem to be joking. Then she felt her lips tug upward in a grin and she began to laugh, a low cackling from the back of her throat.

Peeves' expression was unchanged.

"You're good, Peeves, the other ghosts should give you more credit where it counts," Christine complimented, genuinely meaning her words as she fought back the giggles that sounded entirely too much like Bella for her own comfort, but nor could she stop them either. "Very good. You spot me sneaking about the halls of the castle where you know I'm not to be, and then you blackmail me into, what, fulfilling your own interests? You don't like Auror Moody. Why don't you?"

Peeves crinkled his nose and pulled a face of disgust. Christine could only look on in amusement as she pondered why.

"The man can't take a joke, and the kids are all scared of him. And because he's the perfect target, Prissy Chrissy, how's that for your 'why?'" he snorted, looking at her now as though she were such a disappointment to him and clucking his tongue and shaking his head. "The man's gone mad, he'd be such fun to play games with. What better game than to make him think he's going even loopier? With you around, this year just got even more interesting, Prissy Chrissy."

Christine nibbled on the wall of her mouth as she pondered over whether or not to agree with Peeves' request. He would likely tell on her otherwise unless she assented, and he might perhaps be her best bet at being allowed to stay. She thought over her words very carefully before speaking. She wanted Peeves to keep her secret, but she also wanted to say it in such a way that the poltergeist would be more inclined to help her on his own by keeping an eye on Barty for her.

"He's already gone mad, he doesn't need any more help from me, but if it will keep you from telling on me, then I will do it, Peeves, but I need your help. I can't do this all by myself, Peeves. I need to know where he goes, what he does when he's not teaching his classes if I'm to...help you." Christine heard herself answer in a flat voice that was dull and lifeless in nature as Peeves perhaps sensed her hesitation and was beginning to drift away from her. Perhaps with the intention of alerting a teacher to her presence here in the castle, she did not know, but nor could she pretend to care. Her thoughts were fixated upon Barty and speaking with the man again, for some reason that she could not yet discover.

She had expected Peeves to refuse, though she was momentarily taken aback and at a loss for words when the poltergeist snapped to attention and gave a mock salute.

"On my honor, Peevsie will see it done. His first class is tomorrow morning at nine o'clock," Peeves cackled wickedly and rubbed his hands together. "It's going to be such fun working with you, Prissy Chrissy. Peevsie is looking forward to it," he sneered and then turned away and floated through the wall to his left without so much as a second glance back behind him.

Christine let out a little breath she did not even realize she had been holding and immediately looked away and slumped against the dark wall. Gaining back her solitude almost felt like a victory, and she quickly shoved aside thoughts of Peeves. She would deal with Peeves later, and she had no intentions of being so cruel to Barty, not when the man was under enough pressure from their master to see the Potter boy through the trials and tribulations of the Tournament.

As Christine was mulling over the odd exchange between herself and Peeves, with the poltergeist's proclivity for trouble, a hoarse voice rent through the air and nearly made her scream.

"Did you truly think that I did not know you'd followed me?" came the sound of Moody's voice, which was laced with gravel and calloused with ire.

Christine froze, feeling her breath catch in her throat. She swore her heart had stopped beating too.

Damn. Barty. She had been hoping for a little more time than this, to come up with a better excuse than she had given Peeves as to why she was risking exposure to see Barty tonight. What followed had to have been the longest pause in Christine's life, ever. She could even hear her own breath and the sound of her blood roaring in her ears. For a moment, Christine began to wonder whether she had simply imagined Barty disguised as Moody speaking to her now, but—

"Did you think that I did not see you, Christine?" Barty growled, the wizard's gruff voice dangerously calm. "My eye can see through Invisibility Cloaks, did you forget? I've known you've been following me from the start, Lestrange."

Christine could not even form an apt reply in her mind, she had temporarily lost the ability to speak, let alone think. Merlin's Beard, but this could not bloody be happening to her. Not now.

"Did you honestly think you could disobey me and get away with this?!" As Barty's voice rose in tone to match his anger, Christine felt herself being pulled by her arm and tossed violently against the opposing wall. She was unable to stop the sigh of pain that left her lips as her back stung from the impact, though Barty paid it no mind.

Feeling the hot burning tip of a lighted wand being thrust close to her face, Christine had no time to react, her view nearly blinded by the small yet harrowing white light of Barty's Lumos Charm.

The heat emanating from the tip of his wand was almost too stark a contrast to the cold draftiness of the abandoned corridor the two partners now found themselves in. Christine squeezed her eyes shut for a moment as she found it nearly unbearable and the light far too blindingly bright. Feeling the iron grip of the Death Eater's strong hand on her shoulder, Christine summoned every ounce of courage that existed within herself and slowly managed to open her eyes as the man's wand lowered, allowing her to be able to see.

'Moody's' electric blue eyes invaded her vision as Christine looked up, stricken, and Christine found herself face-to-face with Barty, a look of murderous rage in his one good eye not obscured by Moody's mechanical eye that swiveled wildly without direction. His eyes conveyed to her without him needing to say a word what the man's next course of action was going to be, clearly, absolutely, and incontestably. Christine was about to be punished severely for this little stunt.

She parted her lips to plead with him, but her words died on her lips the moment she heard Barty snarl.

Christine tried to pull away from him, though never got the chance to protest, for the wizard waved his wand and a gag was immediately conjured and placed in her mouth. Her wrists were bound by a pair of magically enchanted zip ties that were not coming off unless Barty himself removed them. Christine was unable to voice her vehement protest as Barty led her by the arm down the hallway. She was not at all surprised by her partner's actions, but she was shocked when she saw the wizard heading straight for what looked like a classroom. She tried to speak, though the gag on her mouth muffled whatever she had hoped to say to Barty. He turned to glower at her as he wrenched open the door.

The Death Eater's face was blank, the man's dark eyes void of any emotion that Christine could detect. Barty looked over her once before he shoved her inside the empty darkened classroom and closed the door, magically locking it behind him, leaving her alone and bound in the dark closet.

She was, like it or not, completely at the whims and mercy of Barty Crouch Jr. Judging by the murderous look of rage in the man's hot, dark eyes, Christine felt she was about to be in a spot of deep trouble and nothing would stop it now.

Very. Deep. Trouble.

PEEVES stood in front of the now-closed classroom door, watching the scene take place before him, able to see through the thick oak panel without any difficulty. After a moment, the poltergeist turned away.

There was a crooked little grin on Peeves' impish face.

"Good start, Prissy Chrissy," he murmured as he floated away down the hall, thinking to himself how much fun this particular school year was going to be. Christine Lestrange had started the first round of their little game to torture Broody Moody to the brink of insanity, and already, Peeves was looking forward to the next. "You may survive this yet."

His mind was reeling with possibilities as he floated towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom with the intention of overturning the furniture and making a complete and utter mess of the classroom.

He had to get to work immediately now and fulfill his part of his and the witch's little game.

Because he wanted so badly to play.