AUTHORS NOTE! :P
WE REACHED 300! WHOO!
Hey, everyone! How are you?
So I had an eye test today, and it turns out that I'm short-sighted in one eye... how messed up is that? I don't need glasses though, but in a few months I might need them o.O
Here's the next chapter, so I hope you like it!
But first, I'll answer some reviews.
ChopSuzi: haha yeah that would help!
Gremlin-Rayne: cookies for me? Ah that's so sweet! I'm afraid that you'll just have to wait and see. The last few chapters shall reveal all.
Arkell26: haha well you deserve a chapter!
Guest: Let's just say she reacts badly...kinda like how she reacted with Fang kissing the Red Haired Wonder, but maybe worse. I haven't exactly got all the details figured out, but lets just say it won't be pretty. I didn't like Nevermore :( I was so disappointed with it...why would he finish such an amazing series like that? Haha I don't think you're a nutter, your review made me laugh. Thanks haha :)
WingedHero540: that would be interesting to write about...
KorraAvanasidoch: I'll made you a deal. It won't be their first kiss, I'm sorry, but I've already got their first kiss planned out. But that will happen and they'll kiss like that. Could that work?
Thanks to everyone else that reviewed, favourite and alerts! And to everyone else that just started reading the story! You guys are awesome! :D
Now, on with the story!
Enjoy!
-Rach ;)
Max's POV
After breakfast on Sunday morning, the six of us and Nudge went up to the Owlery to send the letter to Percy that Sirius suggested, asking him if he'd seen or heard from Crouch lately. We decided to use Hedwig, because it was so long since she'd be out on a job. After we watched her fly away, we headed down to the kitchen to give Dobby his new socks.
The house-elves gave us a very happy welcome, bowing and bustling around to make more tea. Dobby was ecstatic about his present.
"Harry Potter is too good to Dobby!" he squeaked, tears in his enormous green eyes.
"You really saved my life with that gillyweed Dobby," Harry grinned.
"No chance of more eclairs, is there?" Iggy asked, looking around at all the beaming house-elves.
"You've just had breakfast!" Hermione said, but a great platter of eclairs was already zooming towards us, supported by four house-elves.
"We should get some stuff and send it to Snuffles," I muttered.
"Good idea," Harry said.
"Yeah, it'll give Pig something to do," Ron said. "You couldn't give us a bit more food, could you?" he said to the house-elves, and they bowed delightedly and scurried off.
"Dobby, where's Winky?" Hermione asked.
"Winky is over there by the fire, miss," Dobby said quietly, his ears dropping.
"Oh dear," Hermione said when she saw Winky.
I looked over at the fireplace. Winky was sitting on the same stool as last time, but she had let herself become so filthy that she I couldn't recognise her at first amongst all the smoke-blackened bricks behind her. Her clothes were ragged and unwashed. She was clutching a bottle of butterbeer and swaying slightly on her stool, staring sadly into the fire. As we watched, she gave a huge hiccup. It had to have been one of the saddest things I've ever seen, and that's coming from me.
"Winky is getting through six bottles a day now," Dobby said sadly.
"Well, that stuff isn't strong," I said.
But Dobby just shook his head. "`Tis strong for house-elves, miss."
Winky hiccuped again. The house-elves that were bringing us the food looked disapprovingly at her as they returned to their work.
"Winky wants to go home," Dobby whispered, "Winky still thinks Mr Crouch is her master, and nothing Dobby says will persuade her that Professor Dumbledore is her master now."
"Hey Winky," I said kindly as an idea struck me, walking over to her and bending down. "You don't know what Mr Crouch might be up to, do you? Because he's stopped coming to judge the Triwizard Tournament."
Winky looked up at me with huge, sad brown eyes. I couldn't help but feel bad for her. She swayed slightly, then said, "M- Master is stopped- hic- coming?"
"Yeah," Fang said, catching onto the idea. "We haven't seen him since the first task. The Prophet says he's been ill."
Winky swayed once more, staring at Fang.
"Master-hic- ill?"
Her bottom lip began to tremble. I tried to think of something to do to comfort her, but I couldn't think of anything.
"But we're not sure if that's true," Nudge said quickly.
"Master is needing his- hic- Winky!" she whimpered. "Master cannot- hic- manage- hic- all by himself!"
"Other people manage to do their own housework, Winky," Iggy said.
"Winky- hic- is not only doing- hic- housework for Mr Crouch!" Winky squeaked, swaying worse then ever and slopping butterbeer all down her front. I put my hand on her shoulder to steady her, but she didn't seem to notice. "Master is- hic- trusting Winky with his- hic- most important secret!"
"What?" Harry said.
But Winky shook her head hard, spilling more butterbeer on herself, and some on my arm and shirt.
"Winky keeps her Masters- hic- secrets," she said, frowning up at us with her eyes crossed. "You is-hic- nosing, you is."
"Winky must not talk to Harry Potter and his friends that way!" Dobby said angrily. "They are all brave and noble, and not nosy!"
"They is nosing- hic- into my master's- hic- private and secret- hic- Winky is a good house-elf- hic- Winky keeps her silence- hic- people trying to- hic- pry and poke- hic-"
Winky's eyes dropped, and suddenly, without warning, she slid off her stool onto the fireplace, snoring loudly. The empty bottle of butterbeer rolled from her grip and rolled across the floor. A few house-elves came hurrying forward, looking disgusted. Some of them came over with a large tablecloth and placed it over Winky, hiding her from sight.
"She's unhappy," Hermione said, "why don't you try and make her happy instead of just covering her up?"
"Begging you pardon, miss," said the house-elf, bowing again, "but house-elves have no right to be happy when there is work to be done, or masters to serve."
"Oh for Pete's sake," Hermione cried, waving her arms. "Listen to me, all of you! You've got just as much right as wizards to be happy! You've got the rights to get wages, and holidays, and real, proper clothes. You don't have to obey every command you get! You have the right to be free! Just look at Dobby!"
"Please leave Dobby out of this, Miss," Dobby said, ducking behind me, looking scared. The cheery smiles had vanished from the house-elves faces around the kitchen. They were looking at Hermione as if she was telling them they should all walk around with turnips on their heads.
"We has your extra food!" said a house-elf at my elbow as he shoved a large ham, a dozen cakes and some fruit into my arms. "Goodbye!"
The house-elves crowded around the seven of us, ushering us out of the kitchen, with many small hands pushing into the smalls of our backs.
"Thank you for the socks, Harry Potter!" Dobby called miserably from the fireplace, still standing beside the tablecloth that was Winky.
"You couldn't keep your mouth closed, could you, Hermione?" Ron said angrily as we climbed the stairs back to Gryffindor tower. "They won't want us visiting any more now! We could have asked Winky more questions about Crouch!"
"As if you care about that!" Hermione retorted. "You only go down there for the food!"
It was an irritating day after that. No matter how much I tried to get them to stop, Ron and Hermione just couldn't stop bickering while we were trying to do our homework in the common room. It didn't help that Fang and Iggy would join in sometimes, only making Ron and Hermione more mad. Harry seemed to be the only other person getting annoyed at it all.
He leaned closer to me and whispered, "Do you want to go to the Owlery and sent Sirius the food?" He pointed to his bag, which still held all the food the house-elves gave us. I nodded and stood up after Harry, calling back to the others, "Be back in a few," as we went out through the portrait hole.
"I thought I'd go deaf listening to them," I moaned as we walked to the Owlery.
"Most of what they were arguing about didn't even make sense," Harry said, grinning.
"Well, everything Hermione said made sense. It's Hermione. Everything she says has to make sense, or the universe would explode."
We reached the Owlery and called Pigwidgeon down, but when we saw that he would be way to small to carry all the food on his own, we got Freedom and Grenade down as well, and tied the large package between them. Me and Harry stood at the window, watching them fly away. We didn't speak, but it wasn't awkward. It was actually the complete opposite.
"I never thanked you," I said suddenly.
Harry looked at me, surprised. "For what?"
"For saving me in the lake. Thank you."
"Nothing would of happened to you anyway. There's no need to thank me," Harry said.
I turned around and faced him. "That doesn't matter. You didn't know what would happen to us, so you stayed to make sure we'd all be safe. Thank you."
Harry looked like he was going to protest again, but I put my hand over his mouth, ignoring the way my heart beat faster when I touched him. "I don't thank people that often, so when I do, you should just accept it." It was only when I finished talking that I realised how close I was standing to Harry. I slowly took my hand away from his mouth, and looked up at him. He was staring at me with an emotion in his eyes that I didn't recognise.
Oh my God, are we going to kiss? I kept thinking.
We were getting closer and closer, and we were going to kiss-
"Agghh!" I screamed as an owl flew right passed my face.
I looked up at Harry, my face red with embarrassment. Shocked, I saw that he was trying not to laugh. "Oh, shut up!" I snapped, trying not to laugh myself. "That was scary!"
"It was just an owl," Harry laughed.
"That owl was terrifying!" I said, laughing.
"Maximum Ride, scared of an owl? What has the world come to?" Harry joked.
"Hey, there are plenty of stuff I'm scared of that no one knows about."
"Like what?"
I tapped my nose. "Now, now, don't be nosy."
We leaned against the windowsill again. I wondered whether to bring up what just happened, and what would have happened if that owl hadn't interrupted, but I decided against it. I didn't want to make things awkward.
"Hey look, it's Hagrid," Harry said, pointing down towards the grounds. I looked down and saw Hagrid outside his cabin, digging.
"Wonder what he's digging?" I asked.
"Look's like a new vegetable patch or something," Harry muttered, looking around the grounds. As we watched, we saw Madame Maxime emerge from the Beauxbatons carriage and walked over to Hagrid. She seemed to be trying to engage him in conversation. Hagrid leaned against his spade but it seemed like he wasn't talking because she returned to her carriage after a few minutes.
Neither me nor Harry wanted to go back to the common room and listen to Ron, Hermione, Fang and Iggy fighting, so we decided to stay in the Owlery and we watched Hagrid digging until the darkness swallowed him up.
It was past midnight when Harry and I went back to the common room. By the next morning, luckily everyone was in better moods. Every time I looked at Harry, I'd remember last night when we were so close to kissing. I knew I had a little crush on him in first-year, but I was eleven. So why did my heart skip a beat every time I remember being so close to him?
When the post owls started coming in from the window, Hermione looked up hopefully.
"Percy won't have an answer yet," Iggy said. "We only sent the letter yesterday."
"No, it's not that," Hermione said. "I've taken out a subscription for the Daily Prophet. I'm sick of finding everything out from the Slytherins."
"Good thinking!" Harry said, looking up as well. "Hermione, I think you're in luck-"
A grey owl was soaring towards Hermione.
"It doesn't have a newspaper though," Hermione said, frowning, "It's-"
But to all of our surprise, the grey owl landed in front of Hermione, followed by four barn owls, and a tawny. Then three barn owls landed in front of me.
I looked at Hermione. "What do you think these are?" I asked. Hermione shrugged, looked bewildered. She reached out and took the letter from the grey owl, and opened it.
"Oh, really!" she spluttered, her face going red.
"What is it?" Fang asked, moving my goblet out of the way before an owl knocked it over.
"It's- oh, how ridiculous-"
She thrust the letter to me and I saw that it was not handwritten but composed from letters that seemed to be cut from the Daily Prophet.
yOu ArE A WiCKeD gIrL. HArRy PoTtER DESeRvES BeTtEr TheN YOu. GO bAcK TO wHeRe YOU bELoNG, MUgGLE!
"They're all like that!" Hermione said. She looked at me. "What do yours say?"
I opened the closest one to me and read one that was pasted from the Daily Prophet as well.
YoU aRE noTHINg BUt A FreAK! WhY WoUlD SOmEoNE LIkE HaRRy pOTtER WAnT yOU?
I paled and showed the letter to the others. I opened the other few, and they basically all said the same thing. It was the same for Hermione. I was just about to open the last letter when Hermione cried "Ow!"
I wheeled around and saw that Hermione was cradling her hands. The last envelope had contained a yellowish-green liquid that smelled like petrol, and her hands were erupting in large yellow boils.
"Undiluted bubotuber pus!" Ron said, picking up the envelope and sniffing it.
"Ouch!" Hermione said, tears in her eyes and she tried to rib the pus off with a napkin, but her fingers were now so thickly covered in painful sores that it looked like she was wearing a pair of thick knobbly gloves.
"You should go to the hospital wing," Fang said. "We'll tell Professor Sprout where you've gone."
"I'll go with you," I said, standing up. Hermione stood up beside me, cradling her hands to her chest and trying to hold back the tears.
We hurried up to the hospital wing, and when we walked in, Madam Pomfrey was just about to walk into her office. She turned around when we walked in, and asked, "Miss Ride? What happened to you this time?"
I grinned. "It's not me this time, Madam Pomfrey. Hermione got undiluted bubotuber pus on her hands," I explained
"Oh dear," Madam Pomfrey said, as she guided Hermione over to a bed. "I thought you were required to wear gloves in Herbology when dealing with bubotuber pus?"
Hermione and I shared a look. "This didn't happen in Herbology," I said.
Madam Pomfrey raised her eyebrows. "Then how did it happen?"
I looked at Hermione. She nodded.
"Did you read that article in Witch Weekly about me, Hermione and Harry?" I asked.
"The one Skeeter wrote? Yes, I read it. Complete rubbish! But what does that have to do with this?" she asked, putting gloves on and gently touching Hermione's hands.
"Some people sent us letters this morning. One of them was full of bubotuber pus."
Madam Pomfrey looked disgusted. "It's one thing to actually believe anything that Skeeter writes, but to actually send something like that to children!"
"My hands will be okay, right?" Hermione asked.
"Of course, dear. I'll have them right within the hour, and there won't be any mark left. You'll have to wear bandages around your hands for a few hours though."
Hermione nodded, but she looked miserable. "It'll be okay, Hermione. Don't worry about this," I said.
She smiled sadly, then Madam Pomfrey started healing her hands.
Nearly forty minutes later, we were allowed to leave. Hermione's hands were heavily bandaged and she was more miserable now then ever. I suggested that we didn't have to go back to class, but Hermione insisted, even though we had Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins now.
We walked out onto the grounds, me carrying Hermione's bag for her. We saw the class walking around the grounds, following fluffy black creatures that were diving in and out of the ground. I spotted all the guys talking to Hagrid, and they looked up as we got closer. I also noticed that Pansy Parkinson was staring at us as well, a smug smile on her pug-like face.
Hagrid gave us a warm smile, then turned back to the class and said, "Well, let's check how yeh've done! Count yer coins! An' there's no point tryin' to steal any, Goyle," he said, his eyes narrowed. "It's leprechaun gold. Vanishes after a few hours."
Goyle emptied his pockets, looking sulky. Turns out that Ron's niffler (Fang told me and Hermione what they were called) had been the most successful, so Hagrid handed him a huge slab of Honeyduke's chocolate as a prize. The bell rang across the grounds signalling lunch, and the rest of the class went off towards the castle. The six of us stayed behind and helped Hagrid put the nifflers back into their boxes.
"What yeh done ter your hands, Hermione?" Hagrid asked, concerned.
We told him about the hate mail we got this morning, and Hermione's containing bubotuber pus.
"Aah, don' worry," Hagrid said gently, looking at us. "I got some o' those letters as well, after Rita Skeeter wrote abou' my mum. `Yeh're a monster and yeh should be put down.' `Yer mother killed innocent people an' if you had any decency, you'd jump in a lake.'"
"Someone couldn't have said that!" Hermione said, shocked.
"Yeah," Hagrid said, putting away the last niffler. "They're jus' nutters, Hermione, Max. Don't open 'em if yeh get any more. Chuck 'em straight in the fire."
"You missed a really good lesson," Harry said as we walked back to the castle. "They're good nifflers, aren't they?"
The other mumbled an agreement, but Ron was just frowning at his chocolate bar.
"What's wrong?" I said. "Wrong flavour?"
"No," Ron said shortly. Then he turned to Harry. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
"About the gold."
"What gold?"
"The leprechaun gold I gave you at the Quidditch World Cup, for the Omnioculars. Why didn't you tell me that it disappeared?"
"Oh...,"Harry said a few minutes later. "I dunno...I guess I just never noticed. I was more worried about my wand than anything else, wasn't I?"
We walked into the Great Hall and sat at the Gryffindor table for lunch.
"Must be nice," Ron said suddenly. "To have so much money you don't even notice a pocketful of Galleons goes missing."
"Listen, there were other stuff on my mind that night," Harry said impatiently. "We all did, remember?"
"I didn't even know that leprechaun gold vanishes," Ron said, not paying attention to Harry. "I thought I was paying you back. You shouldn't have gotten my that Chudley Cannon hat for Christmas."
"Forget it, all right?" Harry said. Ron just stabbed a potato with his fork, and didn't say anything. But after a few minutes, he said, "I hate being poor."
The rest of us stared at each other, not knowing what to say. The Weasely's were poor, but Mr Weasley's job didn't pay as well as others, and they did have five of their seven children still living with them, not to mention the six members of the flock. Even though the Ministry gave Mr and Mrs Weasley money every month, that was just for the flock. After that money was gone on food, or clothes, or books, there was barely any left for Mrs Weasley.
The flock didn't really mind about them being poor. When we lived with Jeb, we always had to get our clothes from charity shops, and it was very rare that we would get the amount of food that we needed. Living with the Weasley's was better, in a way, because Mrs Weasley would always go out of her way to make sure we got all the calories we needed. Jeb tried his best, he really did. Without thinking, I reached up and closed my hand around the locket around my neck. I just hope that Ron would realise that money wasn't as important as having a loving family.
"It stinks," Ron went on, still glaring at the potato on his plate, as if everything that was wrong in the world was the potato's fault. "I can't blame Fred nad George for wanting to get a bit more money. Wish I could. Wish I had a niffler."
"Well, now we know what to get you for your birthday," I said brightly, hoping to cheer him up. Ron just scowled.
"Come on, Ron, as least your fingers aren't full of pus!" Hermione said, lifting up her bandaged hands. She was having difficulty using her knife and fork, her fingers were so stiff and swollen. "I hate that Skeeter woman!" she burst out so suddenly that Iggy dropped his fork. "I'll get her back for this if it's the last thing I do!"
I nodded in agreement. She was going to regret ever writing that stuff about the flock, Hagrid, Harry, and Hermione, and everything else she did that ruined someone's life.
Hate mail continued to come for me and Hermione that week. All of mine were basically the same, that I was a freak, that no one would love me, that I should just end my life blah blah blah. We stopped opening them after a while, but then some idiots started us Howlers, that would explode in the middle of breakfast and everyone in the Great Hall could hear them shouting insults at us.
I was starting to get sick of telling people that I was Harry's, or Fang's, girlfriend.
"It'll die down," Fang kept assuring me whenever someone called us freaks.
"If we just ignore them, they'll get bored. People got bored with the stuff she wrote about me," Harry kept saying. I knew they were just saying it to stop me from punching someone, even though I could tell they wanted to hit a few people as well.
"I just want to know how she's listening to people's conversations when she's meant to be banned from the grounds!" I said angrily.
During our last Defence Against the Dark Arts class of that week, I got an idea. I whispered it to Hermione, who nodded. After class, we walked up to Professor Moody while the boys waited for us outside the door.
"Sir, could we ask you something?" I asked.
Moody grunted and said, "Ask away, Miss Ride."
"Well, we know that you can see through Invisibility Cloaks, so we were wondering...did you see Rita Skeeter anyway near the lake at the second task, sir?" Hermione asked.
Moody shook his head. "If I had seen her, everyone would have known about it. Haven't seen her since before Christmas. Why do you want to know?" he asked.
"We want to know how she's listening to peoples conversations," I said. Moody grinned slightly and said, "If you figure it out, and get her out of business, I'd give you both twenty Galleons each."
We gaped at him. "Deal," I said, nodding.
"Deal," he said. "Now, go lunch."
We left the classroom, and started walking to lunch.
"Well, ol' Rita's not using an Invisibility Cloak," I said. "Moody said he didn't see the slime-ball anyway near the lake."
"Is there any point is asking you to drop this?" Ron asked.
"No!" we said at the same time. "I want to know how she knows about the flock and the wings," I said.
"I want to know how she heard me and Viktor talking, and about Hagrid's mum," Hermione said.
"Maybe she bugged you," Fang suggested. Jeb taught us all about bugging, and hidden cameras.
"I'd know if I was bugged, Fang," I said stubbornly.
"She wouldn't," Fang said, pointing at Hermione. It was possible...
"Bugged?" Ron said, confused. "Like...putting fleas on her or something?"
Iggy started explaining to Ron about hidden microphones and recording equipment. Ron was fascinated, but Hermione interrupted his questions.
"Are any of you going to read Hogwarts, A History?" she asked.
"What's the point?" Harry said. "You know it by heart. We'll just ask you."
"All of the things that Muggles use instead of magic- electricity, computers and radar, all of those things- they all go haywire around Hogwarts, there's just too much magic in the air. No, Rita's using magic to eavesdrop, she has to be...If only I could find out what she's doing...if it's illegal, I'll have her..."
"Haven't we got enough to worry about?" Ron asked. "We don't need to start some revenge war on Rita Skeeter as well!"
"I'm asking for your help!" Hermione snapped. "I'll do it with Max. Or on my own." She looked at me and raised her eyebrows.
"You know I'm in," I said.
"Fine. I'll see you later," she said and stormed off up the staircase. I was pretty sure she was going to the library.
"I bet she'll come back with a box of `I Hate Rita Skeeter' badges," Iggy said.
But Hermione was true to her word, and didn't ask any of us for help. Of course, I helped her anyway, but I wasn't doing as much as she was. I was glad that she didn't ask for help, because our workload was just getting bigger and bigger before the Easter holidays. I still managed to do my work, and help Hermione look for all the different ways of magical eavesdropping. The six of us were also sending regular packages of food to Sirius. We enclosed notes for Sirius, telling him that nothing strange had happened, and we were still waiting for a reply from Percy.
Hedwig didn't return until the end of the Easter holidays. Percy's answer was enclosed with Easter eggs that Mrs Weasley's sent. The boy's, and Nudge's were the size of dragon eggs, mine was slightly smaller then that, but then Hermione's was the size of a chicken egg. Her face fell when she saw it.
"Your mum doesn't read Witch Weekly by any chance, Ron?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said. "Get's it for the recipes."
Hermione looked at her tiny egg sadly. I broke mine in half and handed it to her. She tried to give it back to me, but I refused. After a while, she smiled slightly at me.
"Let's see what Percy wrote!" Iggy said, his Easter egg already eaten.
Percy's letter was short and irritated.
As I am constantly telling the Daily Prophet, Mr. Crouch is taking a well-deserved break. He is sending in regular owls with instructions. No, I haven't actually seen him, but I think I can be trusted to know my own superior's handwriting. I have quite enough to do at the moment without trying to quash these ridiculous rumors. Please don't bother me again unless it's something important. Happy Easter.
I shook my head. "Butthead," I said.
The start of the summer term normally meant training hard for the final Quidditch match of the session. This year however, it was the third task of the Triwizard Tournament, and we were starting to help Harry prepare for the task, although it was difficult as we didn't know what the task was. At this stage, we were just helping him learn more, additional spells.
Finally, in the last week of May, Professor McGonagall held Harry back in Transfiguration.
We waited outside the door for a few minutes before Harry came back outside. "Mr Bagman is going to tell the champions about the last task tonight at nine in the Quidditch pitch," he said, looking slightly nervous.
That night at half eight, Harry started walking out of the common room. He was trying to hide it, but I could see how uneasy he felt about learning what the last task would be. I got up and walked out with him. He gave me a questioning look, and I just said, "I want to go flying. I was going to go tonight anyway, so I decided to go now."
Harry grinned at me. I never actually wanted to go flying tonight, but I couldn't stand the thought of Harry walking all the way down to the Quidditch pitch on his own.
"So what do you think it's going to be?" I asked casually. Harry shrugged."I have no idea. I just hope it isn't too bad."
"Whatever it is, you can do it," I said. "You know, you could really win this. You really could. The others might be older than you, but you've got more experience in this stuff. You could win."
Harry didn't say anything. He just grinned.
We walked across the grounds towards the pitch in comfortable silence. We reached the gap in the stands, and I turned to Harry. "Don't wait for me. I'll be back soon."
I run off into the Forbidden Forest, and I take off my robe and throw it beside a tree. I ignore the cold, and spread out my brown wings. I took a running start, and jump into the air.
I would never get used to the feeling of flying. Soaring and flipping through the air, your heart pounding in your ears, the way the wind whipped your hair back...
I decided to fly over the Quidditch pitch, staying up high so no one would see me, but because of my super vision, I was able to see the four champions, and Bagman.
Then I saw the maze.
It was massive. Even bigger than the Quidditch pitch had been. The hedges didn't seem to be that big, but by the time the third task came around, I'm guessing they would be over twenty feet. It was so dark that I was barely able to make out the turns and twists of the maze.
I stayed where I was for a few more minutes before I saw them all walking out of the pitch. I flew back to where I left my robe and threw it on, then I looked around the tree carefully to see where Harry was.
I saw him walking off towards Hagrid's hut...with Krum.
I frowned. What were they doing, walking together? I crept quietly through the trees, keeping to the shadows so I wouldn't be seen. When I got close enough, I walked slower and listened to what they were saying.
"-vont to be overheard," I heard Krum say.
A few minutes later, they stepped closer to the trees. I moved back and crouched down behind a tree. I don't know why I was hiding from Harry, but I just don't think Krum would like to know that I was here.
A few second of awkward silence later, and Krum said, "I vant to know vot there is between you and Hermy-own-ninny."
I covered my mouth with my hand to kept the laugh down. Viktor Krum, Seeker for Bulgaria, the gloomy champion, was asking Harry about his relationship with Hermione. This was hilarious!
I looked at them, still careful to keep my face hidden in the shadows and saw Harry staring up at Krum in amazement.
"Nothing," Harry said, but I could see Krum glowering at Harry. "We're friends. She's not my girlfriend and she never had been. It's just that stupid Skeeter woman making thing's up."
"Hermy-own-ninny talks about you often," Krum said, looking at Harry suspiciously.
"Yeah," Harry said, "because we're friends."
I couldn't believe that Harry was having this conversation with Krum.
"You haff never...you haff not..."
"No," Harry said firmly.
Krum looked a little happier- well, as happy Krum could look. He stared at Harry for a few minutes then said, "You fly very veil. I vos watching at the first task."
"Thanks," Harry said, grinning. I rolled my eyes. "I saw you at the Quidditch World Cup. The Wronski Feint, you really-"
That was when I heard something in the trees behind me. I stood up slowly, and looked around. I squinted, and saw a tall figure stumbling towards me. I took my wand from my pocket and took a fighting stance.
"Vot is it?" I heard Krum say. They must have heard the person as well.
The figure stumbled closer to me, and I recognised him. It was Bartemius Crouch.
"Crouch?" I said, so surprised that I didn't remember that I was meant to be hiding.
"Max? Is that you?" Harry called out.
I was about to reply when I saw Crouch raising his wand to me. I stumbled back, raising my wand. I broke out from the trees to see Harry and Krum staring at me. "What are you doing here?" Harry asked.
"Never mind that. Crouch is in there!" I said. Just after I said it, Crouch staggered out from behind an oak tree. He looked like he had walking around for days. The knees of his robes were ripped and bloody, his face scratched and grey with exhaustion. His hair and moustache were in desperate need of a wash and cut. But that was nothing compared to how he was behaving. He was muttering and gesturing, as if he was actually talking to someone. I looked down at his hand, then I noticed that what I thought was his wand was actually a normal stick. I put my wand back into my pocket.
"Vosn't he a judge?" Krum asked. "Isn't he vith your Ministry?"
Harry nodded, hesitated for a minute, then approached Crouch, who didn't look at us, but continued talking to the tree beside him.
"...and when you've done that, Weatherby, send an owl to Dumbledore confirming the number of Durmstrang students who will be attending the Tournament. Karkaroff just sent word they'll be twelve..."
"Mr Crouch?" Harry asked cautiously.
"...and then send another owl to Madame Maxime, because she might want to up the number of students she's bringing, now that Karkaroff's bringing more...Will you do that Weatherby? Will you...will you..."
Crouch's eyes were bulging. He stood staring at the tree, mouthing soundlessly at it. Then he staggered backwards and fell to his knees.
"Mr Crouch?" I said loudly. "Are you okay?"
Crouch's eyes were rolling in his head. Krum and I moved closer to Harry and Crouch.
"Vot is wrong with him?" Krum asked.
"No idea," Harry mumbled. "Listen, you'd better got get someone..."
"Dumbledore!" gasped Crouch. He reached out and grabbed a handful of my robes, dragging me closer. "I...need...to see...Dumbledore..."
"Okay," I said, "if you get up, then we can go see him-"
"I've done...stupid thing..." Crouch breathed, staring intently at me. He looked completely mental. His eyes were rolling and bulging, and a trickle of spit was sliding down his chin. Every word he spoke seemed to take him a terrible effort. "Must...tell...Dumbledore..."
"Get up, Crouch," I said, "get up and we'll take you to Dumbledore."
His eyes rolled and landed on the three of us, all huddled around him.
"Who...you?" he whispered.
"We're students at the school," Harry said.
"You're not...his?" he whispered, his mouth sagging.
"Nope," I said, no idea what he was talking about.
"Dumbledore's?"
"That's right," Harry said.
Crouch was pulling me closer. I tried to loosen his grip, but it was too strong. Harry put his hand on the small of my back, keeping me from falling over.
"Warn... Dumbledore..."
"We'll warn Dumbledore if you let go of me," I said in the same voice I used to use for Gazzy and Angel when they had nightmares. "Let me go, Mr Crouch and I'll get him for you."
"Thank you, Weatherby, and when you have done that, I would like a cup of tea. My wife and son will be arriving shortly, we are attending a concert tonight with Mr. and Mrs. Fudge."
Crouch was taking to the tree again, any difficulty from earlier completely gone. He seemed to forget that we were there, which surprised me so much that I didn't even realise that he had released me until Harry pulled me back a few steps.
"Yes, my son has recently gained twelve O. , most satisfactory I think, yes I'm quite proud, very proud indeed. Now if you could bring me that memo from the Italian Minister of Magic, I think I will have time to draft a response..."
"Stay here with him," I said, turning to Krum. "We'll get Dumbledore. We'll be faster, we actually know where his office is-"
"He's mad," Krum said, staring uncertainly at Crouch, who was still talking to the tree, apparently convinced that it was Percy.
"Just stay with him," Harry said. We started to walk away, but our movement seemed to trigger some abrupt change in Crouch, who managed to grab my arm and knock me to the ground. Harry crouched down beside me, starting to look freaked out.
"Don't...leave...me..." he whimpered, his eyes rolling so much I was surprised they hadn't popped out of his head yet. "I...escaped...must tell...see Dumbledore...my fault...all my fault...Bertha...dead...my son...my fault...must tell Dumbledore...Harry Potter...Maximum Ride...The Dark Lord...stronger..."
"We'll get Dumbledore if you let me go," I said again. I turned around frantically, my hair in my face and said to Krum, "Some help would be nice!"
Looking nervous, Krum squatted down beside Krum.
"Just keep him here," Harry instructed as I pulled myself free of Crouch's grip. There were half moon shapes covering my arm, and some of them were actually bleeding. I tried my best to ignore the dull ache in my arm. "We'll come back with Dumbledore."
"Hurry, von't you?" Krum called after us as we raced away. The grounds were deserted, and the castle was in darkness. We tore up the stone steps, through the oak front doors and up the marble staircase, without speaking to each other and without taking a break.
Five minutes later we were hurtling towards the stone gargoyle, and when we finally reached it, Harry panted, "Sher- sherbert lemon!"
The gargoyle didn't move. "That was the password from second year!" I said when I got my breath back. My arm was bleeding more now, so I'm guessing Crouch hadn't cut his nails in a while. I tried to ignore the pain. "He probably changed it!"
"You only say that now?" Harry snapped.
"I only thought of it now! Maybe we can check the staff room, see if he's there," I said.
"Come on then," he said, then we started running as fast as we could toward the staircase-
"POTTER! RIDE!"
We skidded to a halt and wheeled around. Snape had just emerged from the hidden staircase behind the gargoyle. I groaned. Why Snape? Why is it always Snape?
"What are you two doing here?" he asked.
"We need to see Dumbledore!" Harry said and we ran back up the corridor and stopped in front of Snape. "It's Mr Crouch...he's just turned up...he's in the forest...he's asking-"
"What is this rubbish?" Snape asked, his black eyes glittering. "What are you talking about?"
"Mr Crouch!" I shouted. "From the Ministry! There's something wrong with him- he's in the forest, and he keeps asking for Dumbledore! Just give us the password up to-"
"The headmaster is busy, Ride," Snape said, his mouth curling into an unpleasant smile.
"We need to tell Dumbledore!" I yelled.
"Didn't you hear me, Ride?"
I could see that Snape was enjoying himself, denying the thing we wanted when we were so panicky.
"Look," Harry said angrily, "Crouch isn't right- he's- he's out of his mind- he says he wants to warn-"
"I'm finding it a bit hard to believe what you're telling me, Potter," Snape said.
"Then explain this!" I snapped, rolling my sleeve up to show Snape the bleeding cuts in my arm. He frowned for a split second, but then it was gone. Before he could speak, the stone wall behind Snape slid open. Dumbledroe was standing there, wearing long green robes and a curious expression. "Is there a problem?" he asked.
"Professor!" Harry said, looking away from my arm. I quickly rolled down my sleeve, but Dumbledore had already seen it.
"Mr Crouch is here- he's down in the forest, he wants to talk to you!" Harry went on.
I expected Dumbledore to ask some questions, but thankfully Dumbledore didn't do anything of the sort.
"Lead the way," he said, and he swept off along the corridor, leaving Snape standing in the corridor.
"What did Mr Crouch say?" Dumbledore asked as we walked down the staircase.
"Said he had to warn you...said he's done something terrible...he mentioned his son, and Bertha Jorkins...and- and Voldemort...something about him getting stronger."
"Indeed," Dumbledore said, and he quickened his pace.
"He wasn't acting right." I said. "He doesn't seem to know where he is. He keeps thinks he's talking to Percy Weasley, then he changes and it seems like he know's what happening and he asks for you, sir. We left him with Viktor Krum."
"You did?" Dumbleodre asked, then he began to take longer steps, so we were running to keep up. "Do you know if anyone else saw Mr Crouch?"
"Not that we know of," I said as we walked out passed the Beauxbaton's carriage.
"Where are they?" Dumbledore asked.
"Over there," Harry said, moving in front and leading the way into the trees. I couldn't hear Crouch's voice anymore, but I knew where we were going.
"Viktor?" I shouted.
No one answered.
"They were here," Harry said, turning to Dumbledore. "They were definitely somewhere around here."
"Lumos!" Dumbledore said, holding his wand up.
It's narrow beam travelled from trunk to black trunk, illuminating the ground. Then it lit up a pair of feet.
The three of us hurried forward. Krum was sprawled on the ground, seemingly unconscious. There was no sign of Crouch. Dumbledore bent over Krum and gently lifted his eyelids.
"Stunned," he said softly.
"Should I get someone?" Harry asked. "Madam Pomfrey?"
"No," Dumbledore said. "The two of you stay here."
He raised his wand into the air and pointed it in the direction of Hagrid's cabin. I saw something silvery dart out of it and streak away through the trees like a ghostly bird. Then Dumbledore bent over Krum again and whispered, "Ennervate!"
Krum opened his eyes. He looked dazed. When he saw us, he tried to sit up, but Dumbledore placed a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back to the ground and made him stay still.
"He attacked me!" Krum muttered. "The old madman attacked me! I vos looking around to see vare Potter and the girl had gone and he attacked me!"
"The girl has a name," I growled. Krum stared at me, but didn't say anything. He seemed to be worse then Fang.
The sound of thunderous footfalls reached us, and Hagrid came panting into sight, Fang the dog at his heels. He was carrying his crossbow.
"Professor Dumbledore!" he said. "Max- Harry- what the-?"
"Hagrid, I need you to find Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore said. "His student has been attacked. When you've done that, kindly alert Professor Moody-"
"No need, Dumbledore," came a wheezing growl beside us. "I'm here."
Moody came limping towards us, leaning on his staff, his wand lit.
"Damn leg," he said. "Would've been here earlier...what happened? Snape said something about Crouch..."
"Crouch?" Hagrid asked blankly.
"Karkaroff, please Hagrid," Dumbledore said.
"Oh yeah...right y'are, Professor..." Hagrid said, and turned and disappeared into the dark trees, Fang trotting behind him.
"I don't know where Barty Crouch is," Dumbledore told Moody, "but it's essential we find him."
"I'm onto it," Moody said, and limped off into the forest.
Dumbledore turned to me. "Show me your arm, Max," he said. I hesitated, then held out my arm. Dumbledore rolled my sleeve up, and I tried not to wince when the fabric brushed over the cuts. Dumbledore moved his wand over my arm, muttering. The cut's didn't completely go away, but they stopped bleeding and they weren't stinging as much.
"Thanks sir," I said.
That was when Hagrid and Fang returned, with Karkaroff behind them, looking pale and agitated.
"What is this?" he said when he saw Krum lying on the ground with us standing beside him. "What's going on?"
"I vos attacked!" Krum said, sitting up and rubbing his head. "Mr Crouch or votever his name is-"
"Crouch attacked you? The Triwizard judge?"
"Igor," Dumbledore said, but Karkaroff was clutching his furs around him, looking furious.
"Treachery!" he bellowed, loud enough to wake the entire castle. "It is a plot! You and your Ministry have lured me here under false pretences, Dumbledore! This is not equal competition! First, you sneak Potter into the tournament, though he is underage! Now, one of your Ministry officials attempts to put my champion out of action! I smell corruption in this whole affair- here's what I think of you!"
Karkaroff spat on the ground at Dumbledore's feet. In one swift moment, Hagrid seized the front of Karkaroff's robes, lifted him into the air and slammed him against a nearby tree.
"Apologise!" Hagrid growled.
"Hagrid, no!" Dumbledore shouted, his eyes flashing.
Hagrid removed his hand from around Karkaroff's throat, and Karkaroff slid all the way down the trunk and slumped in a heap at the roots.
"Kindly escort Harry and Max back to the castle, Hagrid," Dumbledore said sharply.
Breathing heavily, Hagrid gave Karkaroff a nasty look.
"Maybe I'd better stay here, Headmaster..."
"You will take Harry and Max back to the castle, Hagrid," Dumbledore repeated firmly. "Take them right to Gryffindor Tower. And I want the two of you to stay there. Anything you might want to do- any owls you might want to send- can wait till the morning. Do you understand?"
"Er- yeah," I said. How did Dumbledore know that at that moment, I was thinking about sending Freedom to Sirius to tell him what happened.
We marched in silence towards the castle, Hagrid muttering insults about Karkaroff under his breath.
"Krum isn't that bad," I said after Hagrid started going on about everyone from Durmstrang.
"Yeah, he wasn't trying to jinx me or anything. He just wanted to talk about Hermione-"
"I'll be talkin' to her, an' all," Hagrid growled. "The less you lot 'ave to do with them foreigners, the happier I'll be. Yeh can't trust any of 'em."
"You were getting on all right with Madame Maxime," I said.
"Don' you talk to me bout her!" Hagrid snapped. "I've got her number now! Tryin' ter get me back in her good books, tryin' to get me ter tell her what's comin' for the third task. Ha! You can't trust any of 'em!"
I was about to point out that I was technically a foreigners, but then Hagrid was in such a bad mood that it was easy to just say good-bye at the portrait hole and go into the common room. We went straight to the corner where Ron, Hermione, Fang, Iggy and Nudge were sitting and told them everything.
PLEASE DON'T HATE ME! :O
WE REACHED 300! :D
I'm so sorry this took so long, I've been studying, and homework, and there's friend drama and BLAH!
I'm really sorry this took so long, but because this is my Junior Cert year, I'll be studying a lot, so I only get to write a few sentences a day :(
I love you guys :D
thanks to everyone that reviewed and the alerts! You're all awesome!
If you want cookies and butterbeer, you have to review, so...
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-Rach ;)
(I'll try to be faster next time!)