Hermione continued to go about her business, while letting Harry and Ron think she was in the library. She knew that Harry had the map and she was surprised (and quite thankful) that he had never checked the map for her name; although she was concerned that he was developing a bad habit of watching people he didn't like. She was heading to her first private lesson with Professor Moody since yule break.
She had stayed after the first class back to ask him when he wanted to see her again.
His magical eye spun every which way, but Hermione politely ignored it since his eyes occasionally did that during normal lessons as well.
Internally Crouch was cursing himself for what he wanted to say and made sure the magical eye was looking at everything but the petite witch in front of him. His pupil would be respected, because she was his pupil. The witch was a fine pupil and she would remain a fine sexless pupil.
He knew that Moody's magical eye could see through many things, and had a great amount of fun the first few days with it, looking at different kinds of magic and through different witches' cloaks and robes. He would respect Miss Granger and not look through her robes.
He licked his lip nervously, a nervous tick that he always had, and was glad that no one had picked up on it. He was more relieved that the students didn't know the real Alastor Moody and wouldn't be able to pick it up.
"I think we should start lessons back up on Friday, lass," he said gruffly.
His normal blue eye boring into her hazel ones.
"Thank you so much, Professor Moody."
As she was leaving the classroom she parted with, "I hope you enjoyed the pepper imps I got you for Christmas, sir."
The door shut firmly behind her giving him no chance to respond.
"That girl is going to be the death of me if Potter or the Dark Lord don't get to it first!" he kicked his desk.
Crouch enjoyed Miss Granger as a student. She wasn't quick on the draw at first, but she was determined, passionate, wickedly brilliant, and… kind. 6 months ago he would have said that muggleborn Miss Granger wouldn't survive the war because she didn't deserve to live. She was a stupid muggleborn chit who was full of herself and kept her head firmly stuck in textbooks because she didn't understand magic, because she was a magic thief like all muggleborns were.
But working close with her he was able to see firsthand that it wasn't true. During his time at Hogwarts they all thought Lily Evans was a brilliant freak of nature, also smart. Smart and good at charms. The fiery redhead was also vindictive and spiteful, even if she was kind to the younger ones. Miss Granger was different. She was kind to everyone but those who were mean to her first, the small witch was no pushover.
A week into her private lessons with him if someone had asked if she would survive the war, he would have said no. She was too soft, too kind, she wouldn't last an hour with Death Eaters. Now however, now that he knew her and what she was capable of, she was a force to be reckoned with and he felt privileged to be part of her education.
The Dark Lord was going to be right pissed if he ever found out, but he was busy doing his bidding to help resurrect him. This whole mess was just that, a mess. He might have gone a bit mental the first week his Lord had passed, but that was only because his friend Regulus had told him that as long as the mark existed, the Dark Lord was alive. He made vows and promises and knew that at the end of the year things would go tits up.
The Dark Mark was a magic leech. As long as he, and all the other Death Eaters had it, the Dark Lord was leeching their magic and making himself stronger. It wasn't in any of their benefits to have someone leech of their magic. If he had to bring the Dark Lord back in order to make sure he was gone for good, he would do so for the war effort. Regulus would have wanted it that way. But before things got better, things had to go tits up.
Hermione continued to show up for private lessons through term, and she progressed nicely. Crouch thought he could trip her up by starting to work on NEWT level cursed objects, just to see how she would do. He expected to have to heal her, and then explain how he didn't think she would be able to do it anyways.
What he didn't expect, and should have at this point really, was that she did remove the curses. He layered curse after curse, all of them benign of course, he didn't want Dumbledore to jump down his throat should something actually happen to the lass, anxious to see how his pupil would handle it. He had showed her how to look for them and dismantle them twice. Once for surface curses then again later on for layered curses. He only gave her the basics in theory.
Crouch wasn't a curse-breaker, but he used to be friends with many dark wizards. He knew that they loved a good joke, and half the time it meant that something was cursed and someone would get hurt for being naïve. Most of the Death Eaters knew how to dismantle cursed objects, if only to avoid being targeted from other Death Eaters for sport. The tricky ones however were the ones with larger curses hiding the smaller more dangerous curses.
Hermione was thrilled with her private lessons, her eyes twinkling every time lessons got harder. She knew what level spellwork she was doing, and she was honored that her professor thought she was skilled enough to do it. He was a hardened retired auror and he knew his line of work. She never once asked him about his lessons after the incident that he said that she could leave, she didn't want to risk it.
The little witch however also chalked it up to the retired auror's paranoia and how one could never be too prepared or too vigilant. It was the words 'CONSTANT VIGILENCE' drilled into her after every DADA lesson and every private lesson with him. She figured he would do something sneaky that "a dark wizard would do" and would be on constant odds and ends when working on projects with him.
It came in handy too, finding tiny curses, benign curses, hiding under the larger more prominent ones. It made Hermione appreciate curse-breakers even more. It made her admire Bill more, knowing that it was his choice career to be a curse-breaker.
She started to work on the little box, crouched over it, unaware of the feral smile she had. Crouch noticed it though, he knew that she was loving every minute of the challenge that she wasn't receiving in class.
She wasn't as good at Defense as Potter was, he was natural, but she was more advance, quick with her wand and she loved the challenge. However the little runt Potter was also waist deep in shit with the tournament and Rita Skeeter. He still caught Granger helping the boy, practically thinking for him. He was sure that if it wasn't for the witch constantly telling him what to do he would be dead. At the end of the day though, it was Potter who saved Potter, even if Granger was his brain.
Nearly 40 minutes later Hermione had removed every curse on the little box, grinning at her achievement. As an afterthought however she put a small ward around it, just in case.
"How did I do, Professor?" she asked, standing up and biting her lip to try to keep the smile off her face.
Professor Mad-eye Moody had clunked his way over to the box to see if there was anything left on it. He had told her she had an hour to work on it, not giving away the amount of curses on it. He wanted her to figure it out on her own, she was given two options: either as she went along or by getting zapped and learning the hard way. He had tried to avoid looking at the witch and the box while she was working so he wouldn't slip up and help her, or bark at her if she messed up.
His magical eye zoomed in on the ward on the box, knowing that he didn't place it there.
"GRANGER! Who put that ward on that there box!" he barked at her.
Hermione looked at him with wide eyes, "I did, sir. Just in case," she took a breath, "just in case I missed one."
He grumbled under his breath, "Good work, girl. If you had missed one, this here ward would have protected someone else from being the victim. Now let's see if you did miss one."
Crouch noticed how the ward didn't prevent him from going about his business, but saw that it would stop another person from getting at the box unless they dismantled the ward. His normal eye widened in awe, the ward was keyed to him. He set about looking for any of his curses, while his mind flew at the implications of Granger being able to make wards.
It simply wasn't taught anymore. Ward masters and mistresses were hard to find and even harder to apprentice under. Proper wards masters and mistresses had to be in tune with the ley lines around them, it was a gift more than a skill that could be learned. Normal witches and wizards could make wards, but it was advance stuff, too advance for the average witch and wizard to bother with. Those who did and were not in tune with ley lines were considered strong, but their wards wouldn't be up to the same snuff as a proper wards master.
The Moody imposter made a gruff sound, "Ye did good, lass. Not a single curse left on this here box!"
The petite witch allowed herself a small grin.
It wasn't often that the wizard praised her. After she conquered the imperius curse it was more along the lines of; "Good! It'll save your life!" In the beginning it was more; "What're you smilin' about!? This is basic stuff girl! Bottom feeders know how to do this in their sleep!"
"Now," he started softly, "what is it that you know about wards? Tricky stuff they are, obscure in this day n age."
Both of his eyes bore into her own hazel eyes.
"Wards are magical boundaries manipulated by the elemental ley lines that may or may not have a keystone, so to speak. Regardless of the elements used in the wards, they don't technically have an elemental weakness that would usually bend or break under normal circumstances. They're mostly used for protection usually placed around homes, schools, and rooms. However they can also be placed in gems and stones, allowing for the ward to be portable, protecting the wearer, although more often than not, much weaker than a ward attached to the ground. However they can also be keyed to certain people and be keyed to do certain things within their boundaries."
Crouch looked at Granger for a moment, "Very good, Miss Granger. Wards can also be used in battle as powerful shields, but normally only masters can do that. The last war all the ward masters and mistresses made themselves scarce, claiming neutrality and became hermits."
Hermione looked at her professor and tilted her head slightly, as though absorbing the information.
"Where did you hear about wards, Miss Granger?" his voice still at a normal conversational tone.
"In the library, sir."
"The library, eh? Did you find out much in the library, Miss Granger?" he asked.
"No, sir," she said quietly and looked down at her shoes.
"Then how did you learn how to make wards?" a slight growl creeping into his voice.
"I… experimented with them, sir. One of the books mentioned off handedly that gems and stones made for weak but passable wards, which was why they are charmed instead, making a better safeguard for daughters. The ley lines aren't fixed when they're portable, that's how I found out. I was looking up forms of protection, sir."
Crouch let that sink into his head. It had taken an obscure mentioning for the girl to have found out about wards and how they functioned. He knew for a fact what books they had on wards in the library, having been curious himself in the past. He checked the library the first week to see if they had any new books, and only found new textbooks that had been assigned by different defense against the dark arts professors through the years. Other than that and some new magical beasts books, the library had basically the same books now as they did when he was in school.
"You did good today, lass. Good use of wards. CONSTANT VIGILANCE! Now take down these wards and scurry off. I'll see ye tomorrow, same time."
Hermione smiled at the grizzly wizard, took down the wards and left.
"Thank you, Professor! I'll see you tomorrow."
When the door shut behind her, he kept watching her with the magical eye.
"Yes, you will lass. Yes, you will."
Crouch hobbled his way to his office. He had a lot to talk about.
Hermione was walking down the hall, heading towards the library for some light reading before bed. She had originally wanted to research everything she could about Crouch Sr., but Viktor was still a regular visitor at her table in the library. She would have gladly tore through everything she could find about the last war, but she didn't want anyone to see her doing it. So she would have to put it off… for now.
She would be asking Thimi about her old master though. While she respected her house-elf, it seemed as though the mystery of his illness if that's what it was, was becoming serious. She hoped she didn't have to, but if Thimi was unwilling she would order the elf to tell her.
She was still filtering the information that she had learned through Sirius. She was also filtering out her anger with Ronald. He kept attacking her pet project concerning house-elves, not even bothering to ask how it was going or if any of the objectives had changed.
They were living beings too, and they deserved the same respect. How would he feel if he was made to iron his hands for making a mistake!? He wouldn't have fingers with how many mistakes he made!
She took a breath, calming herself with the knowledge that at least Sirius partially understood where she was coming from concerning Thimi. She would continue to let them live in ignorance, while Harry didn't have as much of a big mouth, Ronald was part of the gossip machine. At least Harry knew how to keep things close to his vest. There were some things however that Harry simply could not resist telling Ron, so she would rather not take the risk.