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Part Five

"It could have been Krum."

"We don't know that."

"He did transform into a shark, though, and it looked like Delacour's arms were bitten off! You saw them!"

"But it could also have been Potter. He cheated to get his name into the Goblet in the first place. Who knows what he was willing to do so that he would win the competition?"

Theo cast a spell that would cause the speakers' robes to rip in embarrassing places the next time they were in front of someone they had a crush on, and then turned and strode into the library.

A few people saw him and opened their mouths, but luckily, they shut them without confronting Theo. Theo would have done a lot worse than an embarrassing hex. He found the table where Padma was waiting and sat down.

"What's wrong?"

"More people making up nonsense about Harry." Theo forced his mind away from the problem. He couldn't stop it, only react when it came up. "You said that you had something you wanted to talk to me about alone."

"And Harry just stayed behind?"

"He trusts me, and he trusts that you wouldn't do something dangerous to either of us. And he knows that you wouldn't be stupid enough to try and flirt with me."

Padma sat back in her chair a little, her eyes widening. Theo winced to himself. He must have snapped more harshly than he'd meant to. If he left the library like this, he really would tear someone to pieces with a hex.

"My apologies."

"No. No." Padma was studying him. "It's all right. You were expressing admiration for my intellect, after all."

Theo inclined his head. "So what was it?"

Padma hesitated, and then reached down and took a slim red book out of her bag. Theo had seen her carrying it about and writing it in before. He thought it was a journal of some kind, which was why he didn't expect Padma to offer it to him flat on the palm of her hand. He raised his eyebrows at her.

"This is everything I know about my brother's edict," Padma said quietly. "Including the exact wording."

Theo slowly took the book and opened it. He knew he was being given a measure of immense trust, and he rewarded it by keeping his eyes on the journal and not Padma as he did so.

He wasn't being foolish, of course. He still had the glass bracelet and could call on Harry's strength in an instant. But this was something he could treat gently until there was a reason not to treat it that way.

Silently, he read over the edict, and Padma's neat notes on what it meant for her. Theo blinked and looked up at her. "This seems—very carefully worded for something that was born out of anger on the spur of the moment."

"Yes."

Padma's voice was heavy. Theo leaned back. "Do you think he was planning it for a while, and only took the excuse of your reading at dinner to enact it?"

"No." Padma bowed her head. "But I think that someone could have planned it for him. Or made the words come out of his mouth via something like the Imperius Curse."

"You think your family had enemies—"

"I think it was Parvati."

Theo stopped. He didn't know what to say. The chances that he might have had a sibling had been cut short long before he really understood what siblings were. But he could imagine a taste of the bitterness Padma was feeling by thinking about Harry betraying him.

If not the whole of bitterness. After all, Parvati was Padma's twin.

"Why would she care that much?"

Padma looked up, her eyes bright and angry through the strands of her hair. "Parvati wants to do the kind of research that requires massive amounts of Galleons. She wants to be a spellcrafter."

Theo pursed his lips. Spellcrafting did require access to huge amounts of rare ingredients and even rarer texts, so that the crafter could piece together bits of ideas about how spells had come to be and create their own from there. The Nott vaults might have had trouble handling it, at least unless Theo, if he'd wanted to be one, could create a successful spell early on and get a generous patron that way. Or if he could work for the Department of Mysteries.

"Does your family have that kind of money?"

"We would if Parvati and Amir were the only two children. Or rather, if there was a head of the family being supported by the kind of money that only they can access, and one child under seventeen."

Theo grimaces. "And your other options—"

"I could go to another school, yes. But I don't want to. I'd have to learn another language—Translation Charms would get me mocked—and start all over with some of the subjects I've been pursuing." Padma's eyes glittered. "And you noticed the term at the end of the oath."

Theo nodded. Amir's edict had ended with "Padma and Parvati Patil's seventh year." As long as her twin remained in Hogwarts, then the seventh year would happen, and all support for Padma would stop then, even if she did transfer to Beauxbatons or Durmstrang or somewhere else.

"Could you prove it was the Imperius Curse?"

"Do you know a way to do that?"

Theo shook his head silently. It was something that many of the Death Eaters, including Father, had counted on. The Imperius Curse was a "silent" spell in terms of Legiimency, in that it didn't leave undeniable traces in the mind. And of course, most of the people claiming to be under it would retain no memory of the moment when it had been cast.

"So what are you going to do?"

"Study as much as I can and buy as much as I can while the Hogwarts library and the Patil Galleons are available to me. And decide early on what I want to do."

Theo evaluated her in silence for a long moment, and then said, "I can't help but notice that you still haven't said what you wanted to talk to me about. And why you wanted to speak to me alone, instead of with Harry. You know Harry would fight for you."

Padma leaned nearer. "But you favor more violent solutions and harsher revenge than he does. Harry just does whatever he thinks is good at the time, like resisting the calls for him to be a Champion or cutting Ron out and then inviting him back into their friendship. He doesn't hold long grudges."

"You need help that you require a grudge for."

"I want to make sure that my family pays for what they did to me, even if it was just my brother being an arsehole instead of manipulated. Or Parvati taking advantage of what happened instead of persuading him."

Theo gave her a small smile and pulled one of his books towards him. "Well. Let's get started."

"What did you do to kill Delacour, Potter?"

"I didn't touch her."

Harry kept his head bowed as he studied the Arithmancy equation in front of him. He wasn't as passionate about the subject as Theo, but he did study it more closely than something like Defense because of the way he needed to combine Runes with it to help Theo. Vector was, unfortunately, on the other side of the classroom with Theo and a specialized project he was doing at the moment, and unaware of the way Seamus Finnigan was hissing at Harry.

"Of course you did. You're a killer. A murderer. A cheater."

"He is not!"

Harry winced. Unfortunately, Hermione's spirited defense, as much as he treasured her as a friend, was exactly the kind of thing to make Gryffindors other than Ron think Harry was guilty. Hermione still wasn't well-liked by most of her House.

"That's what you think, Granger, but he's got you fooled! I don't even know why the rest of us have to sit here with a murderer—"

"What were you saying, Mr. Finnigan?"

Vector had come over to stand next to Finnigan's desk. Harry lifted his head and let Finnigan see his frigid smile, before he turned back to the equations again.

"Why do we have to sit here with a murderer?"

"Tell me who I should call the Aurors to arrest, then."

"Potter! He killed Delacour!"

"From above the water? With what spell, Mr. Finnigan?"

By now, Vector's voice had gone cold enough that Harry caught more than one flinch out of the corner of his eye. But Finnigan wasn't smart enough to realize that he should quit talking, so he bulled ahead.

"I mean—you could time-delay a Severing Charm, everyone knows the theory, and put it in something that you gave to Delacour to eat or carry—"

"Do you know the theory? Fascinating. I am not sure how to time-delay such a charm, myself. Please do share the theory with the class, Finnigan. And perhaps with the Aurors, if you would like me to call them."

"I'm not—I just—"

"I see." Vector stepped back and lifted her head, sweeping her eyes around the room. Suddenly, everyone found their parchments fascinating.

"I will not stay silent and listen to scurrilous accusations such as these," Vector said in a voice like the snap of winter. "If you wish to make them, then find some environment more conducive to them. If you speak them in my classroom, I will ask you what proof you have. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Professor Vector," various people mumbled.

Harry caught Finnigan's glance and raised his eyebrows. Finnigan flushed, but didn't keep talking. At heart, Harry thought, he didn't believe Harry had done it, or he would have done something like report it to the Aurors himself.

In the meantime, he was just talking endlessly, the way that so many people did. The way that Harry was tired of. At least Gabrielle Delacour, when she'd been rescued from the water, had been immediately taken home to France, so she didn't have to endure it.

Harry went back to his work.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm just happy to get away from the school for Easter hols, Sirius." Harry sighed as Black's face darkened, and Theo leaned a little harder against his boyfriend's shoulder. "People there are still convinced that I'm the one acting against the Champions and killing Diggory and Delacour."

"How? Everyone saw Diggory get burned alive by a dragon, and even if no one knows what happened to Delacour—"

"I know."

Theo blinked and turned to stare at Father, who was standing near the window of the long sitting room. Beyond the window, a pale blue April sky, almost the color of a winter one, brimmed with clouds.

"All right," Black said after a long moment. "How, then?"

"There is a spell that the Dark Lord taught me, and the rest of the Inner Circle," Father said, and turned around. Theo shivered at the sight of his face. His expression was distant, the way it hadn't been in several years. He looked as if he might drift away from them all. "It would cause the victim's limbs to be severed from the body when they were alone and out of sight of all others. Under the surface of a lake would qualify."

"Who is the Death Eater at Hogwarts?" Harry's voice was quiet, but his muscles tightened. Theo leaned a little harder against him.

"I would have said Karkaroff, but I do not believe that he ever knew that spell. He was not entirely trusted even before he turned on some of my fellows to save his own skin."

"Careful, Eustace, you're sounding nostalgic for your Death Eater days there."

For a long moment, Father stared at Black without speaking. Then he turned away as if Black didn't exist, which Theo thought was usually the best response to Harry's godfather. "You have not been in close contact with the Headmaster of Durmstrang, I trust, Harry?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't think Delacour was, either, but they were both at the lake…"

"It doesn't really fit," Theo said abruptly. "I mean, if someone wants the other Champions to die, why did they go with something that would look like an accident for Diggory, and something that definitely wouldn't for Delacour?"

"I do not believe Diggory's death was intended in the same way. He died because he was unprepared to face a dragon, while Delacour and Krum had obviously been warned in advance. By their Headmistress and Headmaster, likely."

"Why do that to Delacour, then?" Harry asked.

Father grimaced. "I have one theory. But it is distasteful."

Harry stared at Father for a second, then snorted. "Eustace, with all the spells that you've had us practice, do you really think that I care about that?"

"There was little blood in the water on the morning of the Second Task. That suggests that Delacour's body had already been exsanguinated. There are several uses for a Veela's blood that my fellows would know of." Father turned his head, eyes focusing on Black for a moment. "Among other things, it can be used to create potent potions."

Theo swallowed. He hadn't ever heard that. "Would it still work given that she was a part-Veela and not a full one?"

"All that is needed is for the person in question to have manifested Veela heritage—noticeably. And she obviously had."

Harry did look a little sick, but he said, "That suggests someone with more access to Delacour than most people would have. One of the Beauxbatons students?"

"Would they know such a spell? They might well be aware of the uses of Veela blood, but that spell was restricted to the Dark Lord's most trusted."

"Stop talking about them like that!"

The conversation between Father and Black devolved into insults for the moment, so Theo leaned over and put his lips close to Harry's ear. "Do you really think it was a student, given the spell Father is talking about?"

"No. But I don't think her Headmistress would do it, either, and most of our professors would have no reason to."

Something exploded into light in Theo's head, so brilliant that he felt like he was witnessing the birth of a star. "Unless one of them is a Death Eater in disguise."

Harry hissed, and the sound was loud enough to distract Father from his argument. "Yes, Harry?"

"Theo said that one of the professors could be a Death Eater in disguise." Harry's eyes flashed. "Someone who hasn't been cowed by you, Eustace, or I might have suspected Snape. As it is, what is the best way someone could disguise themselves? Could they do something to hide their Dark Mark? Could they be someone who's never been arrested?"

"Unlikely," Father said, watching Harry in a way that reminded Theo of the eagle on some of the Ravenclaw banners. "Those who learned that spell all bore the Mark, and all of them were arrested or at least interrogated."

"Oh, stop talking like you're not one of them!"

"Shall we speak about some of your own sins, Black?"

Theo rolled his eyes and leaned towards Harry. "There are other ways."

"Like Imperius?"

"Like Polyjuice."

"But you'd have to drink that every hour on the hour, and I think we would have noticed if one of our professors—"

Theo stopped breathing at the same moment Harry did. Their eyes connected, and Theo thought that they couldn't be communicating better if their bonding bracelets had made them telepathic.

There's one professor who's always drinking in front of us. One person who could get away with coming close to Delacour, and who wouldn't even be noticed that much, because so many people think he's strange.

"Boys?"

Theo started back to himself, and found that he was holding Harry's hand. He didn't even remember taking it. He turned to face Father, and said simply, "A Death Eater could disguise themselves with Polyjuice. And someone who's famously paranoid about only drinking from his own flask could get away with drinking the potion in public."

Father's face altered. Theo recoiled before he could stop himself. Father looked so cruel that he couldn't help it.

Father lifted a hand and nodded. "That is true," he said. "And I am not upset with you, Theo. Only with myself, for not thinking of something like this first."

"Moody?" Black muttered. "But he's Dumbledore's friend…"

"And paranoid, eccentric, with all sorts of tics that wouldn't necessarily stand out to someone who didn't know him well, only his reputation. Or who hadn't seen him in a while." Father inclined his head. "I do not know who he could be, but you escaped from Azkaban, Black. Why not someone else? And the Ministry might keep it quiet, given what backlash they received when you fled."

"How can we find out?"

"I will contact a few of my more discreet allies in the Ministry." Father leaned forwards. "We have a more urgent matter to decide than his identity. We must think of a way to trap him, and that means a way to keep Harry and Theo safe as well."

"A Death Eater armed with Veela blood," Black muttered. "Merlin, what a mess."

He at least didn't suggest going to talk to Dumbledore, Theo thought. Perhaps he could learn.

"I want to be part of this," Harry said, his face so harsh that for a moment he looked more like an eagle than Father had. "He put my name in the Goblet and made everyone think I was a cheater and a murderer. He put Theo's life in danger in the Second Task. I have to be part of taking him down."

"Me, too," Theo added.

Father smiled thinly. "You will have more than enough to keep you busy, I promise you that. But in the meantime, you are not to take risks, and you are not to be alone with him if at all possible. Do you understand?"

"I promise," Harry said, his body all but vibrating under Theo's touch.

"Good." Father settled back in his chair and flexed his fingers. "Then we can begin to come up with a plan."

"Why isn't more happening?" Finnigan whispered loudly as Harry and Theo walked past the Gryffindor table.

Harry didn't turn around, didn't sneer. He wanted to, but he had finally learned some self-control when it came to that kind of thing. He just kept walking, steadily, and got out into the entrance hall before Theo reached out and put a hand on his arm.

Harry smiled at him. "Yes?"

"What was Finnigan talking about?"

"From what Hermione and Ron have said, he was bragging in the common room about sending an owl to Rita Skeeter, to have me investigated for Diggory's and Delacour's deaths. He seems to be puzzled as to why there are no stories in the Prophet."

Theo smiled, the kind of sharp expression that made Harry want to kiss him breathless. "Privileges of being a Death Eater's ward," he murmured, softly enough that at least someone would have to be right behind them to hear.

"Theo," Harry scolded.

"What?"

Harry gave in and laughed, because it was true, after all. Eustace had a lot of pull, including with the Prophet. Harry shuddered to imagine what their world would be like without that.

Theo had tugged him into the shadows of a staircase, and there was no one around. So Harry gave in to temptation and leaned forwards to kiss his boyfriend.

"Potter! Nott!"

Harry jumped, and Theo hissed a little, probably because Harry's nails had scratched up his face. Harry wheeled around and resisted the urge to draw his wand, but only barely. "Moody" was standing behind them, his eyes pinned on them. The magical one gleamed with hatred that Harry thought he could understand now. Eustace had been a Death Eater who never went to Azkaban, and Harry was the one who had brought down the Dark Lord.

I wonder if I could make him understand that I care about that less than everyone else does, and make him leave?

But Harry knew better than to betray that they knew anything about "Moody's" real identity, so he just said, "Sir?"

"Snogging isn't for the entrance hall," Moody barked, and stumped away.

"Just because he probably didn't get any in Azkaban," Theo muttered behind him.

Harry laughed helplessly, and he kissed Theo after all before they went to Ancient Runes.

"You will not tell us the ultimate purpose of this trap."

Theo leaned back against the wall, looking at Professor Vector. She and Professor Babbling were both standing over the intricate design on the floor of the classroom two corridors down from the Defense professor's office. The runes glowed on the edge of lines that a stranger would have had to kneel down and examine before they realized that the "lines" consisted of completed Arithmancy equations.

"No, Professor," Harry said, as polite as always. "But I promise that it will make sense, and you'll hear about the result. We just need you to tell us if it works."

Vector and Babbling exchanged looks. Babbling was the one who spoke next, taking a step nearer and tapping one of the runes carved into the floor with her dragonhide boot. "You will need to make absolutely sure you take your enemy by surprise. This is a powerful trap, but if they see it before they run into it, they could break it easily by damaging these runes."

"Yes, Professor Babbling."

"And this runic sequence…" Professor Babbling knelt on the other side of the trap, although with a grimace of discomfort that made Theo wonder abruptly how old she was. "The one that will make the trap seem like random lines until someone steps into it? Is that necessary?"

"Yes, Professor," Harry said. He could sound demure when he wanted to. Still, Theo caught Professor Vector rolling her eyes. He felt like rolling his back. Harry was never actually demure.

"Well," Babbling said, and she and Vector exchanged more glances before Babbling nodded.

Vector smiled thinly and said, "It looks like this will be worth the effort, then."

"And do let us know how well the trap works."

Theo exchanged a smile with Harry. His boyfriend's eyes shone.

"Trust me, Professor," Harry said. "I think everyone will know."

"Potter, stay after class."

Here we go. Harry turned around with the best innocent smile he could muster on his face. "I'm sorry, Professor Moody, but Professor Vector said that she needed me to come talk to her about some Arithmancy homework I need to make up."

"This will take only a second, boy."

Harry had thought it would be today that "Moody" tried to spring his trap. They were only a week away from the Third Task—a hedge maze that Harry absolutely did not intend to walk into—and the man had been edgy. His magical eye had been locked on Harry for most of the class, and he had been toying with something under his desk that could be small.

That could be a flask of Veela blood.

"I'm sorry, sir, but Professor Vector was pretty insistent. She said that she had no idea how I managed to get the equation so wrong, but it's something I need to correct right away if I don't want to blow myself up."

"You'll stay where I tell you, boy." Moody limped out from behind the desk and then paused, maybe because he'd seen the way Harry tensed, trying to work his scarred face into a smile. "Unless you don't want the potion that could help you survive the Third Task?" He held up a small blue-green flask.

Yes, thought so.

"With respect, Professor, Professor Vector really did want us to come along," Theo said from the doorway of the Defense classroom. "She said—"

"This doesn't concern you, Nott. Go on, now."

"Sir," Harry said, and did his best to sound huffy, "Theo's my boyfriend. You can't just dismiss him—"

"Do you want the potion or not?"

"Well, sir," Harry said, and let himself look tempted and take one step closer. Theo made a choked noise from behind him, but Moody, eyes locked on Harry, didn't act like he noticed. Harry hoped Theo would manage to hold it together. "I mean, I'm not trying to win the Tournament. Only do enough to satisfy the Goblet's contract."

"And this potion will make it easier for you to do that."

"Really?" Harry asked, and extended his hand as if he would take the flask, all the while palming his wand.

Theo made another choked sound. Harry ignored him. After all, they hadn't been able to predict exactly what would happen when "Moody" tried to give Harry the blood. It made sense that Harry would have to improvise.

"Yes, exactly." Moody's hand trembled a little as he held the flask about.

Harry's hand rose, and he flung the Severing Charm with precision. The flask cracked down the side, and brilliant blood with a blue tinge leaked all over the floor.

Harry sprang back at the same moment as "Moody" gave an incoherent roar and reached for him. Harry pasted on an insincere smile, said, "Sorry, sir, I don't think I want it," and then whirled around and ran.

From the sound of the pounding footsteps, Theo was right behind him. Harry ducked as a Lasso Charm went over his head. Theo continued running, so he hadn't been caught by it, either.

"COME BACK HERE THIS INSTANT, BOY!"

Harry didn't look back. He heard the sound of Moody stumping after him, and wondered for a second if he should Summon the wooden leg. But they needed the man to be in their trap when it was sprung. The Death Eater could probably still hurt them without that—

Theo ran past him, and "Moody" let out a raspy chuckle. "Always abandoned by the bad ones, aren't you, boy?"

Harry whipped around the corner and into the classroom where their design of runes and equations was waiting. Then he turned to face the door and held his wand at the ready, hunching against the wall like he'd run into this room and become trapped.

"Moody" laughed again as he came through the door. "You don't—"

"Accio Moody's eye!" Harry yelled.

The magical eye tore through the man's skull with a sound that made Harry think of slugs, and crashed into Harry's hand, covered with blood and other things. Harry backed up, further, towards the trap that Moody shouldn't be able to see at all now, and laughed a little. "Ready to discipline me?"

"You little shit."

The voice was low and angry, with a hint of a different accent that made Harry think he was hearing the real man for the first time. He flicked "Moody" a smile. "I wonder what I can do with this eye. And I wonder what the Headmaster is going to do when he hears that you tried to give me Veela blood…"

"Moody" lunged.

Theo, who had hidden behind the door, leaped out and cast the Disarming Charm to snatch the man's wand. Harry jumped aside and cast the Tripping Jinx, and "Moody" sprawled into the disguised rune trap.

The minute he landed, the runes lit with a savage, bloody glow, red tinged with blue. The Arithmantic equations began to dance, completing themselves, and then the numbers vanished and were replaced with new ones, which in turn completed themselves. It ensured that the boundary of the trap would repair itself if anyone in the circle tried to damage it, and it would never be the same from moment to moment, baffling and confusing any spell that would take even half a second to cast.

The man rolled over and stared at Harry with a madly pulsing vein in his forehead and one cold blue eye. Harry stared back at him unflinchingly, leaning back against Theo a little as his boyfriend came up to put a hand on his shoulder.

"Who do you think he really is?" Theo asked quietly.

"I have no idea, but I think we're going to see soon."

And they did, a few minutes later, during which "Moody" growled impotent threats at them. The Polyjuice made his entire body ripple as a normal leg grew in place of the wooden stump, and an eye suddenly bulged forwards from the place where the magical one had been. Sprawled in the center of the trap was a younger man than Harry had expected, with sandy hair and a crazed expression on his face.

And short sleeves, so they could see the pulsing Dark Mark on his arm.

"Who is he?" Theo breathed.

Harry shrugged, and reached up to crush the small seedpod that Eustace had given them before they left Theo's house for the Easter hols. Its twin would break in Eustace's study and sound an alarm, and he and Sirius would come to help them.

In the meantime, they watched the man who had put Harry's name in the Goblet, and listened to his threats about how "the Dark Lord" would find a way to destroy them. And they—well, Harry at least did this, but he was pretty sure that Theo did, too—luxuriated in how well their trap had worked.

We can combine Runes and Arithmancy. We told you.