"You said you've solved the clue of the Golden Egg!"
During the Charms class, everyone was practicing the Banishing Charm while clumsily dodging the cushions that were accidentally (or deliberately) thrown at them by others. They especially had to be careful not to be hit by Professor Flitwick who was flying around in the air (the result of Longbottom's practice). Suddenly, in a lull among the commotion, I heard Hermione's angry voice.
"Keep your voice down, will you?" Harry said irritably to her, and then waved at me. I hunched over and made my way towards them while avoiding various cushions. "Forget about the Golden Egg for now. I have something to tell you guys - Iris, I saw Barty Crouch enter your dad's office yesterday."
"Barty Crouch?" Black and I asked in unison. Black casually waved his wand, directing a cushion that was hurtling towards his nose to jump into someone else's box. He frowned and said, "My mother's former boss, Barty Crouch?"
"Yes, the very Barty Crouch who dismissed his own house - elf on the night of the Quidditch World Cup, and the current boss of Ron's brother Percy." Harry briefly recounted to us how he had taken the Golden Egg for a walk last night and finally got a clue (Hermione rolled her eyes exaggeratedly), how he had unexpectedly seen Barty Crouch in my dad's office when using the Marauder's Map, and then how he had perilously stepped onto that trick - playing staircase ("You were just absent - minded and careless!" Hermione said), and had a thrilling encounter with my dad and Professor Moody. Professor Moody had come to his rescue but borrowed his Marauder's Map.
"What!" Ron exclaimed. "Without the Marauder's Map, it'll be really hard for us to go on nocturnal adventures safely!"
"That's not the point, okay?" Harry turned to me and asked, "Can you think of anything in your dad's office that might interest Mr. Crouch?"
"I don't think that's the point either." Hermione said as she demonstrated the precise Banishing Charm to us. "When we met Bagman at the Three Broomsticks, he told us that Mr. Crouch was seriously ill. How could a seriously ill person enter Hogwarts without being noticed and even go to the office of the Head of Slytherin House?"
"Well, I don't think he needs to be unnoticed." Black seemed to think it was fun to put his own cushions into other people's boxes. He had already played with seven or eight cushions, and his own box was empty. "As one of the judges of the Triwizard Tournament, he can come to Hogwarts this whole school year."
"There's nothing special in my dad's office." I was telling the truth. Even the basement of my house probably didn't have anything that could interest Barty Crouch. I knew that Mr. Crouch, like Moody, was obsessed with catching Dark wizards. But my mom showed more of a courtesy towards Mr. Crouch out of respect for his position rather than genuine respect. She didn't approve of Mr. Crouch's overly harsh and cold - blooded ways and thought he was blatantly eager for fame and reputation.
"Even if there was, he wouldn't let you know." Ron muttered. "The Head of Slytherin House..."
"Well, it seems you clearly know more about my dad's office than I do, and I've been playing with cauldrons in there since I was three." I retorted with a bit of sarcasm.
"I still think it's strange that Mr. Crouch came to Hogwarts." Hermione changed the topic. "He was even too ill to come to the Christmas Ball, wasn't he? Instead of using such a legitimate opportunity, he sneaked in late at night. It's very fishy."
"You just dislike Crouch because you feel sorry for that house - elf named Winky." Ron said. "But both Taurus and I have explained to you that normal wizards basically treat their house - elves like this."
This conversation ended with Black and Ron Weasley planning to write to their mother and brother respectively to subtly inquire about Mr. Crouch's recent situation. Professor Flitwick finally landed on the ground, and everyone's cushions were messily strewn in all sorts of unexpected places. Amidst laughter and chatter, the bell rang, marking the end of the Charms class.
The period of time that followed was quite peaceful. Apart from Hermione and her friends, who once again started spending all their time desperately searching for something in the library, to the extent that she didn't even have time to pay attention to Krum. February 24th was approaching, and everyone was speculating wildly about the clue in the Golden Egg, excitedly discussing it during their breaks.
Draco wasn't very interested in this. No matter what the competition event was, he viciously hoped that it would make Harry disappear from Hogwarts forever. Hagrid had returned to the teaching staff. To Draco's disappointment, seemingly spurred by the students' fondness for Professor Grubbly - Plank, Hagrid had made some adjustments to his teaching syllabus (if he actually had one). In his first class back, he even brought in two baby unicorns. Even though the students tried their best to hide it, they couldn't completely conceal their affection for these two golden - colored, fluffy, soft, and pure little creatures. Draco, with a sullen face, queued up to touch them twice, and then couldn't resist touching them a third time.
I had a feeling that Harry and his friends weren't making much progress because the time I could see them in the Gryffindor common room was getting less and less, and Hermione's temper was getting worse. The last time she was so hysterical was when she took too many courses last academic year. They didn't ask me to offer help either. Most of my free time was directly taken up by Draco. He was now highly interested in Occlumency and even suggested that I use Legilimency on him again to evaluate his practice results.
That day, I had just said goodbye to Draco and was about to go back to the common room to think about how to revise my Transfiguration essay to make Professor McGonagall more satisfied when Hermione came running towards me in a hurry. I looked at her in confusion, and then at Black and the Weasley twins behind her. Tomorrow was the second event, and yet she and Black weren't with Harry at this moment.
"Iris!" She grabbed my hand. "We're out of options. We thought we could still search a bit tonight, but Fred and George said Professor McGonagall is looking for us. Could you help Harry? Please, just tonight. He can't go to the bottom of the lake unprepared tomorrow..."
"What bottom of the lake? The second event is to go to the bottom of the lake?" I was completely bewildered. "The bottom of the school lake?"
"I don't have time. Professor McGonagall seems to be in a hurry to see the two of us." Hermione said anxiously, wringing her fingers. She told me where Harry and Ron were in the library. "Please, Iris."
Asking me to help must have been a spur - of - the - moment idea of Hermione's because when I found the two boys, they looked even more confused than I was. It took me a while to find out what the second event was all about - going to the bottom of the lake to find one's beloved treasure within an hour. To be honest, not to mention that the ice on the lake surface had just thawed a few weeks ago, even in the scorching heat of July or August, this wouldn't be a pleasant task.
"Do you have any plans now?" I sat down and frowned at the disorderly stack of thick books on their table. "Absolutely no clue?"
"Isn't that obvious?" Harry said with a bitter smile. His hair was messier than usual (probably from scratching it out of frustration).
"If only you had learned to be an Animagus," Ron said, flipping through the books with a rustle. The dust between the pages made his eyes water. "Then you could turn into a fish directly—"
"And then get caught by the Ministry of Magic as soon as I come ashore, charged with performing illegal Animagus in front of all the teachers, students, and senior Ministry officials," Harry yawned and rubbed his eyes. "The next day, I'd receive a Howler from my mom in Azkaban—I told you not to follow in your father's footsteps..."
I couldn't help but laugh. He still had the mood to joke about himself at this time.
"Underwater... underwater..." I picked up a book that Hermione hadn't marked as read and started flipping through it. I felt that there was a faint impression in my mind, but now, because I was desperately thinking, it seemed to have vanished.
"I'm sure I've seen it somewhere. I have a bit of an impression..." I tossed the Collection of Commonly Used Modern Magic aside. What could have left an impression on me should be something related to Potions, either a potion or its ingredients.
At half - past eight, Madam Pince, ignoring our pleas, unfeelingly drove us all out of the library. The three of us, in a sorry state, hugged a large pile of books and staggered towards the Gryffindor common room. Halfway there, Harry insisted on taking the books from my hands. After almost tripping, we both realized we were being stupid, as we could have used the Levitation Charm.
"You should have asked me earlier," I said, gradually feeling the anxiety brought on by being at a loss. "Then I could have subtly asked my dad. He must know!"
"You're already very busy," Harry said, looking at the books in his hands. "And if he knew you were helping me, he'd probably go ballistic... right?"
I looked up at his calm face and for a moment didn't know what to say. I wasn't even sure whether the "he" in this sentence referred to my dad or Draco.
Harry wearily tossed the book he'd finished flipping through onto the carpet, nearly hitting Crookshanks, who had come to rub against his leg. "Hermione wanted to ask you for help a long time ago, but I told her not to. Although I admit that what she said was right, and I followed those suggestions... Uh, I shouldn't have told you that."
"Now it seems that even if, by some miracle, we find a potion that allows me to move freely in the water, there's no time to brew it." After twelve o'clock, only the three of us were left in the Gryffindor common room. Ron had fallen asleep, drowsy. Harry said they'd been pulling several all - nighters. He stood up, feigning ease, and said, "I'll get the Invisibility Cloak and go to the library to look again. We have to give it one last try—what if there's something that works just by eating it?"
What if there's something that works just by eating it? I suddenly looked up, my mind racing. I was sure I'd seen such a thing. I had this impression, in a book that detailed the special ingredients for making potions and their growth environments...
"We're not going to the library." When Harry returned to the common room with his Invisibility Cloak, I was already ready to set off. "We're going to my dad's office. There must be that thing in my dad's storage room. You'll definitely get your treasure back tomorrow. You have to trust me."
"I really should have asked you for help earlier," he muttered as I slipped into his Invisibility Cloak with him. "Hermione was right."
"She usually is." The time was pressing, and we didn't have time to wake Ron up (I also thought it was stupid for three people to break into my dad's office at night. If I were more familiar with the night paths, I actually thought it would be best if I went alone). So we hurriedly sneaked out of the Gryffindor common room.
On the way, we didn't encounter Peeves, nor Filch. Not even Mrs. Norris came to cause trouble. Stopping in front of my dad's office, I took a deep breath. I never thought that one day I'd be sneaking Harry Potter into my dad's office in the middle of the night. It sounded more absurd than goblins suddenly announcing that they would live in harmony with wizards from then on.
"I don't think 'Alohomora' will work," Harry said.
"Yeah," I said unenthusiastically. "If you're not an invited person and you open the door rashly or use the unlocking spell, this door will stick you to the doorknob until my dad comes to deal with you. But you don't have to worry about that since you're with me."
"Because you can enter freely?" he asked me.
"Because I've figured out how to fool this door," I said with a bit of pride. "It works on a similar principle to the door of my family's basement."
"Gillyweed. Eladora Ketteridge first discovered its function. It grows in the Mediterranean Sea and is a gray, clumpy plant. If you eat it, you'll grow gills and webbed fingers and toes within a certain period and be able to breathe underwater... I don't remember the exact duration of its effect, but it surely lasts for an hour." I used my wand to light up the pitch - black office. "I don't think Dad would put it on the shelf. It might be in the storage cabinet. We'd better search separately. After all, there aren't many hours left until dawn, and Dad gets up very early..."
"Why not just use the Summoning Charm?" Harry waved his wand, and I slapped his right hand holding the wand hard, stopping this stupid and impulsive act of his in the nick of time.
"Never, ever, use the Summoning Charm in a place filled with glass bottles and medicines that can't be mixed casually," I said, sounding exactly like my dad losing his temper in Potions class at that moment. "You never know from which corner the thing you want to summon will come rushing at you, how many bottles it will break along the way, and how many herbs it will contaminate... Then, even if you cry and admit your mistake, you'll have to reflect in the corner for the whole afternoon, and for dinner, you'll only get the mushroom soup you hate the most as punishment for your mistake. Don't laugh!"
"My mom makes delicious mushroom soup," Harry said, trying to hold back his laughter as he climbed up the nearby ladder and started checking the labels on the glass bottles one by one. "If you have a chance to visit my home, maybe you'll change your impression of it."
"I hate all mushrooms." I opened my dad's private storage cabinet and was surprised to find that it seemed to have been rummaged through. Several bottles were lying askew in the storage compartments. This wasn't like my dad. But there was no time to think about it now, so I started rummaging through it.
"Okay, it seems you won't drown tomorrow." After searching for a while, I finally took out a water - filled bottle from a small compartment. Inside was a clump of gray waterweed that looked like a twisted rat's tail. "Eat it before you go into the water, but it looks like it tastes awful."
Only when we slipped out of my dad's office wearing the Invisibility Cloak did we realize how long we'd actually stayed there. A faint light could be seen outside the window. We stood there for a while, looking at the calm Great Lake in the dim dawn light, finding it hard to imagine that in just a few hours, the champions would be diving into the lake bottom.
"I'll send you back to the common room first, and then go to the library. Anyway, I can't sleep, so I might as well look up some underwater spell - casting techniques. I've always heard there are giant squids in the lake." Having solved the top - priority issue of breathing underwater, he seemed much calmer.
"It looks like it's going to be a nice day," I said, looking at the night sky outside the window. There were hardly any clouds covering the fading starlight. "Good luck."
It took us a while to wake up the Fat Lady. Being woken up made her seem in a bad temper. She mumbled a few curses with sleepy eyes before opening the door for us. When I climbed into the common room, Ron was already awake and still flipping through the books in the pile. Crookshanks was curled up on his lap, sound asleep like a heavy ball.
"Where did you two go? I was going to look for you, but I thought it wasn't a good idea to sneak out alone without the map or the Invisibility Cloak," he said, rubbing his eyes. "This is really annoying. First Hermione and Talos, then you and Harry. Can't you guys tell me where you're going before you leave?"
I briefly explained to him what we had just done and then told him he could go to bed and rest for a while.
"I won't sleep," he said. He looked like he could fall asleep at any moment, but still shook his head and refused my suggestion. "Since you said that Gillyweed thing can keep Harry from drowning... I just found a spell that can quickly warm someone up. I can take a look. It must be tough to stay in the lake for an hour in this weather."
I hesitated for a moment, then sat down and started looking through the book with him. Crookshanks was woken up by us. After sniffing around my feet for a long time and confirming that I wasn't its owner, it seemed very unhappy. After mumbling a long string of cat language we couldn't understand, it started squatting in front of the fireplace, trying to catch the flying sparks.
"Has Hermione ever talked to you about Krum?" When I was already drowsy (I'm really not good at staying up late), I suddenly heard Ron ask me in a strange tone. "Does she like Krum a lot?"
"Uh," I actually wanted to tell him that Hermione's liking for Krum was far less than his obsession with Krum before Christmas. But seeing his not - so - good expression, I evaded the question vaguely. "Krum really likes to be with her."
"Of course," his muttering grew softer and more distant. "I bet there aren't any pretty girls in Durmstrang. Look at the students they picked... They're even taller and stronger than the boys at Hogwarts. What's so great about him... Just a broom - rider."
When I arrived at the lakeside competition venue at dawn, I was extremely sleepy. Ron and I waited in the common room for quite a while, but Hermione and Talos still didn't show up. The champions and judges gathered on the other side of the lake. The grandstands used to watch the first task in November were now neatly arranged by the lake. Everyone seemed much more casual and didn't sit strictly by house, but the enthusiasm for watching the game was still high. I'm sure the champions on the other side of the lake could hear our cheering.
"Miss Snape, didn't you sleep well last night?" After I yawned for the fifth time, Greengrass asked me with concern. "I brought some hot tea. Well, my magic didn't work quite right, so it's a bit cold."
"It's okay." I wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes and noticed that she was wearing a beautiful blue flower - shaped hairpin in her hair today. "I was, uh, reading a book last night (I realized Draco was listening to me), and I accidentally stayed up late."
The second task was much more boring than the first one - in terms of the viewing experience. After all, in the first task, everyone could watch the champions fight against the dragons, while in the second task, everyone could only stare blankly at the reflection on the lake. The champions had been in the water for more than ten minutes. I was relieved when I saw Harry successfully enter the water (although the Slytherins laughed at him when he was waiting by the water for the Gillyweed to take effect). No one could see what was happening underwater, and Bagman's jokes seemed dull and lost their former charm.
"So, are we just going to count the bubbles on the lake?" Draco complained impatiently. "What idiot came up with this?"
"Don't move." I mumbled, already drowsy and leaning on his shoulder. "I'm so sleepy. Don't talk and don't move either."
I thought the cold February wind blowing on my face would make me more awake, but today's sunshine was really too bright. It was like the warm, glistening golden sunlight in March when spring flowers bloom, shining on the entire Great Lake, making it shimmer with light, and making people basically ignore the cold wind. But when a person is on the verge of falling asleep, the wind becomes annoying. It's like a pair of hands persistently pulling me, drowsy, back to the waking reality. But I was so sleepy. I really wanted to sleep for a while. The last time I stayed up all night was when I heard that my mother was missing in Albania.
I vaguely dreamed of a long - time ago. At that time, I was a little girl running around with a small doll in my arms. The doll had no magic. My mother made it for me. She said she had a doll like this when she was a child, and it accompanied her and her sister when their parents went to work. At that time, she didn't know she was a witch. She was at a loss when the doll suddenly flew up into the tree and could only squat under the tall tree and cry. Then suddenly the doll fell down and hit her on the head. At the corner she couldn't see, a black - haired little boy in funny clothes turned and ran away.
"Liz, don't fall asleep here," my mother's gentle voice came from afar. "The wind is strong. If Liz falls asleep, she'll get a headache. And if she has a headache, she'll have to take the medicine she doesn't like, and her ears will keep smoking. Liz hates that, doesn't she?"
"Then make the wind stop," I said, hugging the doll (it wasn't as soft as I remembered, but it was warm) and acting coquettishly. "I'm so sleepy. I want to sleep right here."
The wind really died down a lot. I seemed to be wrapped up in something. It wasn't the faint floral fragrance on my mother that I was familiar with, but I wasn't unfamiliar with this smell either. It made me vaguely recall a certain smell that always lingered in a deep corridor in my memory. It was very clear at first, but when I tried to smell it carefully, it was indistinguishable. Whether it came from the burning candles, the heavy hand - woven tapestries, or the unknown dried flowers in the glass containers.
"Don't make noise," I heard someone speaking from the depths of the corridor. "Can't you see she's asleep?"