Hello there!
Welcome to the next chapter of Cruel Angel Thesis. I hope you enjoy it as much as I had writing it and now on to the reviews.
Anglocelt: Happy to hear you like it. I was actually listening to a cover of the song Cruel Angel Thesis, so that's where that little subtitle came from. I admit I enjoy writing Charles, Snape and Flitwick.
Flame Wolfe: Happy you liked it.
And now story time.
One of the best things about the aftermath of the second task was that everybody was very keen to hear details of what had happened down in the lake, which meant that Ron was getting to share the limelight for once.
Claire noticed that Ron's version of events changed subtly with every retelling. At first, he gave what seemed to be the truth; it tallied with Amelie's story, anyway. Dumbledore had put all the hostages into a bewitched sleep in his office, first assuring them that they would be quite safe, and would awake when they were back above the water.
One week later, however, Ron was telling a thrilling tale of kidnap in which he struggled single-handedly against fifty heavily armed merpeople who had to beat him into submission before tying him up.
"But I had my wand hidden up my sleeve." he assured Padma Patil, "I could've taken those mer-idiots any time I wanted."
"What were you going to do?" Claire told him dryly, "Snore at them?"
Ron's ears went red, and thereafter, he reverted to the bewitched sleep version of events.
What was not one of the best things about the aftermath of the second task was that Alex had been hanging out less and less with them, as if he was avoiding someone.
"It's just not like him." Claire said to Harry when they were sitting in the courtyard.
"Didn't he had a phase like this earlier this year?" Harry pointed out to his girlfriend, "Around the time this tournament started?"
"It's different tis time." Claire told him, "He would still hang out with us or with Tracy. But he has even been avoiding her."
"Maybe because he doesn't want to shag with her and Adri?" he suggested, Claire gave him a raised eyebrow, "...Your right. That doesn't sound like Alex at all."
A drawling laughter passed by them, beloning to Malfoy, who came walking past with Crabbe and Goyle, who were sniggering heartily.
"Potter! Kent!" Malfoy said when he noticed them, "What are you doing here?"
"We go to school here." Claire told him, "Now bugger off, Malfoy. We have things to discuss about my cousin."
"Your cousin? You mean Alex?" Malfoy said surprised, "Is something wrong with him?"
Harry and Claire looked surprised and confused at each other. The tone of voice Malfoy used when he asked about Alex sounded surprisingly concerned.
"Yes..." Harry said slowly and unsure.
"Is... Is he alright?" Malfoy continued to inquire, even Crabbe and Goyle had a surprised expression on their usual dumb faces.
"What's it to you Malfoy?" Claire said, crossing her arms, "I thought you hated us."
"N-Nothing, Kent." the blonde Slytherin said quickly, his pale face getting a red tint, "And I do hate you six Gryffindor's... Alex is just the one I hate the least."
Meanwhile down in the school, Alex was sitting in front of his cauldron where purple puffs of smoke came out of. Taking his silver knife to cut the sopophorous bean...
"What are you doing?"
It was Professor Snape, who had entered his classroom to find Alex sitting there.
"Oh, Professor..." he said, "I was busy making some potions."
"I noticed." the Potion Master said, looking from the contents of the cauldron to the young man, "Why in my classroom?"
"I just needed some place quite." he explained, "And your classroom in one of the most quite places in the entire castle. I find creating a potion oddly relaxing."
"...On that we agree. Very well. You may stay." Snape said, striding over to his desk, "You might want to crush your sopophorous bean instead of cutting it."
Alex looked a bit surprised, but did so. Crushing his bean with the flat side of the dagger and to his astonishment, it immediately exuded so much juice he was amazed the shriveled bean could have held it all.
"Professor Snape, your a genius!" Alex said impressed.
"Your not the first to tell me that." Snape said, his mouth lifting up in a sort of half smile, "Though I am curious, Kent. Why would you hide in a dark dungeon, you have enough friends to help you... for a better word, relax."
"...I just wanted to be alone... There is tis girl I like and..." Alex began, his chest clenching, "I shouldn't bother you with it sir."
Snape was about to respond before there was a knock on the dungeon door.
"Enter." Snape said from his desk.
Alex looked around as the door opened. Professor Karkaroff came in. He watched him as he walked up toward Snape's desk. He was twisting his finger around his goatee and looking agitated.
"We need to talk." Karkaroff said abruptly when he had reached Snape.
"What's so urgent?" Snape hiss at Karkaroff.
"This." Karkaroff said, pulling up the left-hand sleeve of his robe and show Snape something on his inner forearm, "Well? Do you see? It's never been this clear, never since..."
"Put it away!" Snape snarled, turning to glance at Alex.
Karkaroff finally noticed Alex, and he immediately turned on his heel and strode out of the dungeon. He looked both worried and angry.
"I think you should go Kent." Snape said a bit tens, "Don't mention this to anyone."
Alex did as he was asked, packing his ingredients and book back into his bag and headed out of the dungeon.
"Oh, and Kent." Snape said once he reached the door.
"Yes, Professor?" Alex said, turning around.
"It's one's heart that does the choosing, often against better judgment." Snape said concerned, "Wouldn't it be better to be friends with Granger instead of being nothing at all?"
"I guess so..." Alex said, wondering how he knew it was about Hermione, "You speak as if you know about tis..."
"I know about a vast amount of things, Kent." Snape said dryly, "That is why you should be paying more attention in my class."
Hagrid, who had told them the last Care of Magical Creatures lesson, that they had finished with unicorns. He was now waiting for them outside his cabin with a fresh supply of open crates at his feet.
"Oh dear..." Claire said at the sight of the crates, "Please don't tell me that more skrewt's have hatched?.
But when they got near enough to see inside, she let out a very pleased sound.
Inside a number of flurry black creatures with long snouts sat. Their front paws were curiously flat, like spades, and they were blinking up at the class, looking politely puzzled at all the attention.
"Nifflers!" Claire said happily, displaying an affection she rarely showed.
"In the name of me..." Alex said shaking his head, "Your such a girl sometimes."
"What do you mean by that!?" Claire snarled with a glare to her cousin.
"In the name of me?" Neville said confused looking at his friend, "Don't you mean god, or Merlin or something? I mean, nobody worships you..."
"Wait." Alex said shocked, holding up his hands, "You mean you guys don't worship me!? First I ever heard of!"
"...Glad your back Alex." Hermione said with a slight smile, "I was wondering where you were hiding."
"I don't hide, love." Alex said raising a finger, "I just hibernate."
One of the nifflers had suddenly leap up and attempted to bite Pansy Parkinson's watch off her wrist. She shrieked and jumped backward.
"Useful little treasure detectors." Hagrid said happily, "Thought we'd have some fun with 'em today. See over there? I've buried some gold coins. I've got a prize fer whoever picks the niffler that digs up most. Jus' take off all yer valuables, an' choose a niffler, an get ready ter set 'em loose." he pointed at the large patch of freshly turned earth.
It was easily the most fun they had ever had in Care of Magical Creatures. The nifflers dived in and out of the patch of earth as though it were water, each scurrying back to the student who had released it and spitting gold into their hands. Ron's was particularly efficient; it had soon filled his lap with coins.
"Can you buy these as pets, Hagrid?" he asked excitedly as his niffler dived back into the soil, splattering his robes.
"I would like to know as well." Claire said trying to sound casual, "For a friend."
"Yer mum wouldn' be happy, Ron." Hagrid said, grinning, "Neither would Margaret. They wreck houses, nifflers. Or you need a very well behaved one like the niffler from Rakepick. I reckon they've nearly got the lot, now," he added, pacing around the patch of earth while the nifflers continued to dive.
"Well, let's check how yeh've done!" Hagrid said, "Count yer coins! An' there's no point tryin' ter steal any, Goyle. It's leprechaun gold. Vanishes after a few hours."
Goyle emptied his pockets, looking extremely sulky. It turned out that Ron's niffler had been most successful, so Hagrid gave him an enormous slab of Honeyduke's chocolate for a prize.
The bell rang across the grounds for lunch; the rest of the class set off back to the castle, but Harry, Claire, Alex, Ron, Neville and Hermione stayed behind to help Hagrid put the nifflers back in their boxes.
As they headed back toward the castle Ron was frowning at the chocolate Hagrid had given him. He looked thoroughly put out about something.
"What's the matter?" Neville said, "Wrong flavor?"
"Just give it to Claire." Alex said dryly, "She puts anything in her mouth if you coat it with chocolate. There is a free tip for you Harry."
"What." Harry said.
They climbed the steps into the entrance hall and went into the Great Hall for lunch.
"Must be nice." Ron said abruptly, when they had sat down and started serving themselves roast beef and Yorkshire puddings, "To have so much money you don't notice if a pocketful of Galleons goes missing."
"Listen, I had other stuff on my mind that night!" Harry said impatiently, "We all did, remember?"
"Yeah, like how Sephy was destroying Death Eater left and right!" Alex said, looking over to the Ravenclaw table.
"I didn't know leprechaun gold vanishes." Ron muttered, speared a roast potato on the end of his fork, glaring at it, "I hate being poor. I don't blame Fred and George for trying to make some extra money. Wish I could. Wish I had a niffler."
"You and me both Ron." Claire said, thinking how it would be to have a niffler, "You and me both."
"Well, we know what to get you two next Christmas." Hermione said brightly, "What are you looking at?" she added to Alex.
"Thinking about what to get tonight. I was thinking about Asian." Alex said, taking a gold coin from his pocket, tossing it in the air before catching it. Placing it on his hand, he looked at the result, "Well Cho Chang, your a lucky girl tonight."
"What." Hermione said.
The start of the summer term would normally have meant that Harry was training hard for the last Quidditch match of the season. This year, however, it was the third and final task in the Triwizard Tournament for which he needed to prepare, but he still didn't know what he would have to do.
Finally, in the last week of May, Professor McGonagall held them back in Transfiguration.
"You are to go down to the Quidditch field tonight at nine o'clock. Potter, Kent." she told, "Mr. Bagman will be there to tell the champions about the third task."
So at half past eight that night, Harry and Claire left the Gryffindor Tower and went downstairs. As they crossed the entrance hall, Cedric came up from the Hufflepuff common room.
"What d'you reckon it's going to be?" he asked as they went together down the stone steps, out into the cloudy night, "Nat keeps going on about underground tunnels; she reckons we've got to find treasure."
"Nat? You and Romanova have become close." Claire said, a hint of a tease in her voice, "Anyway, Fleur mentioned something like a maze."
"Neither sound too bad, actually." Harry said.
They walked down the dark lawn to the Quidditch stadium, turned through a gap in the stands, and walked out onto the field.
"What have they done to it?" Cedric said indignantly, stopping dead.
The Quidditch field was no longer smooth and flat. It looked as though somebody had been building long, low walls all over it that twisted and crisscrossed in every direction.
"They're hedges!" Harry said, bending to examine the nearest one.
"Hello there!" called a cheery voice.
Ludo Bagman was standing in the middle of the field with Krum, Romanova, Fleur and LeBlanc.
Harry, Claire and Cedric made their way toward them, climbing over the hedges. Fleur beamed at Claire as she came nearer.
"Well, what d'you think?" Bagman said happily as the trio climbed over the last hedge, "Growing nicely, aren't they? Give them a month and Hagrid will have them twenty feet high. Don't worry," he added, grinning, spotting the less-than-happy expressions on Harry's and Cedric's faces, "You'll have your Quidditch field back to normal once the task is over! Now, I imagine you can guess what we're making here?"
"A maze." Claire said.
"That's right!" Bagman said, "A maze. The third task's really very straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the center of the maze. The first champion to touch it will receive full marks."
"Sound almost too easy." Fleur said.
"There will be obstacles." Bagman said happily, bouncing on the balls of his feet, "Hagrid is providing a number of creatures... Then there will be spells that must be broken... all that sort of thing, you know. Now, the champions who are leading on points will get a head start into the maze. Should be fun, eh?"
Knowing full well what kind of creatures that Hagrid was likely to provide for an event like this, Claire said dryly, "Yes. Fun."
"And how did it go?" Charles said, sitting on the couch in his office, looking over the homework of the second years when Fleur came into his office.
"You were right." she said, walking over to him and sitting down next to him, "It's going to be a maze."
"Like I said, I am always right." he said, letting out a small sigh when she laid down, resting her head on his knees with her face looking up to him, "Fleur, I really need to get tis work done."
"But you seem very stressed." she said, looking up at him with a smile, "You could use a distraction."
"And you are very good at distracting me." he said, smiling back at her as he leaned down.
But before their lips could reach each other, a loud knock rang from the door into his office. With a deep annoyed sigh, he sat straight up and a disappointed Fleur got off his lap.
"It's always something." he said, standing up from his couch and walking towards the door, opening it to reveal a panting Harry, "What are you doing here, Harry?"
"It's Mr. Crouch... He's just turned up..." Hary panted, "He's in the forest... He's asking..."
"Calm down Harry." Charles said concerned, "What are you talking about?"
"Mr. Crouch!" Harry shouted, "From the Ministry! He's ill or something... he's in the forest, he wants to see Dumbledore!"
Charles nodded at once, taking out his wand shooting silver shape out of the tin piece of wood. "I send him a message to meet us there." Charles said, looking into his office sending Fleur a apologizing look before swiping his wand calling his coat over to him, "Lead the way."
Charles swept off along the corridor behind Harry, "What did Mr. Crouch say. Harry?" Charles said as they walked swiftly down the marble staircase.
"Said he wants to warn Dumbledore... said he's done something terrible... he mentioned his son... and Bertha Jorkins... and... and Voldemort... something about Voldemort getting stronger..."
"Indeed." Charles said, and he quickened his pace as they hurried out into the pitch-darkness.
"Mr. Crouch came from the forest." Harry said, hurrying along beside Charles, "He's not acting normally, he doesn't seem to know where he is. He keeps talking like he thinks Percy Weasley's there, and then he changes, and says he needs to see Dumbledore... I left him with Viktor Krum."
"You did? What about Claire?" Charles said concerned, "Wasn't she with you?"
"She went on ahead to the castle." Harry said as Charles looked relieved for a moment before he began to take longer strides, so that Harry was running to keep up.
"Do you know if anybody else saw Mr. Crouch?" Charles said.
"No. Krum and I were talking, Mr. Bagman had just finished telling us about the third task, we stayed behind, and then we saw Mr. Crouch coming out of the forest."
"He requested Dumbledore right?" Charles said as the Beauxbatons carriage emerged from the darkness, "Why come to me?"
"Your office was closer and you could send that message to Dumbledore and..." Harry said, a bit unsure if he should say the next part, "And because I trust you more than Dumbledore. I sometimes feel he hide things from me."
Through the darkness, Charles gave the young boy a look. His cloudy grey eyes hinted at surprise but also of appreciation of what his student had just said. "I... Everyone lies, Harry. Even so... I've been careful not to tell lies that hurt others." he said, keeping his composure, "Where are they?"
"Over here." Harry said, moving in front of Charles, leading the way through the trees, "Viktor?"
No one answered.
"They were here." Harry said to Charles, "They were definitely somewhere around here..."
Charles lighting his wand and holding it up, its narrow beam traveled from black trunk to black trunk, illuminating the ground. And then it fell upon a pair of feet.
Harry and Charles hurried forward. Krum was sprawled on the forest floor. He seemed to be unconscious. There was no sign at all of Mr. Crouch. Charles bent over Krum and gently lifted one of his eyelids.
"Stunned." he said softly, he lifted up his wand, casting the shadows away with his wandlight as he peered around at the surrounding trees.
"Should I go and get someone?" Harry said, "Madam Pomfrey?"
"No. Stay here." Charles said, he raised his wand into the air and pointed it in the direction of Hagrid's cabin, shooting something silver towards him.
Then Charles bent over Krum again, pointed his wand at him, and muttered, "Ennervate."
Krum opened his eyes. He looked dazed. When he saw Charles, he tried to sit up, but Charles put a hand on his shoulder and made him lie still.
"He attacked me!" Krum muttered, putting a hand up to his head, "The old madman attacked me! I vos looking around to see vare Potter had gone and he attacked from behind!"
"Easy there Krum. It's better you lay still for a moment." Charles said, as moments later Dumbledore finally arrived at the same moment as a panting Hagrid arrived with Fang at his heels. He was carrying his crossbow.
"Professor Dumbledore! Professor Jaeger." he said, his eyes widening. "Harry... what the..."
"Hagrid, can you go fetch Professor Karkaroff." Dumbledore said, having been brought up to speed by Charles message, "His student has been attacked. When you've done that, kindly alert Professor Moody."
Hagrid turned and disappeared into the dark trees, Fang trotting after him.
Neither Harry, nor Charles nor Dumbledore spoke again until they heard the unmistakable sounds of Hagrid and Fang returning. Karkaroff was hurrying along behind them. He was wearing his sleek silver furs, and he looked pale and agitated.
Hagrid immediately set off towards to the castle to fetch Moody when Karkaroff saw Krum on the ground Dumbledore, Charles and Harry beside him, "What is this? What's going on?"
"I vos attacked!" Krum said, sitting up now and rubbing his head, "Mr. Crouch or votever his name..."
"Crouch attacked you?" Karkaroff hissed, "Crouch attacked you? The Triwizard judge?"
"Igor." Dumbledore began, but Karkaroff had drawn himself up, clutching his furs around him, looking livid.
"Treachery!" he bellowed, pointing at Dumbledore, "It is a plot! You and your Ministry of Magic have lured me here under false pretenses, Dumbledore! This is not an equal competition! First you sneak Potter into the tournament! Now one of your Ministry friends attempts to put my champion out of action! I smell double-dealing and corruption in this whole affair, and you, Dumbledore, you, with your talk of closer international wizarding links, of rebuilding old ties, of forgetting old differences..."
"Now hold on, Karkaroff." Charles said dangerously, stepping forward, "I'm not always agreeing with Albus but he wouldn't do any of that. Dumbledore wouldn't want Harry into tis tournament..."
"Charles." Dumbledore said sharply, "Would you kindly escort Harry back up to the castle."
"Very well." Charles said, gesturing to Harry to follow, "Let's go."
They marched in silence past the Beauxbatons carriage and up toward the castle.
"Harry, I want you to stay in the dorm." Charles said as they reached the hallway with the portret of the Fat Lady, "Anything you might want to do, any owls you might want to send, they can wait until morning, do you understand me?"
"Of course sir." Harry said, before the portrait swung open.
"Oh, and Harry." Charles said as he watched him clambered through the portrait hole into the common room.
"Yes?" Harry said, turning around.
"Thank you." Charles said with a small smile, but before Harry could ask more, the portrait closed.
End of the chapter, hope you enjoyed it.
Many thanks to everyone who read, review, favorite or follows this story as usual.
For now I wish you all a fantastic day, if you enjoyed my work don't forget to leave a review and I hope to see you ladies and gents next time.
Mischief Managed.