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 story time.
It was daybreak. Harry, Claire, Alex, Ron, Neville and Hermione had crept out of their dormitories very early and hurried up to the Owlery together to send a note to Sirius and Margaret.
"It comes down to tis." Claire said, rubbing her forehead, "Either Mr. Crouch attacked Viktor, or somebody else attacked both of them when Viktor wasn't looking."
"It must've been Crouch." Ron said at once, "That's why he was gone when Harry and Jeager got there. He'd done a runner."
"I don't think so." Harry said, shaking his head, "He seemed really weak – I don't reckon he was up to Disapparating or anything."
"You can't Disapparate on the Hogwarts grounds." Hermione said, "Haven't I told you enough times?"
"Yeah, but we always forget." Alex said, rubbing a hand through Hermione's bushy brown hair, "And you always remember it so we don't have to."
"Okay... How's this for a theory." Ron said excitedly, "Krum attacked Crouch, no, wait for it, and then Stunned himself!"
"...And Mr. Crouch did what?" Neville said as they stood at the window, looking over the misty grounds, "Just evaporated in thin air?"
"Come on." Harry said, turning away from the window, "Let's get some breakfast."
"Now that is a plan I can get behind." Claire said.
"Do you think it's too early to go and see Professor Jeager?" Hermione said as they went down the spiral staircase.
"Yes." Harry said, "He'd probably kill us all if we wake him at the crack of dawn."
"Don't want to wake Jeager's queen up." Alex said wisely, "Adri told me that Fleur rarely sleep in the Beauxbatons carriage anymore. And we all know those two are a thing."
"They are?" Ron said obliviously.
"Come on!" Alex shouted throwing his arms up, "You have to be blind and deaf to not notice the alchemy between the two."
"You mean the chemistry?" Neville said.
"No, I meant alchemy." Alex said.
History of Magic had rarely gone so slowly. When the bell finally rang, they hurried out into the corridors toward the Combat Class classroom and found Professor Jeager leaving it.
"Professor Jeager?" Harry called as they made their way toward him through the crowd.
"Hello there." Jeager said, standing back, "I was wondering when you six would show up."
He let them into his empty classroom, walking in after them, and closed the door.
"Did they find him?" Harry asked without preamble.
"No." Jeager said, he moved over to his desk, sat down, "I even used the Marauder's Map. He wasn't anywhere on there."
"So he did Disapparate?" Ron said.
"You can't Disapparate on the grounds, Ron!" Hermione said annoyed.
"But there are other ways he could have disappeared." Claire said, "Aren't there, Professor?"
Jeager let out a tired sigh, "Well, he wasn't invisible." he said, "The map shows invisible people. He must've left the grounds, then."
"But under his own steam?" Harry said eagerly, "Or because someone made him?"
"Yeah, someone could've..." Ron said quickly, "Could've pulled him onto a broom and flown off with him, couldn't they?"
"We can't rule out a kidnapping." Jeager said, crossing his arms.
"So..." Alex said, "Think he is somewhere in Hogsmeade?"
"Could be anywhere. Only thing we know for sure is that he's not here." Jeager said, shaking his head, "Listen to me you six, there's nothing you can do for Crouch. The Ministry will be looking for him now, Dumbledore's notified them. Harry, Claire, you two need to keep your mind on the third task."
"What?" Harry said.
"You forgot, didn't you?" their professor said annoyed but a bit amused.
"No..." Claire lied.
"Yes, you did." Jeager told them, "Should be right up your street, though. You've managed to get through situations like that plenty of times. Like in your first year when you went through the obstacles guarding the Philosoper Stone."
"We helped." Neville said, "And then Sephylon helped as well."
Jeager grinned, "Well, we can't count on Sephylon to help you out tis time." he said.
"Why not?" Alex said, "He always shows up at the end of the school year to save us."
"Like last year?" Claire said, "He didn't show up."
"We saw him terrorizing the Death Eaters during the Quidditch World cup." Neville told her, "That made up for it."
"Anyway, we can't count on Sephylon to appear out of nowhere and help you out. So I will be counting on you four to help Harry and Claire." Jeager said, pushing himself off the table, "In the meantime... Keep an eye out and if something strange happens, immediately report it to an authority figure."
Sirius and Margaret sent the owl back the very next morning. It fluttered down beside Harry at the same moment that a tawny owl landed in front of Hermione, clutching a copy of the Daily Prophet in its beak.
She took the newspaper, scanned the first few pages, said, "Ha! She hasn't got wind of Crouch!"
"You mean Skeeters?" Claire said, "Haven't heard about her in a while." then joined the others in reading what Sirius and Margaret had to say on the mysterious events of the night before last.
Harry –
what do you think you are playing at, walking off into the forest with Viktor Krum?
I want you to swear, by return owl, that you are not going to go walking with anyone else at night. There is somebody highly dangerous at Hogwarts.
It is clear to me that they wanted to stop Crouch from seeing Dumbledore and you were probably feet away from them in the dark. You could have been killed.
Your name didn't get into the Goblet of Fire by accident. If someone's trying to attack you, they're on their last chance. Stay close to Claire, Alex, Ron, Neville and Hermione, do not leave Gryffindor Tower after hours, and arm yourself for the third task.
Practice Stunning and Disarming. A few hexes wouldn't go amiss either. There's nothing you can do about Crouch. Keep your head down and look after yourself. I'm waiting for your letter giving me your word you won't stray out-of-bounds again.
Sirius & Margaret.
"What a bunch of hypocrites. Lecturing me about being out-of-bounds?" Harry said in mild indignation as he folded up the letter and put it inside his robes, "After all the stuff they did at school!"
"They are worried about you!" Hermione said sharply, "Just like Jeager! So listen to them!"
"No one's tried to attack me all year." Harry said, "No one's done anything to me at all..."
"Except put your name in the Goblet of Fire." Alex pointed out, "And they must have done so for a reason."
"Alex is right." Hermione said.
"That's nothing new." he said with a smirk.
"Maybe they've been biding their time." Hermione said, ignoring him, "Maybe this is the task they're going to get you."
"Let's say they are right, and someone Stunned Krum to kidnap Crouch." Harry said impatiently, "Well, they would've been in the trees near us, wouldn't they? But they waited till I was out of the way until they acted, didn't they? So it doesn't look like I'm their target, does it?"
"Maybe because they couldn't make it look like an accident." Neville pointed out, "But if you die during a task..."
"They didn't care about attacking Krum, did they?" Harry said, "Why didn't they just polish me off at the same time? They could've made it look like Krum and I had a duel or something."
"Harry, I don't understand it either." Neville said.
"There are a lot of odd things going on... But we need to get ready for the third task." Claire said, "And you make sure you write back and promise them you're not going to go sneaking off alone again."
The Hogwarts grounds never looked more inviting than when they to stay indoors. For the next few days the Gryffindor Six spent all of their free time either in the library, looking up hexes, or else in Jeager's empty office or classroom which he had offered to them.
And in the night, Harry and Claire had to keep up with with the ever increasing difficulty that was Jeager's. Sometimes together, sometimes separate.
"Get up, Harry."
One night, Harry found himself kneeling on the floor of Jeager's office, trying to clear his head. His professor had been trying to teach him the art of Occlumency, the means to close off one's mind against a Legilimens from perceiving one's emotions and thoughts.
He had just been forced, yet again, to relive a stream of very early memories he had not even realized he still had, most of them concerning humiliations Dudley and his gang had inflicted upon him in primary school.
"That last memory." Jeager said, "What was it?"
"I don't know." Harry said, getting wearily to his feet. He was finding it increasingly difficult to disentangle separate memories from the rush of images and sound that Jeager kept calling forth, "You mean the one where my cousin tried to make me stand in the toilet?"
"I see..." Jeager said, a hint of frustration in his voice, "Now, if you are ready, we will start again."
He raised his wand: "One... two... three... Legilimens!"
A hundred dementors were swooping towards Harry across the grounds... he screwed up his face in concentration... They were coming closer... he could see the dark holes beneath their hoods... yet he could also see Jeager standing in front of him, his eyes fixed on Harry's face, muttering under his breath... and somehow, Jeager was growing clearer, and the dementors were growing fainter...
Harry raised his own wand.
"Protego!"
Jeager staggered, his wand flew upwards, away from Harry... and suddenly Harry's mind was teeming with memories that were not his: a small dark-haired boy cried in a lonely room. A man stood behind a greasy-haired teenager with a hand on the boy's shoulder glaring at a hooknosed man. A group people laughing while they seated in a living room as they looked at a baby boy and a baby girl.
Harry felt as though he had been pushed hard in the chest; he staggered several steps backwards, hit a photo covering Jeager's walls and heard something crack.
One of the frames had broken when he fell against it.
"Reparo." Jeager said, and the glass sealed itself at once, "Well... That's an improvement. I wouldn't have used a Shield Charm myself, but there was no doubt that it was effective."
Harry did not speak; he was sure he had just broken into Jeager's memories, that he had just seen scenes from Jeager's childhood. It was unnerving to think that the little boy who had been crying alone in a room was actually standing in front of him.
"That's enough for tonight..." Jeager said putting his wand away, "Though there is something I would like to show you, if you have the time that is."
He took a ring from the glass case nest to the bottle containing the beetle. Holding it between his index and thumb, stroking the gem with the thumb of his other hand. Releasing the ring, it began to spin and floating towards the desk, forming itself in a shallow metal basin, with runes and symbols around the edge.
Silvery light was coming from the basin's contents, it looked like light made liquid, or like wind made solid.
"Do you know what tis is, Harry?" Jeager said, gesturing for Harry to come stand next to him.
"I..." Harry said as he studied the stone basin, "Have no idea."
"Tis is a Pensieve. A tool that can be used to view Memories." Jeager said as he stood next to Harry, "There is a certain memory I want you to see. A reward."
Jeager touched the tip of his wand to his temple and withdrew it, so that a long, silver thread of memory came away too, clinging to the wand tip. Longer and longer the memory stretched until it broke and swung, silvery bright, from the wand. Jeager lowered it into Pensieve where, where they swirled and shimmered, neither liquid nor gas.
"After you." Jeager said, gesturing toward the bowl.
Harry bent forward, took a deep breath, and plunged his face into the silvery substance. He felt his feet leave the office floor.
He was falling, falling through whirling darkness and then, quite suddenly, he was blinking in dazzling sunlight. Before his eyes had adjusted, Jeager landed beside him.
They were standing on a town square beneath a summer sky as bright and blue as a forget-me-not. Some ten feet in front of them stood another Charles Jeager, wearing a simple dress shirt under a black open trench coat, similar colored pants and nice dress shoes.
"You haven't aged a day, professor." Harry pointed out, noting that the Charles Jeager version of many years ago, didn't seemed to have aged all that much compared to present day Jeager, if at all.
"The secret is a lot of skincare products." Jeager joked as his younger version set off at a brisk walk.
And along a new street they moved, and now their destination was in sight at last, a small cottage.
The gate creaked a little as Jeager pushed it open, reaching the door and knocked on it with the back of his fist.
Moments later, a female voice came from behind the door, "Who is it?"
"Charles Jeager." the younger Jeager said, "I am the Combat Professor at Hogwarts, and your Patronus, Lily Potter, is a doe."
The door opened to reveal a woman with thick, dark red hair that fell to her shoulders, and startlingly green almond-shaped eyes... Harry's eyes.
"Charles!" Lily Potter said, happily embracing her old Professor, "I'm so happy to see you."
"Same here my dear." he responded, returning the gesture before stepping into the hallway, "Am not too late, am I?"
"Your the last to arrive actually." Lily said as he followed her to the sitting room, "How is everything going?"
"Lot's to do, too little time." Jeager said as his eyes fell on the people inside the room. A younger Margaret with a big belly sitting next to a her twin sister Elizabeth. Next to her sat a younger Sirius as they looked up from the two babies crawling on the floor but Harry had eyes for the man approaching memory Jeager.
Excitement exploded in the pit of Harry's stomach: it was as though he was looking at himself but with deliberate mistakes. James's eyes were hazel, his nose was slightly longer than Harry's and there was no scar on his forehead, but they had the same thin face, same mouth, same eyebrows; James's hair stuck up at the back exactly as Harry's did.
"Grunkle Charles!" James said, standing up and firmly shaking his former professor's hand, "Happy you can make it!"
"Grunkle?" Jeager said amused sitting in a nearby chair after he greeted everyone as Lily returned with a trey containing a pot of tea and a set of cups.
"Your not young enough to be a uncle but your to young to be a grandfather." Elizabeth explained, "So we settled on Grunkle Charles."
"Well... I like the sound of it." Jeager said, taking a seat, "I'm honored to be the Grunkle of the next generation of Marauder's."
"Bet you can't wait for for them to come to Hogwarts." Sirius said with a wolfish grin, an arm around his wife.
"If they are anything like how we were." Margaret said, "Then I feel sorry for Charles and Sev."
"Luckily they have you and Lily to be a good influence on them." Jeager laughed, "How are you and the baby coming along my dear?"
"He is doing well." Margaret said, rubbing her belly, "Though he is a little rowdy in there."
"I just hope he will be fine." Lupin said worriedly.
"It's going to be fine, Moony. Kent's have strong genes." James assured his friend before turning to his former professor, "Say, Charles. Why don't you have any kids."
"Never found the right woman." he said with a soft smile, "But in a way, you are all my children."
"Even Peter?" Remus said.
"I guess..." the Professor said.
"Why do you dislike Wormtail so much?" Elizabeth said.
"It's just a bit of though love, my dear." Jeager said just when Lily had picked up Harry, carrying the baby over to him, "Lily, what are you doing?"
"We have to take a picture of you and Harry." Lily said carefully placing the small boy in his arms, "It's going to be so nice for later."
"Yeah, when Harry and Claire are going to get married!" James said, picking up the camera.
"We agreed to no marriage contract!" Sirius said, half joking but half serious as well.
"It's not a marriage contract if they fall in love of their own free will..." James teased his best friend, "And a little encouragement from... Charles, what's wrong?"
Jeager looked up from the baby in his arms, who's emerald green eyes had never left his gaze. He seemed just as surprised as everyone else in the room that his eyes had began to start dripping tears.
"Oh... I-It seems I'm prouder of my Griechew than I thought." Jeager laughed through his tears.
"Did you just combined the words grond Grandchild, niece and nephew?" Elizabeth pointed out.
Jeager nodded before turning to face the camera lens and having his photo taken, before having another one taken with Claire, then another one with the both of them.
"...I've only known Harry and Claire for less than an hour, but if anything happens to them..." Jeager said fondly, looking up from them, "I will kill everyone in tis room and then myself."
"It's time to go Harry." the Jeager next to Harry whispered, placing a hand on his shoulder as he pulled them out of the memory.
The Gryffindor Six spent spend a free period in Jeager's office, Harry was concentrating on the Stunning Spell, which he had never used before. The trouble was that practicing it involved certain sacrifices on Alex, Ron's and Neville's part.
"Can't we kidnap Mrs. Norris?" Ron suggested on Monday lunchtime as he lay flat on his back in the middle of Jeager's office, having just been Stunned and reawoken by Harry for the fifth time in a row.
"I second that idea." Alex said, rubbing his backside.
"Well, you keep missing the cushions, don't you!" Hermione said impatiently, rearranging the pile of cushions they had used for the Banishing Spell, "Just try and fall backward!"
"Once you're Stunned, you can't aim too well, Hermione!" Ron said angrily. "Why don't you take a turn?"
"Well, I think Harry's got it now, anyway!" Hermione said hastily, "And we don't have to worry about Disarming, because he's been able to do that for ages... I think we ought to start on some of these hexes this evening."
The bell rang. They hastily shoved the cushions back into Jeager's cupboard and slipped out of Jeager's office.
"See you at dinner!" Claire said, and she and Hermione set off for Arithmancy, while Harry, Alex, Ron and Neville headed toward North Tower, and Divination.
Broad strips of dazzling gold sunlight tell across the corridor from the high windows. The sky outside was so brightly blue it looked as though it had been enameled.
"It's going to be a bloody oven in Trelawney's room." Alex said as they started up the staircase toward the silver ladder and the trapdoor, "She never puts out that fire."
"Dumbledore, I'm afraid I don't see the connection, don't see it at all!" the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge said standing beside Dumbledore's desk, wearing his usual pinstriped cloak and holding his lime-green bowler hat.
Inside the Headmaster's office was Dumbledore of course, along with Moody and Charles.
"Ludo says Berthas perfectly capable of getting herself lost. I agree we would have expected to have found her by now, but all the same, we've no evidence of foul play, Dumbledore, none at all. As for her disappearance being linked with Barty Crouch's!"
"And what do you thinks happened to Barty Crouch, Minister?" Charles said.
"I see two possibilities, Jeager." Fudge said, "Either Crouch has finally cracked or more than likely, I'm sure you'll agree, given his personal history, lost his mind, and gone wandering off somewhere."
"He wandered extremely quickly, if that is the case, Cornelius." Dumbledore said calmly.
"Or else..." Fudge sounded embarrassed, "Well, I'll reserve judgment until after I've seen the place where he was found, but you say it was just past the Beauxbatons carriage? You know what that woman is?"
"A very able headmistress... and an excellent dancer." Dumbledore said quietly.
"Dumbledore, come!" Fudge said angrily, "Don't you think you might be prejudiced in her favor because of Hagrid? They don't all turn out harmless, if, indeed, you can call Hagrid harmless, with that monster fixation he's got..."
"I no more suspect Madame Maxime than Hagrid." Charles said annoyed, "I think it possible that it is you who are prejudiced, Cornelius."
"Can we wrap up this discussion?" Moody growled.
"Yes, yes, let's go down to the grounds, then." Fudge said impatiently.
"No, it's not that." Moody said, "It's just that Potter wants a word with you, Dumbledore. He's just outside the door."
The door of the office opened and indeed Harry was standing there.
"Hello, Potter." Moody said, "Come in, then."
"Harry!" Fudge said jovially, moving forward as Harry entered, "How are you?"
"Fine." Harry lied.
"We were just talking about the night when Mr. Crouch turned up on the grounds." Fudge said, "It was you who found him, was it not?"
"Yes. I didn't see Madame Maxime anywhere, though." Harry said, "And she'd have a job hiding, wouldn't she?"
Charles smiled at Harry behind Fudge's back.
"Yes, well..." Fudge said, looking embarrassed, "We're about to go for a short walk on the grounds, Harry, if you'll excuse us... perhaps if you just go back to your class..."
"I wanted to talk to you. Professor." Harry said quickly, looking at Charles, who gave him a swift, searching look.
"I see. Wait for me at my office." Charles said, "Our examination of the grounds will not take long."
Jeager entered his sunlit office where Harry was sitting in the lounge area, in the chair he usual sat in.
"So, Harry." Jeager said as he sat down across from Harry, "You wanted to tell me something."
"Yes, Professor." Harry said, "I was in Divination just now, and... I fell asleep."
He hesitated here, wondering if a reprimand was coming, but Jeager merely said, "Very understandable. Please continue."
"Well, I had a dream." Harry said, "A dream about Lord Voldemort. He was torturing a woman... Voldemort got a letter from an owl. He said something like, her blunder had been repaired. He said someone was dead. Then he said, she wouldn't be fed to the snake... There was a snake beside his chair. He said he'd be feeding me to it, instead. Then he did the Cruciatus Curse on the woman. And my scar hurt, it woke me up, it hurt so badly."
Jeager merely looked at him, "I see." he said quietly, "Is that all?"
"Yes. That's it." Harry said.
"Now, has your scar hurt at any other time tis year?" Jeager said, "Excepting the time it woke you up over the summer?"
"No, I... how did you know it woke me up over the summer?" Harry said, astonished.
"Sirius, Margaret and me talk." Jeager explained.
"Professor?" Harry said quietly, "Do you know why my scar's hurting me?"
Jeager looked very intently at Harry for a moment, and then said, "It is my belief that your scar hurts both when Voldemort is near you, and when he is feeling a particularly strong surge of emotions."
"But... why?"
"Because it's no ordinary scar." Jeager said, "It was created by the curse that failed to kill you."
"So you think..." Harry said, "That dream did it really happen?"
"It is probable." Jeager said, "Did you see Voldemort?"
"No, just the back of his chair. But there wouldn't have been anything to see, would there?" Harry said slowly, "I mean, he hasn't got a body, has he?"
"Then how could he have held a wand..." Jeager said.
Neither Jeager nor Harry spoke for a while. Jeager was gazing across the room.
"Professor." Harry said at last, "Do you think he's getting stronger?"
"The years of Voldemort's ascent to power, were marked with disappearances. Bertha Jorkins has vanished without a trace in the place where Voldemort was certainly known to be last. Mr. Crouch too has disappeared within these very grounds." Jeager began to explain, "And there was a third disappearance, one which the Ministry, I regret to say, do not consider of any importance, for it concerns a Muggle. His name was Frank Bryce, he lived in the village where Voldemort's father grew up, and he has not been seen since last August. You see, I read the Muggle newspapers, unlike most of my Ministry friends."
Jeager looked very seriously at Harry. "These disappearances seem to me to be linked. The Ministry disagrees,as you may have heard, while waiting outside Dumbledore's office."
Harry nodded and he felt as though he ought to go. He stood up, and headed to the door.
"Oh, and Harry."
Harry looked back. Jeager stood up, he stared at Harry for a moment, and then said, "Good luck with the third task."
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.