e. "He can still be gamekeeper, can't
he?"
Parvati had been very cool toward Harry since the ball. He supposed that he ought
to have paid her a bit more attention, but she seemed to have had a good time all
the same. She was certainly telling anybody who would listen that she had made
arrangements to meet the boy from Beauxbatons in Hogsmeade on the next
weekend trip.
"That was a really good lesson," said Hermione as they entered the Great Hall. "I
didn't know half the things Professor Grubbly-Plank told us about uni -"
"Look at this!" Harry snarled, and he shoved the Daily Prophet article under
Hermione's nose.
Hermione's mouth fell open as she read. Her reaction was exactly the same as
Ron's.
"How did that horrible Skeeter woman find out? You don't think Hagrid told her?"
"No," said Harry, leading the way over to the Gryffindor table and throwing
himself into a chair, furious. "He never even told us, did he? I reckon she was so
mad he wouldn't give her loads of horrible stuff about me, she went ferreting
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around to get him back."
"Maybe she heard him telling Madame Maxime at the ball," said Hermione
quietly.
"We'd have seen her in the garden!" said Ron. "Anyway, she's not supposed to
come into school anymore, Hagrid said Dumbledore banned her. . . ."
"Maybe she's got an Invisibility Cloak," said Harry, ladling chicken casserole onto
his plate and splashing it everywhere in his anger. "Sort of thing she'd do, isn't it,
hide in bushes listening to people."
"Like you and Ron did, you mean," said Hermione.
"We weren't trying to hear him!" said Ron indignantly. "We didn't have any
choice! The stupid prat, talking about his giantess mother where anyone could
have heard him!"
"We've got to go and see him," said Harry. "This evening, after Divination. Tell
him we want him back . . . you do want him back?" he shot at Hermione.
"I - well, I'm not going to pretend it didn't make a nice change, having a proper
Care of Magical Creatures lesson for once - but I do want Hagrid back, of course I
do!" Hermione added hastily, quailing under Harry's furious stare.
So that evening after dinner, the three of them left the castle once more and went
down through the frozen grounds to Hagrid's cabin. They knocked, and Fang's
booming barks answered.
"Hagrid, it's us!" Harry shouted, pounding on the door. "Open up!"
Hagrid didn't answer. They could hear Fang scratching at the door, whining, but it
didn't open. They hammered on it for ten more minutes; Ron even went and
banged on one of the windows, but there was no response.
"What's he avoiding us for?" Hermione said when they had finally given up and
were walking back to the school. "He surely doesn't think we'd care about him
being half-giant?"
But it seemed that Hagrid did care. They didn't see a sign of him all week. He
didn't appear at the staff table at mealtimes, they didn't see him going about his
gamekeeper duties on the grounds, and Professor Grubbly-Plank continued to take
the Care of Magical Creatures classes. Malfoy was gloating at every possible
opportunity.
"Missing your half-breed pal?" he kept whispering to Harry whenever there was a
teacher around, so that he was safe from Harry's retaliation. "Missing the elephantman?"
There was a Hogsmeade visit halfway through January. Hermione was very
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surprised that Harry was going to go.
"I just thought you'd want to take advantage of the common room being quiet,"
she said. "Really get to work on that egg."
"Oh I - I reckon I've got a pretty good idea what it's about now," Harry lied.
"Have you really?" said Hermione, looking impressed. "Well done!"
Harrys insides gave a guilty squirm, but he ignored them. He still had five weeks
to work out that egg clue, after all, and that was ages. . . whereas if he went into
Hogsmeade, he might run into Hagrid, and get a chance to persuade him to come
back.
He, Ron, and Hermione left the castle together on Saturday and set off through the
cold, wet grounds toward the gates. As they passed the Durmstrang ship moored in
the lake, they saw Viktor Krum emerge onto the deck, dressed in nothing but
swimming trunks. He was very skinny indeed, but apparently a lot tougher than he
looked, because he climbed up onto the side of the ship, stretched out his arms,
and dived, right into the lake.
"He's mad!" said Harry, staring at Krums dark head as it bobbed out into the
middle of the lake. "It must be freezing, it's January!"
"It's a lot colder where he comes from," said Hermione. "I suppose it feels quite
warm to him."
"Yeah, but there's still the giant squid," said Ron. He didn't sound anxious - if
anything, he sounded hopeful. Hermione noticed his tone of voice and frowned.
"He's really nice, you know," she said. "He's not at all like you'd think, coming
from Durmstrang. He likes it much better here, he told me."
Ron said nothing. He hadn't mentioned Viktor Krum since the ball, but Harry had
found a miniature arm under his bed on Boxing Day, which had looked very much
as though it had been snapped off a small model figure wearing Bulgarian
Quidditch robes.
Harry kept his eyes skinned for a sign of Hagrid all the way down the slushy High
Street, and suggested a visit to the Three Broomsticks once he had ascertained that
Hagrid was not in any of the shops.
The pub was as crowded as ever, but one quick look around at all the tables told
Harry that Hagrid wasn't there. Heart sinking, he went up to the bar with Ron and
Hermione, ordered three butterbeers from Madam Rosmerta, and thought gloomily
that he might just as well have stayed behind and listened to the egg wailing after
all.
"Doesn't he ever go into the office?" Hermione whispered suddenly. "Look!"
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She pointed into the mirror behind the bar, and Harry saw Ludo Bagman reflected
there, sitting in a shadowy corner with a bunch of goblins. Bagman was talking
very fast in a low voice to the goblins, all of whom had their arms crossed and
were looking rather menacing.
It was indeed odd. Harry thought, that Bagman was here at the Three Broomsticks
on a weekend when there was no Triwizard event, and therefore no judging to be
done. He watched Bagman in the mirror. He was looking strained again, quite as
strained as he had that night in the forest before the Dark Mark had appeared. But
just then Bagman glanced over at the bar, saw Harry, and stood up.
"In a moment, in a moment!" Harry heard him say brusquely to the goblins, and
Bagman hurried through the pub toward Harry, his boyish grin back in place.
"Harry!" he said. "How are you? Been hoping to run into you! Everything going
all right?"
"Fine, thanks," said Harry.
"Wonder if I could have a quick, private word, Harry?" said Bagman eagerly.
"You couldn't give us a moment, you two, could you?"
"Er - okay," said Ron, and he and Hermione went off to find a table.
Bagman led Harry along the bar to the end furthest from Madam Rosmerta.
"Well, I just thought I'd congratulate you again on your splendid performance
against that Horntail, Harry," said Bagman. "Really superb."
"Thanks," said Harry, but he knew this couldn't be all that Bagman wanted to say,
because he could have congratulated Harry in front of Ron and Hermione.
Bagman didn't seem in any particular rush to spill the beans, though. Harry saw
him glance into the mirror over the bar at the goblins, who were all watching him
and Harry in silence through their dark, slanting eyes.
"Absolute nightmare," said Bagman to Harry in an undertone, noticing Harry
watching the goblins too. "Their English isn't too good . . . it's like being back with
all the Bulgarians at the Quidditch World Cup . . . but at least they used sign
language another human could recognize. This lot keep gabbling in Gobbledegook
. . . and I only know one word of Gobbledegook. Bladvak. It means 'pickax.'
I don't like to use it in case they think I'm threatening them."
He gave a short, booming laugh.
"What do they want?" Harry said, noticing how the goblins were still watching
Bagman very closely.
"Er - well. . ." said Bagman, looking suddenly nervous. "They ... er ... they're
looking for Barty Crouch."
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"Why are they looking for him here?" said Harry. "He's at the Ministry in London,
isn't he?"
"Er ... as a matter of fact, I've no idea where he is," said Bagman. "He's sort of...
stopped coming to work. Been absent for a couple of weeks now. Young Percy,
his assistant, says he's ill. Apparently he's just been sending instructions in by owl.
But would you mind not mentioning that to anyone. Harry? Because Rita Skeeter's
still poking around everywhere she can, and I'm willing to bet she'd work up
Bartys illness into something sinister. Probably say he's gone missing like Bertha
Jorkins."
"Have you heard anything about Bertha Jorkins?" Harry asked.
"No," said Bagman, looking strained again. "I've got people looking, of course ..."
(About time, thought Harry) "and it's all very strange. She definitely arrived in
Albania, because she met her second cousin there. And then she left the cousin's
house to go south and see an aunt. . . and she seems to have vanished without trace
en route. Blowed if I can see where she's got to ... she doesn't seem the type to
elope, for instance . . . but still. . . . What are we doing, talking about goblins and
Bertha Jorkins? I really wanted to ask you" - he lowered his voice - "how are you
getting on with your golden egg?"
"Er . . . not bad," Harry said untruthfully.
Bagman seemed to know he wasn't being honest.
"Listen, Harry," he said (still in a very low voice), "I feel very bad about all this . .
. you were thrown into this tournament, you didn't volunteer for it... and if. . ." (his
voice was so quiet now, Harry had to lean closer to listen) "if I can help at all... a
prod in the right direction . . . I've taken a liking to you . . . the way you got past
that dragon! . . . well, just say 