aid Karkaroff, still making every effort not to move his lips. "Do you
see? It's never been this clear, never since - "
"Put it away!" snarled Snape, his black eyes sweeping the classroom.
"But you must have noticed -" Karkaroff began in an agitated voice.
"We can talk later, Karkaroff!" spat Snape. "Potter! What are you doing?"
"Clearing up my armadillo bile, Professor," said Harry innocently, straightening
up and showing Snape the sodden rag he was holding.
Karkaroff turned on his heel and strode out of the dungeon. He looked both
worried and angry. Not wanting to remain alone with an exceptionally angry
Snape, Harry threw his books and ingredients back into his bag and left at top
speed to tell Ron and Hermione what he had just witnessed.
They left the castle at noon the next day to find a weak silver sun shining down
upon the grounds. The weather was milder than it had been all year, and by the
time they arrived in Hogsmeade, all three of them had taken off their cloaks and
thrown them over their shoulders. The food Sirius had told them to bring was in
Harry's bag; they had sneaked a dozen chicken legs, a loaf of bread, and a flask of
pumpkin juice from the lunch table.
They went into Gladrags Wizardwear to buy a present for Dobby, where they had
fun selecting the most lurid socks they could find, including a pair patterned with
flashing gold and silver stars, and another that screamed loudly when they became
too smelly. Then, at half past one, they made their way up the High Street, past
Dervish and Banges, and out toward the edge of the village.
Harry had never been in this direction before. The winding lane was leading them
out into the wild countryside around Hogsmeade. The cottages were fewer here,
and their gardens larger; they were walking toward the foot of the mountain in
whose shadow Hogsmeade lay. Then they turned a corner and saw a stile at the
end of the lane. Waiting for them, its front paws on the topmost bar, was a very
large, shaggy black dog, which was carrying some newspapers in its mouth and
looking very familiar. . . .
"Hello, Sirius," said Harry when they had reached him.
The black dog sniffed Harry's bag eagerly, wagged its tail once, then turned and
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began to trot away from them across the scrubby patch of ground that rose to meet
the rocky foot of the mountain. Harry, Ron, and Hermione climbed over the stile
and followed.
Sirius led them to the very foot of the mountain, where the ground was covered
with boulders and rocks. It was easy for him, with his four paws, but Harry, Ron,
and Hermione were soon out of breath. They followed Sirius higher, up onto the
mountain itself. For nearly half an hour they climbed a steep, winding, and stony
path, following Sirius's wagging tail, sweating in the sun, the shoulder straps of
Harry's bag cutting into his shoulders.
Then, at last, Sirius slipped out of sight, and when they reached the place where he
had vanished, they saw a narrow fissure in the rock. They squeezed into it and
found themselves in a cool, dimly lit cave. Tethered at the end of it, one end of his
rope around a large rock, was Buckbeak the hippogriff. Half gray horse, half giant
eagle, Buckbeak's fierce orange eye flashed at the sight of them. All three of them
bowed low to him, and after regarding them imperiously for a moment, Buckbeak
bent his scaly front knees and allowed Hermione to rush forward and stroke his
feathery neck. Harry, however, was looking at the black dog, which had just
turned into his godfather.
Sirius was wearing ragged gray robes; the same ones he had been wearing when
he had left Azkaban. His black hair was longer than it had been when he had
appeared in the fire, and it was untidy and matted once more. He looked very thin.
"Chicken!" he said hoarsely after removing the old Daily Prophets from his mouth
and throwing them down onto the cave floor.
Harry pulled open his bag and handed over the bundle of chicken legs and bread.
"Thanks," said Sirius, opening it, grabbing a drumstick, sitting down on the cave
floor, and tearing off a large chunk with his teeth. "I've been living off rats mostly.
Can't steal too much food from Hogsmeade; I'd draw attention to myself."
He grinned up at Harry, but Harry returned the grin only reluctantly.
"What're you doing here, Sirius?" he said.
"Fulfilling my duty as godfather," said Sirius, gnawing on the chicken bone in a
very doglike way. "Don't worry about it, I'm pretending to be a lovable stray."
He was still grinning, but seeing the anxiety in Harrys face, said more seriously, "I
want to be on the spot. Your last letter . . . well, let's just say things are getting
fishier. I've been stealing the paper every time someone throws one out, and by the
looks of things, I'm not the only one who's getting worried."
He nodded at the yellowing Daily Prophets on the cave floor, and Ron picked
them up and unfolded them. Harry, however, continued to stare at Sirius.
"What if they catch you? What if you're seen?"
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"You three and Dumbledore are the only ones around here who know I'm an
Animagus," said Sirius, shrugging, and continuing to devour the chicken leg.
Ron nudged Harry and passed him the Daily Prophets. There were two: The first
bore the headline Mystery Illness ofBartemius Crouch, the second, Ministry Witch
Still Missing-Minister of Magic Now Personally Involved.
Harry scanned the story about Crouch. Phrases jumped out at him: hasn't been
seen in public since November. . . house appears deserted. . . St. Mungo's Hospital
for Magical Maladies and Injuries decline comment. . . Ministry refuses to confirm
rumors of critical illness. . . .
"They're making it sound like he's dying," said Harry slowly. "But he can't be that
ill if he managed to get up here. . . ."
"My brothers Crouch's personal assistant," Ron informed Sirius. "He says Crouch
is suffering from overwork."
"Mind you, he did look ill, last time I saw him up close," said Harry slowly, still
reading the story. "The night my name came out of the goblet. ..."
"Getting his comeuppance for sacking Winky, isn't he?" said Hermione, an edge to
her voice. She was stroking Buckbeak, who was crunching up Sirius's chicken
bones. "I bet he wishes he hadn't done it now - bet he feels the difference now
she's not there to look after him."
"Hermione's obsessed with house-elfs," Ron muttered to Sirius, casting Hermione
a dark look. Sirius, however, looked interested.
"Crouch sacked his house-elf?"
"Yeah, at the Quidditch World Cup," said Harry, and he launched into the story of
the Dark Mark's appearance, and Winky being found with Harrys wand clutched
in her hand, and Mr. Crouch's fury. When Harry had finished, Sirius was on his
feet again and had started pacing up and down the cave.
"Let me get this straight," he said after a while, brandishing a fresh chicken leg.
"You first saw the elfin the Top Box. She was saving Crouch a seat, right?"
"Right," said Harry, Ron, and Hermione together.
"But Crouch didn't turn up for the match?"
"No," said Harry. "I think he said he'd been too busy."
Sirius paced all around the cave in silence. Then he said, "Harry, did you check
your pockets for your wand after you'd left the Top Box?"
"Erm . . ." Harry thought hard. "No," he said finally. "I didn't need to use it before
we got in the forest. And then I put my hand in my pocket, and all that was in
there were my Omnioculars." He stared at Sirius. "Are you saying whoever
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conjured the Mark stole my wand in the Top Box?"
"It's possible," said Sirius.
"Winky didn't steal that wand!" Hermione insisted.
"The elf wasn't the only one in that box," said Sirius, his brow furrowed as he
continued to pace. "Who else was sitting behind you?"
"Loads of people," said Harry. "Some Bulgarian ministers .. . Cornelius Fudge ...
the Malfoys ..."
"The Malfoys!" said Ron suddenly, so loudly that his voice echoed all around the
cave, and Buckbeak tossed his head nervously. "I bet it was Lucius Malfoy!"
"Anyone else?" said Sirius.
"No one," said Harry.
"Yes, there was, there was Ludo Bagman," Hermione reminded him.
"Oh yeah . . ."
"I don't know anything about Bagman except that he used to be Beater for the
Wimbourne Wasps," said Sirius, still pacing. "What's he like?"
"He's okay," said Harry. "He keeps offering to help me with the Triwizard
Tournament."
"Does he, now?" said Sirius, frowning more deeply. "I wonder why he'd do that?"
"Says he's taken a liking to me," said Harry.
"Hmm," said Sirius, looking thoughtful.
"We saw him in the forest just before the Dark Mark appeared," Hermione told
Sirius. "Remember?" she said to Harry and Ron.
"Yeah, but he didn't stay in the forest, did he?" said Ron. "The moment we told
him about the riot, he went off to the campsite."
"How d'you know?" Hermione shot back. "How d'you know where he
Disapparated to?"
"Come off it," said Ron incredulously. "Are you saying you reckon Ludo Bagman
conjured the Dark Mark?"
"It's more likely he did it than Winky," said Hermione stubbornly.
"Told you," said Ron, looking meaningfully at Sirius, "told you she's obsessed
with house -"
But Sirius held up a hand to silence Ron.
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"When the Dark Mark had been conjured, and the elf had been discovered holding
Harry's wand, what did Crouch do?"
"Went to look in the bushes," said Harry, "but there wasn't anyone else there."
"Of course," Sirius muttered, pacing up and down, "of course, he'd want to pin it
on anyone but his own elf... and then he sacked her?"
"Yes," said Hermione in a heated voice, "he sacked her, just because she hadn't
stayed in her tent and let herself get trampled -"
"Hermione, will you give it a rest with the elf!" said Ron.
Sirius shook his head and said, "She's got the measure of Crouch better than you
have, Ron. If you want to know what a mans like, take a good look at how he
treats his inferiors, not his equals."
He ra