king out at the misty grounds. All three of them were puffy-eyed
and pale because they had been talking late into the night about Mr. Crouch.
"Just go through it again, Harry," said Hermione. "What did Mr. Crouch actually
say?"
"I've told you, he wasn't making much sense," said Harry. "He said he wanted to
warn Dumbledore about something. He definitely mentioned Bertha Jorkins, and
he seemed to think she was dead. He kept saying stuff was his fault. . . . He
mentioned his son."
"Well, that was his fault," said Hermione testily.
"He was out of his mind," said Harry. "Half the time he seemed to think his wife
and son were still alive, and he kept talking to Percy about work and giving him
instructions."
"And . . . remind me what he said about You-Know-Who?" said Ron tentatively.
"I've told you," Harry repeated dully. "He said he's getting stronger."
There was a pause. Then Ron said in a falsely confident voice, "But he was out of
his mind, like you said, so half of it was probably just raving. ..."
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"He was sanest when he was trying to talk about Voldemort," said Harry, and Ron
winced at the sound of the name. "He was having real trouble stringing two words
together, but that was when he seemed to know where he was, and know what he
wanted to do. He just kept saying he had to see Dumbledore."
Harry turned away from the window and stared up into the rafters. The many
perches were half-empty; every now and then, another owl would swoop in
through one of the windows, returning from its night's hunting with a mouse in its
beak.
"If Snape hadn't held me up," Harry said bitterly, "we might've got there in time.
'The headmaster is busy. Potter . . . what's this rubbish, Potter?' Why couldn't he
have just got out of the way?"
"Maybe he didn't want you to get there!" said Ron quickly. "Maybe - hang on -
how fast d'you reckon he could've gotten down to the forest? D'you reckon he
could've beaten you and Dumbledore there?"
"Not unless he can turn himself into a bat or something," said Harry.
"Wouldn't put it past him," Ron muttered.
"We need to see Professor Moody," said Hermione. "We need to find out whether
he found Mr. Crouch,"
"If he had the Marauder's Map on him, it would've been easy," said Harry.
"Unless Crouch was already outside the grounds," said Ron, "because it only
shows up to the boundaries, doesn't -"
"Shh!" said Hermione suddenly.
Somebody was climbing the steps up to the Owlery. Harry could hear two voices
arguing, coming closer and closer.
"- that's blackmail, that is, we could get into a lot of trouble for that-"
"- we've tried being polite; it's time to play dirty, like him. He wouldn't like the
Ministry of Magic knowing what he did -"
"I'm telling you, if you put that in writing, it's blackmail!"
"Yeah, and you won't be complaining if we get a nice fat payoff, will you?"
The Owlery door banged open. Fred and George came over the threshold, then
froze at the sight of Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"What're you doing here?" Ron and Fred said at the same time.
"Sending a letter," said Harry and George in unison.
"What, at this time?" said Hermione and Fred.
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Fred grinned.
"Fine - we won't ask you what you're doing, if you don't ask us," he said.
He was holding a sealed envelope in his hands. Harry glanced at it, but Fred,
whether accidentally or on purpose, shifted his hand so that the name on it was
covered.
"Well, don't let us hold you up," Fred said, making a mock bow and pointing at the
door.
Ron didn't move. "Who're you blackmailing?" he said.
The grin vanished from Fred's face. Harry saw George half glance at Fred, before
smiling at Ron.
"Don't be stupid, I was only joking," he said easily.
"Didn't sound like that," said Ron.
Fred and George looked at each other. Then Fred said abruptly, "I've told you
before, Ron, keep your nose out if you like it the shape it is. Can't see why you
would, but -"
"It's my business if you're blackmailing someone," said Ron. "George's right, you
could end up in serious trouble for that."
"Told you, I was joking," said George. He walked over to Fred, pulled the letter
out of his hands, and began attaching it to the leg of the nearest barn owl. "You're
starting to sound a bit like our dear older brother, you are, Ron. Carry on like this
and you'll be made a prefect."
"No, I won't!" said Ron hotly.
George carried the barn owl over to the window and it took off. George turned
around and grinned at Ron.
"Well, stop telling people what to do then. See you later."
He and Fred left the Owlery. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at one another.
"You don't think they know something about all this, do you?" Hermione
whispered. "About Crouch and everything?"
"No," said Harry. "If it was something that serious, they'd tell someone. They'd tell
Dumbledore."
Ron, however, was looking uncomfortable.
"What's the matter?" Hermione asked him.
"Well. . ." said Ron slowly, "I dunno if they would. They're . . . they're obsessed
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with making money lately, I noticed it when I was hanging around with them -
when - you know -"
"We weren't talking." Harry finished the sentence for him. "Yeah, but blackmail..."
"It's this joke shop idea they've got," said Ron. "I thought they were only saying it
to annoy Mum, but they really mean it, they want to start one. They've only got a
year left at Hogwarts, they keep going on about how it's time to think about their
future, and Dad can't help them, and they need gold to get started."
Hermione was looking uncomfortable now.
"Yes, but. . . they wouldn't do anything against the law to get gold."
"Wouldn't they?" said Ron, looking skeptical. "I dunno . . . they don't exactly mind
breaking rules, do they?"
"Yes, but this is the law" said Hermione, looking scared. "This isn't some silly
school rule. . . . They'll get a lot more than detention for blackmail! Ron. . . maybe
you'd better tell Percy. . . ."
"Are you mad?" said Ron. "Tell Percy? He'd probably do a Crouch and turn them
in." He stared at the window through which Fred and George's owl had departed,
then said, "Come on, let's get some breakfast."
"D'you think it's too early to go and see Professor Moody?" Hermione said as they
went down the spiral staircase.
"Yes," said Harry. "He'd probably blast us through the door if we wake him at the
crack of dawn; he'll think we're trying to attack him while he's asleep. Let's give it
till break."
History of Magic had rarely gone so slowly. Harry kept checking Ron's watch,
having finally discarded his own, but Ron's was moving so slowly he could have
sworn it had stopped working too. All three of them were so tired they could
happily have put their heads down on the desks and slept; even Hermione wasn't
taking her usual notes, but was sitting with her head on her hand, gazing at
Professor Binns with her eyes out of focus.
When the bell finally rang, they hurried out into the corridors toward the Dark
Arts classroom and found Professor Moody leaving it. He looked as tired as they
felt. The eyelid of his normal eye was drooping, giving his face an even more
lopsided appearance than usual.
"Professor Moody?" Harry called as they made their way toward him through the
crowd.
"Hello, Potter," growled Moody. His magical eye followed a couple of passing
first years, who sped up, looking nervous; it rolled into the back of Moody's head
and watched them around the corner before he spoke again.
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"Come in here."
He stood back to let them into his empty classroom, limped in after them, and
closed the door.
"Did you find him?" Harry asked without preamble. "Mr. Crouch?"
"No," said Moody. He moved over to his desk, sat down, stretched out his wooden
leg with a slight groan, and pulled out his hip flask.
"Did you use the map?" Harry said.
"Of course," said Moody, taking a swig from his flask. "Took a leaf out of your
book, Potter. Summoned it from my office into the forest. He wasn't anywhere on
there."
"So he did Disapparate?" said Ron.
"You can't Disapparate on the grounds, Ron!" said Hermione. "There are other
ways he could have disappeared, aren't there, Professor?"
Moody's magical eye quivered as it rested on Hermione. "You're another one who
might think about a career as an Auror," he told her. "Mind works the right way.
Granger."
Hermione flushed pink with pleasure.
"Well, he wasn't invisible," said Harry. "The map shows invisible people. He
must've left the grounds, then."
"But under his own steam?" said Hermione eagerly, "or because someone made
him?"
"Yeah, someone could've - could've pulled him onto a broom and flown off with
him, couldn't they?" said Ron quickly, looking hopefully at Moody as if he too
wanted to be told he had the makings of an Auror.
"We can't rule out kidnap," growled Moody.
"So," said Ron, "d'you reckon he's somewhere in Hogsmeade?"
"Could be anywhere," said Moody, shaking his head. "Only thing we know for
sure is that he's not here."
He yawned widely, so that his scars stretched, and his lopsided mouth revealed a
number of missing teeth. Then he said, "Now, Dumbledore's told me you three
fancy yourselves as investigators, but there's nothing you can do for Crouch. The
Ministry'll be looking for him now, Dumbledore's notified them. Potter, you just
keep your mind on the third task."
"What?" said Harry. "Oh yeah . . ."
370
He hadn't given the maze a single thought since he'd left it with Krum the previous
night.
"Should be right up your street, this one," said Moody, looking up at Harry and
scratching his scarred and stubbly chin. "From what Dumbledore's said, you've
managed to get through stuff like this plenty of times. Broke your way through a
series of obstacles guarding the Sorcerers Stone in your first year, didn't you?"
"We helped," Ron said quickly. "Me and Hermione helped."
Moody grinned.
"Well, help him practice for this one, and I'll be very surprised if he doesn't win