The Disgraced of the House of Black - A Multi-Character Fanfiction - Part One

105. The Fascinating Placement of Mars

"I still don't know why you needed me for the actual event, Dumbledore," Ellis said, walking alongside him through the maze the Triwizard Champions were to go through so soon. "I thought once I'd finished and executed the design, I was done."

"Certainly," Dumbledore replied with a nod, "that is what you were told."

"Right," Ellis said, giving Dumbledore a suspicious look.

They had reached the centre of the maze now. Ellis assumed now that he had shown Dumbledore all the curses and tricks he had set up, they would be returning back to the castle and he could head back to Egypt, but just as he turned to go back down the path, Dumbledore stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. Ellis frowned, giving him a confused look as he came to a stop again.

"Ellis, I need your insights," Dumbledore said quietly.

"What is it?" he asked warily.

If Dumbledore was asking for help, it had to be bad.

"I've been hearing rumours, disturbing rumours relating to Voldemort," Dumbledore explained.

Instantly, Ellis tensed, his eyes flicking up to meet Dumbledore's.

"Ellis," Dumbledore said in a low voice, "Watch everything. Listen to everything. Please, Ellis. You've seen much of the world as a curse-breaker. You may see more than I could."

Ellis was quiet a moment, letting out a long sigh as he shifted his gaze to the horizon.

Finally, he said, "Fine. I'll take another week off work to watch, but after this, I'm done. I'm going back to Egypt, and I'm not coming back here ever again."

"Very well," Dumbledore sighed, but as they began the complicated walk back toward the school, Ellis saw a frown on his face.

.

"Crouch was here?" Althea gasped in shock.

It was just hitting daybreak as they walked around the grounds together, talking over the events from the night Harry was shown the maze.

"Yeah," Harry said. "And by the time I'd gotten back to Krum and Crouch, Crouch was gone and Krum was knocked out."

After getting some more clarification from Harry, Hermione said, "It comes down to this. 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 Dumbledore got there. He'd done a runner."

"But you said he was muttering to himself and didn't really seem to know where he was, right, Harry?" Althea asked. "If he wasn't entirely lucid, someone could have just as easily been after him and knocked out Viktor before taking him somewhere."

"He kept saying something was his fault," Harry explained. "He mentioned his son."

"Well, that was his fault," Hermione said testily.

"He was out of his mind," he added. "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," Ron asked.

"I've told you," Harry said dully. "He said he's growing stronger."

"That goes along with what the letter I got from Remus the other day said," Althea admitted.

There was a long, tense silence before Harry admitted, "Aside from letting Sirius and Amara know, I don't know that there's much we can do about it."

"You need to focus on getting through the third task," Althea replied. "But I've had an idea for that, Harry. I was thinking, if the four of us could compile a list of spells for you to practice, just for a little more background, you know, then it might be a big help to you in there. I heard they brought in a Curse-Breaker to design it."

"Really?" Ron said excitedly. "Was it Bill? Why hasn't he-"

"No, it was that friend of his, the one who came with us to the World Cup," Althea interrupted. "I don't remember his name."

"Ellis," Hermione said promptly. "And I think your idea is a good one, Thea. We can all come up with lists and then decided which ones are the most important."

.

Althea was distractedly scribbling a list of spells onto a piece of parchment, not bothering to listen as Professor Trelawney spoke about the placement of Mars. She had just written down her seventh spell when the lights went out. Looking up irritably, Althea saw Trelawney produce a glass dome which contained a perfect model of the solar system.

Resting against her fist, she tried to listen as Trelawney pointed out how fascinating the planet's current placement with Neptune was. Soon, however, her mind drifted again, thinking about all the different things a Curse-Breaker could have done to the maze.

She had just begun to wonder if there would be puzzles or riddles or anything of that sort when a sudden thud broke into her train of thought. Turning toward the sound, she saw Harry was on the ground, a hand clutching his forehead. Then, he began to cry out. Jumping to her feet, Althea rushed to him as Ron did the same.

"Harry! Harry!" Althea cried, shaking him.

With a startled gasp, he jerked awake, his eyes instantly meeting hers before he looked at Ron. The entire class had gathered around him by then.

"You all right?" Ron asked, looking pale.

"Of course he isn't!" Professor Trelawney cried in her dramatic tones. "What was it, Potter? A premonition? An apparition? What did you see?"

"Nothing," Harry said quickly, getting to his feet as he glanced shakily into the shadows of the room.

"You were clutching your scar!" Trelawney said, pointing at him. "You were rolling on the floor, clutching your scar! Come now, Potter, I have experience in these matters!"

"Harry, I'll take you to the Hospital Wing," Althea said quickly, ignoring their teacher.

"Yeah, Hospital Wing," he said distractedly. "Bad headache."

Before Althea could go with him, he had disappeared out the trap door. Mutters instantly broke out amongst the class. Ron and Althea exchanged worried looks.