Emma Potter

102: A Delighted Dobby

Me, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went up to the Owlery thatevening to find Pigwidgeon, so that Harry could sendSirius a letter telling him that he had managed to get past hisdragon unscathed.

 On the way, Harry filled Ron in on everythingSirius had told him about Karkaroff. Though shocked at first tohear that Karkaroff had been a Death Eater, by the time we entered the Owlery Ron was saying that they ought to have suspectedit all along. 

"Fits, doesn't it?" he said. "Remember what Malfoy said on thetrain, about his dad being friends with Karkaroff? Now we knowwhere they knew each other. They were probably running aroundin masks together at the World Cup. . . . I'll tell you one thing,though, Harry, if it was Karkaroff who put your name in the goblet, he's going to be feeling really stupid now, isn't he? Didn't work,did it? You only got a scratch! Come here — I'll do it —"  they seemed to think it was ok to insult malfoy if he wasn't my friend. 

Pigwidgeon was so overexcited at the idea of a delivery he was flying around and around Harry's head, hooting incessantly. Ronsnatched Pigwidgeon out of the air and held him still while Harryattached the letter to his leg. 

"There's no way any of the other tasks are going to be that dangerous, how could they be?" Ron went on as he carried Pigwidgeonto the window. "You know what? I reckon you could win this tournament, Harry, I'm serious." 

Harry knew that Ron was only saying this to make up for his behavior of the last few weeks, but he appreciated it all the same.Hermione, however, leaned against the Owlery wall, folded herarms, and frowned at Ron."Harry's got a long way to go before he finishes this tournament," she said seriously. "If that was the first task, I hate to thinkwhat's coming next." 

"Right little ray of sunshine, aren't you?" said Ron. "You andProfessor Trelawney should get together sometime." 

He threw Pigwidgeon out of the window. Pigwidgeon plummeted twelve feet before managing to pull himself back up again;the letter attached to his leg was much longer and heavier thanusual — Harry hadn't been able to resist giving Sirius a blow-byblow account of exactly how he had swerved, circled, and dodgedthe Horntail. They watched Pigwidgeon disappear into the darkness.

"While hope is a good thing" I said "false hope isn't. The task will get harder, and so will the probability of someone dying."

After that I went down to my common room. I had to tell Zoe about Isaac, so I did. And let's just say she was horrified I had kept it from her. 

The start of December brought wind and sleet to Hogwarts. Draftythough the castle always was in winter, I was glad of its firesand thick walls every time I passed the Durmstrang ship on thelake, which was pitching in the high winds, its black sails billowing against the dark skies. I thought the Beauxbatons caravan waslikely to be pretty chilly too.

 Hagrid, I noticed, was keepingMadame Maxime's horses well provided with their preferred drinkof single-malt whiskey; the fumes wafting from the trough in thecorner of their paddock was enough to make the entire Care ofMagical Creatures class light-headed. This was unhelpful, as we were still tending the horrible skrewts and needed our wits about us. 

"I'm not sure whether they hibernate or not," Hagrid told theshivering class in the windy pumpkin patch next lesson. "Thoughtwe'd jus' try an' see if they fancied a kip . . . we'll jus' settle 'emdown in these boxes. . . ."

 There were now only ten skrewts left; apparently their desire tokill one another had not been exercised out of them. Each of themwas now approaching six feet in length. Their thick gray armor;their powerful, scuttling legs; their fire-blasting ends; their stingsand their suckers, combined to make the skrewts the most repulsive things I had ever seen. The class looked dispiritedly at theenormous boxes Hagrid had brought out, all lined with pillowsand fluffy blankets."We'll jus' lead 'em in here," Hagrid said, "an' put the lids on,and we'll see what happens."