Percy Jackson and the Triwizard Tournament

101) We Have a Sirius Chat

The next day, after I'd been thoroughly questioned by Ron, Harry, and Hermione (I didn't spill anything about Karkaroff to them — I genuinely believed that wasn't my business, and I'm only sharing this information now that, years later, it's something I don't think Karkaroff would mind. He's dead, after all. But at the time, he wasn't, and it wasn't my place to share that information with them.), and I denied all existence of the conversation I'd had with Snape (I did tell Draco about it), we left the castle at noon for Hogsmeade. The weather was warmer than it had been all year, and for what seemed like the first time in ages, I didn't wear a sweater to keep warm. The food Sirius had said to bring was stuffed in Harry's bag (a dozen chicken legs, a loaf of bread, a flask of pumpkin juice, and several pomegranate seeds I'd stolen from Snape's store after my little conversation with him).

We went into Gladrags Wizardwear to get a present for Dobby, where we had fun getting the most strange socks we could find for him. My favorite pair was the ones that started screaming when they got too smelly. Ron was particularly fond of the ones that flashed pink whenever a girl was near.

At half past one, we made our way up High Street, past Dervish and Banges, and toward the edge of the village.

I didn't like going this way often. The village had wards against monsters, but similar to Hogwarts, the weaker they got the closer you were to the edge. I'd only heard too many stories of demigods who had wandered too far and got gobbled up by a Hellhound or a cyclops. In fact, the last time I'd been out here had been some time during third year, when Lacy from the Aphrodite cabin had had a run in with a Harpy.

Ron had to assure me many times that there weren't any monsters nearby, but I only felt comfortable when I saw Sirius. Waiting for us at the stile at the end of the lane was a large, shaggy black dog with its paws on the topmost bar and a newspaper in its mouth.

"Hello, Sirius," Harry said once we'd reached him. The dog sniffed Harry's bag excitedly, wagged its tail a single time, then started trotting away from us, across the scrubby ground that rose and met the door of the mountain. The four of us shared a glance, then quickly climbed over the stile and started following him.

Sirius led us to the foot of the mountain, where the ground was littered with rocks and boulders. Sirius seemed to have an easy time maneuvering around with his paws, but even I grew quickly tired of the terrain, sweat dripping down my face. We followed Sirius higher up the side of the mountain, climbing a steep, winding, narrow path for half an hour. It was a fun hike. My friends didn't agree with me on that.

Sirius slipped out of sight, and when we got to the spot where he'd disappeared, we saw a narrow fissure in the rock, big enough for us to slip into. We found ourselves in a chilly, dimly lit cave. It was fairly small for a cave, but seemed cozy enough, especially with all the dirt and rocks and — who am I kidding, this cave wasn't cozy at all. The cold seemed to seep into me, and the floor was rocky and rough. I suppose it was all right though, a decent place to hide out if you were wanted and on the run.

The first thing I noticed when I stepped into the cave was Buckbeak. The hippogriff did not look pleased to be tethered to a pole in the corner of the cave, his orange eyes flashing dangerously. I got the impression he didn't really want to talk to me. In fact, I don't think he wanted anything to do with us.

Instead of leaving Buckbeak (his name was actually Wilbur, he just went by Buckbeak cause he's dramatic) alone, Harry, Ron, and Hermione bowed to him. I rolled my eyes, but it didn't take long for Buckbeak to be happy with the attention, and he bowed back, practically melting as Hermione scratched his head.

Once I turned to look away from the hippogriff, I saw that Sirius had already transformed back to his regular self. He wore gray robes, which were hardly more than rags at that point. The same robes he'd worn once he'd left Azkaban. His hair was longer than I remembered, and very, very untidy. Most notably, he looked very, very thin. I'd have to make sure he got food more often.

"Chicken!" Sirius said hoarsely, throwing the copies of the Daily Prophet onto the floor. Harry pulled open his bag and quickly handed him the food. "Thanks." Sirius started gnawing on one of the drumsticks. "I've been living off rats mostly. Can't steal too much food from Hogsmeade; I'd draw attention to myself." He grinned at Harry.

Harry returned the smile a little reluctantly, then said, "What're you doing here, Sirius?"

"Fulfilling my duty as godfather," Sirius said, chewing on the chicken bone like a dog would. "Don't worry about it, I'm pretending to be a lovable stray." He was still grinning, but once he saw the worry on Harry's face, he spoke much more seriously (Siriusly). "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 towards the yellowing Daily Prophets on the floor. Ron grabbed one, and I grabbed the other. I mostly skimmed it, but the one I grabbed was about Crouch and his 'mystery illness'. The one Ron held was about the missing ministry witch — Bertha Jorkins. Ron and I passed the papers over to Harry, who quickly scanned the story about Crouch.

"They're making it sound like he's dying," Harry said slowly, looking confused. The article had said a lot about St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, and how he hadn't been seen in public since November. "But he can't be that ill if he managed to get up here...." I shook my head. It really was odd, how sick he seemed, then appearing at Hogwarts, and in Snape's stores as well.

"My brother's Crouch's personal assistant," Ron told Sirius. "He says Crouch is suffering from overwork."

"Mind you, he did look ill, last time I saw him up close," Harry said, still reading the paper. "The night my name came out of the goblet...."

"Getting his comeuppance for sacking Winky, isn't he?" Hermione said edgily. "I bet he wishes he hadn't done it now — bet he feels the difference now that she's not there to look after him."

"Hermione's obsessed with house-elfs," Ron said to Sirius.

Sirius looked interested, and said curiously, "Crouch sacked his house-elf?"

"Yeah, at the Quidditch World Cup," I said, then started telling the story of the Dark Mark's appearance, Winky being found with Harry's wand in hand, and Mr. Crouch's fury. Sirius paced thoughtfully.

My tummy hurty. Pain is my middle name. My first is Caroline. My second first is Mystery. My last name is obviously Capps. My real first name is also Lindin. Idk what to write about. We went to dinner with my grandparents, and on the way there, we were talking about how Emblem was gonna live and stuff after she graduated high school and then once Brianna graduates college. She's going to cosmetology school, and after that it'll be about the time that Brianna has graduated, so they'll go to a thing in Kentucky where she'll cut all of those military boys hair and make good money. I don't really know what I'll do after college. I'd like to go for English or writing or whatever, seeing as I ultimately want to be an author, but I'd be happy having that as a hobby. Otherwise, I'm not entirely sure what I'd want to. A lot of my family think I could be a good lawyer, because I most definitely like debate, I just don't like all the rules that come with it, and I know the studying and the job itself would be difficult. I've considered being a combat medic but I don't think I'm physically strong enough to ever make it through basic training. I guess that my go to would be teaching, but I'm not sure if I could do the whole standing in front of a group of kids thing. I don't want a plain desk job. I'm not strong enough for anything physical. I'm not skilled enough for most not as boring jobs. So I guess that while I'm definitely nervous about it, I could do teaching.

What are your dream jobs? I hope you have had a wonderful Tuesday, and I'll see you on Thursday CT. Love ya!