Headstrong

Chapter 54

"What if they catch you? What if you're seen?"

"You four and Dumbledore are the only ones round here who know I'm an Animagus-"

"What about Fred, George and Ginny?" Hermione questioned Amanda.

"They only know that he's Padfoot." Amanda explained.

The group started talking about Crouch, but her attention was grabbed again when they started to speak about Ludo Bagman.

"I don't know anything about Bagman, except that he used to be Beater for the Wimbourne Wasps," said Sirius. "What's he like?"

"He was put on trial once and found innocent." Amanda said thoughtfully.

"How did you know that?" Ron inquired.

"Francis used to work in the Wizengamot. He was at Bagman's trial. Apparently he was friends with a Death Eater that Karkaroff turned in, and he could have been giving information to the guy. It turns out he didn't know and was found innocent."

"He's OK." Harry said, "He keeps offering to help me with the Triwizard Tournament."

"Does he, now?" said Sirius, frowning. "I wonder why he'd do that?"

"Says he's taken a liking to me," said Harry.

Amanda scoffed. "Bagman likes to make a lot of bets. He's probably in danger of bankruptcy, and so made another bet on Harry winning the Tournament."

The others continued with their theories before Amanda said, "Bagman isn't smart enough to be a Death Eater. Trust me, he's not the one we should be looking at. What were you saying about Crouch?"

Sirius continued, before one bit of information stuck out. "Crouch had a son?"

Sirius nodded. "Hanging out with people who are definitely Death Eaters. Went to Azkaban. It was Crouch who sent him off. He died about a year after he was brought in. The Dementors buried him outside the fortress, I watched them do it."

Amanda was thinking. Something was tickling the back of her head, but she didn't know what. Then she stopped.

"Wait, did you say he snuck into Snape's office?"

Ron nodded. Amanda got up and started to pace. "I feel like I know something, but some sort of block is preventing me from reaching the information."

"So you think Snape could be up to something, then?" asked Harry, but Hermione broke in.

"Look, I don't care what you say, Dumbledore trusts Snape-"

"Oh, come off it, Hermione," said Ron impatiently, "I know Dumbledore's brilliant and everything, but that doesn't mean a really clever Dark wizard couldn't fool him-"

"Why did Snape save Harry's life in the first year, then? Why didn't he just let him die?"

"There's a reason for that." Amanda but in, causing Sirius to give her a look of warning. "It wasn't just because he owes Dad his life."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"He used to be friends with-"

"Snape knew more curses when he arrived at school than half the kids in seventh year." Sirius cut Amanda off. "He was part of a gang of Slytherins who nearly all turned out to be Death Eaters."

He held up his fingers, and began ticking off names. "Rosier and Wilkes - they were both killed by Aurors the year before Voldemort fell. The Lestranges - they're a married couple - they're in Azkaban. Avery - from what I've heard he wormed his way out of trouble by saying he'd been acting under the Imperius Curse - he's still at large. But as far as I know, Snape was never accused of being a Death Eater - not that it means much. Plenty of them were never caught."