Daughter of Mine | Harry Potter

XIX.

And to recover what we took,

But past an hour - the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

"How did you...," Harry began to ask.

"You said you'd already worked out that egg clue!" said Hermione indignantly.

"Keep your voice down!" said Harry crossly. "I just need to- sort of fine-tune it, all right?"

Lalia rubbed at her arm which occasionally ached from the fabric of her robe scratching the burn mark.

"Just forget the egg for a minute, all right?" Harry hissed. "I'm trying to tell you about Snape and Moody. . . ."

Harry began telling the group as quickly as possible about the conversation he had overheard in the halls the night before.

"Snape said Moody's searched his office as well?" Ron whispered, his eys alight with interest. "What. . . . d'you reckon Moody's here to keep an eye on Snape as well as Karkaroff?"

"Well, I dunno if that's what Dumbledore asked him to do, but he's definitely doing it," said Harry. "Moody said Dumbledore only lets Snape stay here because he's giving him a second chance or something. . . ."

"What?" said Ron, his eyes widening. "Harry ... maybe Moody thinks Snape put your name in the Goblet of Fire!"

Lalia could not resist the wince her body did at the mention of the Goblet that had appeared in her dreams.

"Oh Ron," said Hermione, shaking her head skeptically, "we thought Snape was trying to kill Harry before, and it turned out he was saving Harry's life, remember?"

Th group considered the validity of Hermione's words before the girl continued. Lalia found herself remembering the insult she had hurled at the professor.

"I don't care what Moody says," Hermione went on. "Dumbledore's not stupid. He was right to trust Hagrid and Professor Lupin, even though loads of people wouldn't have given them jobs, so why shouldn't he be right about Snape, even if Snape is a bit -"

"- evil," said Ron promptly. "Come on, Hermione, why are all these dark wizard catchers searching his office, then?"

"Why had Mr. Crouch been pretending to be ill?" said Hermione, ignoring Ron. "It's a bit funny, isn't it, that he can't manage to come to the Yule Ball, but he can get up here in the middle of the night when he wants to?"

"You just don't like Crouch because of that elf, Winky," said Ron.

"You just want to think Snape's up to something," said Hermione.

"I just want to now what Snape did with his first chance, if he's on his second one," said Harry grimly.

"I just want you to shut up so I can eat," Lalia grumbled, rubbing at her sore arm.

As the second task approached, Lalia spent more time with Ginny. Her avoidance of the group was noticed, but Lalia couldn't overcome her fear of sinking into the Black Lake like in her dream.

"Lia?" Harry asked, standing behind her seated figure at the Ravenclaw table two days before the second task.

The girl jumped and turned around to face the boy. He leaned down to whisper to her.

"Sirius asked for the date of the next Hogsmeade weekend. I'll let you know when he responds."

Once Lalia nodded at him, Harry made his way to his two friends seated at the Gryffindor table.