With eyes that stare aimlessly above the trees where the howling wind blew, and mouth that hung open without speaking another tale laid a man in the Forbidden Forest. It was none other than Barty Crouch Senior.
Aine's eyes widened with shock, taking a step back as she covers her mouth as a gasp escaped. She watches as Harry took a daring step forward, calling out to the man's name who laid motionlessly without a sound. "Is he alright?" Aine asked though she knew too well the man was not, even so, she took her chance to ask anyway, hoping what she thought was wrong.
"I don't think so, Aine..." Harry gulps, he motioned for Hagrid to come although he made sure Ron and Hermione were far, he didn't want them to see such a sight after all. The tipsy giant immediately sobered up when he saw the lifeless man, he turned to Aine and Harry, "Not a word, both of you! Do you understand?" he instructed and they both nodded, not wanting to say anything, regardless.
Hagrid sent them all away soon after, telling them to head back to the school grounds now that night was falling. On the way, Harry let slip what had happened since both Hermione and Ron couldn't stop asking what had happened, though he had avoided telling too much detail. Throughout the way, Aine was silent despite Hermione's efforts to brighten the mood. It seemed that what happened earlier had killed off all the spirits of joy.
After they placed down their stuff and changed out of normal clothing, Harry was ordered to meet the Headmaster to state what had happened with Aine who tagged along. Though she wasn't required to say anything, she decided to follow him to give additional proof and evidence. They descended the owl statue before their footsteps slowed down with the burning argument that they heard from the office, "A man has died here, Fudge! And he won't be the last. You must take action!"
Aine exchanged uneasy glances to Harry who squeezes her arm, offering some reassurance as they slowly approached secretly, not wanting to cause any noise that could interrupt what they were eavesdropping about.
"l will not. ln times like these, the wizarding world looks to its leaders for strength, Dumbledore!" they heard a man retort, it was Cornelius Fudge.
"Then for once show them some!" Dumbledore barks.
"The Triwizard Tournament will not be cancelled. l will not be seen as a coward!"
"A true leader does what is right, no matter what others think!"
"What did you say? What did you say to me?" the atmosphere around them sounded gloom and heavy, and things seemed heated up in the Headmaster's office. Aine turned to Harry, she mouths, "Do you think we should come back another time?"
Harry shook his head, he was piqued by the conversation and was slowly being drawn into the discussion of the officials. They were now outside of Dumbledore's office and Aine drew a short breath, slowly raising her hand to knock on the door along with Harry.
"Excuse me, gentlemen. lt may interest you to know this conversation is no longer private." As they were about to knock on the door, it swung open before their fingers could drum on the wood. The door creaks open and all three heads turned to the two students, their expressions immediately softening at the sight of Harry and Aine and it even looked like nothing was wrong and they weren't fighting in the first place at all!
"Oh, Harry! Harry, how good to see you again! And you must be Miss Estoileon! It's great to see you too!" Fudge welcomed, walking towards them with a political smile beaming at them both.
"Hello, sir," Harry greeted and Aine lowered her head into a small bow, "Are we interrupting anything? We can come back later, professor," she told them and Dumbledore quickly lowered towards them, bumping onto Fudge as he went down. "Not necessary, Harry, Aine. The minister and I are done. I'll be back in a moment," he said. "Oh, Harry, Aine, do feel free to indulge in a little Licorice Snap in my absence. But l have to warn you, they're a wee bit sharp," he added with a wink before the door slammed close, leaving the two of them in the massive room filled with hundreds of peculiar artefacts.
"Awkward," commented Aine before she took the pleasure to circle Fawkes, "Hello, Fawkes!" she greeted enthusiastically, earning a happy screech from the phoenix, she strokes the bird and it spread its beautiful vibrant wings, displaying it to them. Her eyes gave a side glance to Harry who walked towards the bowl of Licorice Snaps, he took a handful of them, offering it to Aine who shook her head, not trusting any of those spiral shell-like candies. "I'm not eating any of those strange things," she swallowed and the next moment, her gut was right.
The candies had grown small mouths with zagged fangs and had bit into Harry's palms and fingers, he yelps as he stumbled backwards, flinging his hand to rid the little monsters away. Aine winces as she watched before rolling her eyes, "Told you so," she shrugs.
"A little help here?"
She pulls out her wand and pointed at the jumping sweets, "Immobulus," she cast and the tiny snapping monsters froze in mid-air before falling to the ground, Harry stomping on all of them to keep their annoying screeching noise shut and to prevent them from jumping about. "Still wanna go in for more?" teases Aine as she crosses her arms, leaning back on one of the cabinets.
"Oh. Shut up," he huffs, trampling on a few more before their attention drew back to a silvery groan. At the corner of the room, a cabinet unfolded its doors and they both walked towards a large stoned vessel that pushed its way into the middle of the office. It was filled with a mirror-like liquid that glowed and swirled mysteriously. "What is that?" Harry asks, lumbering towards it as if he was being enchanted.
"I think that's a Pensieve," the girl answers, warily walking to it.
Harry waved his wand over at the magical water and their reflection ripples, there were finer strings inside it like silk, moving gracefully as the liquid swirled. The boy stood there, suddenly in a trance and Aine watches him, "What are you doing?" she questions but she got no reply, instead she merely watches as his eyes cloud and his body froze on the spot momentarily, before he dunks his head inside it, surprising Aine.
"What the—" she nearly curses and Fawkes turned her head to the girl, eyes squinting at her as it let out a squawk. Aine quickly clamps her mouth shut before she calls out to him "Harry..?" she peers at the water that was now murky like someone had dipped a brush full of ink and washed it in a pot. She tapped on his shoulders but the boy simply stood still, "Are you dead?" she whispers loudly.
Aine stepped backwards, her wand still pointing at Harry and her brows furrowed quizzically, not knowing what to do. Should she pull him out of the bowl or should she wait for Dumbledore to come back so that he could somehow fix this? She pondered for a moment, wondering if it was dangerous if she pulled him out, he didn't seem to be struggling or any sort of that, nor was he choking on it.
She waited and waited. One minute— Five minutes— Ten minutes— Fifteen. "Okay! I'm doing this!" she fisted her palms, marching to the boy who was standing awfully still for fifteen whole minutes, it was as if he was asleep. She shoves her wand back into her pocket before reaching for Harry's shoulders to pull him up, yet before she could even touch him, the door opened and she snapped to the entrance, "Oh, hello, Professor."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Aine," Dumbledore smiles before walking to the Pensieve. "I'm sorry for Harry, he always has a habit of touching things when he shouldn't. I hope we're aren't invading anything!" she apologizes and the older man waves her off, "Not to worry you must be curious about all the wonderful artefacts in here!" he chuckles.
"Oh, yes. I did. Fawkes was kind enough to keep me in place. Can't say the same for Harry, though," she jokes and the Headmaster burst out into laughter. "You have your father's sense of humour, Aine."
"Glad to know that," she grins and he nodded, turning to the boy. "He should be back any moment now."
"Back from where?" Aine questions.
"One of my memories."
Aine's mouth fell into an 'O', nodding her head without questioning anything, "Right. Uh, okay."
Sure enough, in the next second, Harry gasped out of the sink and was thrown a few steps behind. His eyes met Dumbledore and immediately he stood back up and straightened himself, flustered. "Curiosity is not a sin, Harry. But you should exercise caution," Dumbledore commented and Harry scratches the back of his neck, embarrassed.
Aine gave out a small muffled snicker, causing the boy to dart a glare at her as she smirks at him. "Sorry, sir."
"It's a Pensieve. Very useful if, like me, you find your mind a wee bit stretched. lt allows me to see once more things I've already seen."
Harry walked up towards the man, looking into the Pensieve once more, "You see, Harry, l have searched and searched for something— Some small detail— Something l might have overlooked—" Dumbledore spoke in a gruff voice, desperation in his tone like it was imperative to find something.
He went on, pacing back and forth before he stood in front of another cabinet, his gaze meeting the two students through the glass's reflection. "Something that would explain why these terrible things have happened. Every time l get close to an answer, it slips away! It's maddening!"
"Sir? Mr Crouch's son. What exactly happened to him?" Harry asks and Aine raised a brow, "Didn't know he had a son," she mutters to herself.
Dumbledore sighed, "He was sent to Azkaban. Destroyed Barty to do it. But he had no choice. The evidence was overwhelming. Why do you ask?"
"It's just that l— l had a dream about him. lt was in the summer, before school. In the dream, I was in a house. And Voldemort was there, only he wasn't quite human. And Wormtail was there too. And Mr Crouch's son!" Harry reveals and Aine shot at him, taking long heavy steps, "Wait, was it at this broken manor or something like that? With stairs and that lead to a room with a single chair—"
Harry narrowed his eyes to his friend, "You had it too?"
Aine nodded, "I— I... Yeah. I remembered it was during the summer holidays too and," she pauses, trying to recall the bits and pieces that all seemed blurry now, "I remembered a green flash and the killing curse being fired."
Dumbledore's face hardened as his expression grew dark, he moved along to the children, "Have there been others like this dream?"
"Yes. Always the same one," Harry noted.
"I only dreamt of it once," replies Aine, her eyes following the man who quickly strutted towards the Pensieve, staring at it in a daze.
"Sir, these dreams... What l see, you don't think it's actually happening, do you?" Harry asks, fidgeting about as he started to overthink. Aine on the other hand was blank, all that was in her mind was how she was able to have the same dreams as Harry, not to mention that it was exactly the same scenario. The once forgotten dream slowly surfaced and the more she thought of it, the clearer the image was now. Feeling her fingers trembling out of impulse, she pulls her sleeves to cover them, hugging herself as she leaned back onto the table. So the man that she couldn't identify back then in her dream was Barty Crouch's son...
It was almost as if Dumbledore had seen through the facade of the two of them, trying to conceal their growing fear that his expression soon softened, "l think it's unwise for you to linger over these dreams, Harry, Aine. l think it's best if you simply..." he puts his wand on his temple and winces when a silvery lock of string was pulled from his head, "Cast them away," he added, dropping it into the Pensieve.
Afterwards, the Headmaster bid them both good night and instructed them to head back to their common rooms and not to dwell on the bad thoughts. He gave one last smile before chucking several pieces of lemon sherbet candies into their possession.
"So what did you see in there?" Aine asks Harry as they walked back.
"It was a hearing, and both Dumbledore and Moody were there. Igor Karkaroff was also there too, but he was being detained in a cage to answer for his crimes. Apparently, he was working for Voldemort and had presented a few names in exchange for a lighter sentence," Harry told her, pursing his lips as he went on, "The names he gave were Rosier... Rookwood, Crouch's son and—"
The boy gulped, hesitating.
"What is it?"
"It was... Snape."
"WHAT?!" exclaimed the girl in a rather loud whisper and Harry quickly covered her mouth. "You're joking."
"I'm serious, Aine."
"No, you're not. You're his godson."
"I'm not— Wait, what—?"
"Sirius."
Harry rolls his eyes, lightly bumping on Aine's elbows and making her giggle. He continued, ignoring her little jokes, "Anyways, Dumbledore had mentioned that he was indeed a Deatheater but he has turned a spy for him and it remained loyal and faithful to Dumbledore till this day."
"Wow, talk about a double spy," Aine gasped, invested in his tale.
"So, Karkaroff mentioned Crouch's son and the whole hearing was filled with chaos and frenzy and everyone broke into a fight. The end."
"Must be one hell of a hearing," she remarked and he nodded.
Just then, another door banged opened and the two flinched, meeting two familiar faces and... Aine narrows her golden eyes at Karkaroff's arm, it was the same mark that night at the Quidditch World Cup. The Deatheater's mark.
Speak of the devils, Aine said in her head, meeting the enraged glares of the Durmstrang headmaster who sheathed down his sleeves to cover the mark. He gave one last look to Harry before stomping away into the darkness. Snape caught Harry's distracted eyes who was following Karkaroff's figure. The Potions professor immediately spat, "Potter!"
"What's your— Hurry?" he questions, sneering at the boy lowly. Harry dared to look to him, adding to the displeasure Snape already had. He muttered, "Congratulations, your performance in the Black Lake was inspiring. Gillyweed, am l correct?"
"Yes, sir," Harry replies, blinking at him.
"lngenious. A rather rare herb, Gillyweed. Not something found in your everyday garden. Nor is this." the man turned back to his store, Aine and Harry following him from behind. Snape climbed the ladder and searched for one of the many vials and bottles he had before he went back down, he whips out a dark green vial of potion and squinted at the boy, "Know what it is?" he questions the both of them, though his eyes never left Harry's.
"Bubble juice, sir?" the boy answers nonchalantly.
"It's Veritaserum," Aine grits through her teeth in a soft voice and Snape tilted his head to her, a faint smirk fell on his lips, "Veritaserum. Three drops of this and You-Know-Who himself would spill his darkest secrets. The use of it on a student is, regrettably— Forbidden," he raises a brow, pausing for a moment and he clicks his tongue in pity before carrying on, "However, should you ever ask Estoileon here to steal from my personal stores again—" he shifts to Aine who frowned, lips hanging open as she was getting ready to deny the claims. "My hand might just slip over your morning pumpkin juice."
"I did not steal!" Aine blurted out, her lips falling downwards.
"l haven't stolen anything. Or asked anyone to steal anything from your store!"
"Don't lie— to me." Snape seethes at him, "Gillyweed may be innocuous, but boomslang skin, lacewing flies? You and your little friends are brewing Polyjuice Potion, and believe me... I'm going to find out why!" he shoves them both out and abruptly slams the door in their faces.
Aine scoffs and Harry sighs through his nose, "I'm out. I'm done for today," he said to his friend who stood rooted at the spot before groaning in frustration. Harry took a few steps before turning back to her, "Coming?"
"No, I need to sort this," she tells him, running her fingers through her hair before she bangs on the door, "Professor!"
"What are you doing!" hushes Harry, and the girl rolls her eyes, "Defending you."
With a couple more harsh pounding, the door swung open to reveal a discontented look, "What is it, Estoileon?" he snarls at her.
She places her hand on her hips and furrows, "For the record, we did not steal anything, sir. The Gillyweed that Harry had gotten was from Neville, who received it from Professor Moody."
The Potions master raised an amused but belittled brow, "And?"
"I have stolen nothing from your store to make any form of Polyjuice potion too," she confesses and he hums, "Really?"
"Yes, sir."
"So you have stolen nothing?"
"Yes, sir," the girl repeats and his eyes stared deeply at hers, making her slowly uncomfortable, "Okay, well... Maybe I did steal some things but it's not for any of the stuff we've mentioned! But you said I could use your store too!" she added, remembering she had stolen a couple of moonseeds in attempt to brew a wolfsbane potion back then. She curses mentally to herself before looking up again.
"Did you now?"
"Yes."
Snape eyed the girl before exhaling, he closes his eyes before nodding stiffly, "Anything else you wish to say?"
"Yes, sir."
"And what will that be?" he peeks open an eye and Aine smiles, "Have a wonderful night. Goodbye!" she bids, taking the honour of closing the door to the potion store afterwards. She met Harry's gaping mouth, "What?" she asks.
"You're crazy, Aine," he said, shaking his head as he gulps.
"Really? Thanks."
"Yeah..." he winces, it wasn't exactly a compliment, though... He said in his mind.
She proceeded on, walking into the darkness and leaving Harry stranded in the middle of the corridors, dumbfounded. "Come on, or I'll leave you there!" she softly shouted in the dark, making Harry snicker, "Race you back to the common room!
"You're on!"
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