CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
TO CATCH A CRIMINAL
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DURING THE HOGSMEADE trip, it had been rather easy for Briar to make up an excuse, justifying her absence from spending the entire day with Fred and George at around half-one, thirty minutes before she was set to meet Sirius. She left the two quickly before one of them kissed her goodbye and made her forget about what she was actually leaving to do.
It was cold still, and Briar kept her hands firmly inside the pockets of her coat on the walk to where she had agreed to meet Harry, Ron, and Hermione. As the three walked up to her, Ron said, "Aren't you busy smacking face with my brother?"
Coolly, Briar replied, "Having a breather."
He looked at her oddly for a moment. It seemed that the answer was approved on his behalf, as his expression went from pondering to okay, fair enough. Hermione didn't look impressed, whereas Harry looked eager to visit Sirius.
"Right, let's get crack-a-lacking," said Briar. "Padfoot's big day out!"
Harry, as the four of them trudged along the beaten track, looked over at Briar, who was brightly strolling along. "Have you seen him here before, then?" he said. "You look like you know the way."
"I've been this way with Fred and George before," she shrugged. "I haven't seen Sirius since last June. He's been hiding out all summer, hasn't he? I don't know how much he's seen my parents, but I doubt it's much because Mum's pregnant..."
Ron said, "Wait, since when?"
"She's not going to know the specific date, Ron," muttered Hermione, shaking her head disapprovingly. Briar began to snigger, whereas Ron and Harry were clueless on the matter. "How don't you know—?"
"To be fair, school doesn't bother with that sort of education, they just expect parents to educate their children," explained Briar. She continued to walk down the track with a spring to her step, despite the fact that she was one wrong step away from falling face-flat into a bed of grass and stones. Brightly, she looked at Harry and Ron. "Fancy talking about the birds and the bees?"
Hermione shook her head. "How about you tell them that when there's more time — considering we're walking to see someone who probably doesn't want to discuss that with a bunch of teenagers, two of which being clueless about it..."
The four of them reached a stile, down the lane from a couple cottages with massive gardens. Around this area, Hogsmeade resembled the town that Briar lived in. Houses had windows with flower boxes that had daffodils and seasons flowers. To be honest, the current area of the town made Briar feel slightly homesick. Now, all she needed was the smell of chlorine and she'd be missing the swimming pools from the next town over to hers.
Sirius the Dog was waiting next to the stile, newspapers in his mouth. Immediately, there was a smile on Briar's face. She walked at the front, mostly because Briar was very conscious of what occurred the last time she was with the other three and felt responsible for them. Although to be fair, Briar felt responsible for most people.
She blamed the predictions.
"Sirius!" exclaimed Briar, trying her best to keep her voice low. "We've all gotten you food, by the way." She glanced at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Yours is with Harry, right?" They nodded. Briar turned back to Sirius. "Theirs is with Harry."
Harry said, "Hello, Sirius."
Sirius the Dog put his nose against Harry's bag. As Briar raised an eyebrow, Sirius the Dog began happily bounding off.
He led them to the bottom of a mountain. Briar was still at the front of the group of wizards that looked like wizards. She was keeping up with Sirius the Dog easily, whereas the other three were not. Really, though, Briar was at a slight advantage, considering she had often ran around school with ginger twins her age at some hour early in the morning.
(And one of them, more recently, only that was for something entirely different.)
At long last, they stopped walking. Sirius the Dog disappeared briefly. Briar was about to question it, until she realised that there was a fissure on the side of the mountain. Without thinking, she went in first, squeezing herself through the gap in the rock.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione had followed her in, although more hesitantly than she had. Briar reached the end of the narrow fissure and stepped into a cave. Buckbeak was at one end, his rope tied to a rock. The other three appeared, and as they bowed to Buckbeak, Briar did the same.
As Hermione went forwards to stroke Buckbeak, both Harry and Briar were looking at Sirius, who had turned back into his usual self. He was thinner than he had been last time, and Briar felt terrible like she could've done something. She put her bag down, planning to get out the food she had gotten from both the kitchens and Honeydukes.
Briar stepped back and looked at Sirius. Almost at the same second, they moved to hug each other. Briar was mindful of the fact that Sirius hadn't been eating much and probably wouldn't react well if she hugged him as tightly as she wanted to. They broke apart, and Harry gave Sirius the chicken legs and bread.
"Thanks," said Sirius, taking one of the chicken drumsticks. Sitting on the floor, he began devouring the chicken. Briar began to open her bag, the one that had been a duplicate of the possible joke shop product that Fred and George had told her to test out for them. "I've been living off rats mostly. Can't steal too much food from Hogsmeade; I'd draw attention to myself."
"Here we go!" exclaimed Briar. Ron and Hermione's eyes widened, as Briar began taking out various plastic bags from the other backpack. "There are about five boxes of cereal — you'll never guess who the new Muggle Studies teacher is — and another bag full of other muggle food — there's a load of crisps, and healthier snacks — and these three bags are from the kitchens, there's a ton of tea bags and milk and fruit and proper food, I think there's a couple pans in here, too — oh, this is the stuff from Honeydukes, Merry Christmas..."
Sirius' eyebrows rose. "Bloody hell."
"Fred and George made the bag, it's meant to store as much food as possible, and also store it correctly, so certain foods with being kept cold in the bag, and all that," she explained. "They designed it to sneak food into lessons, but we tested all this food, to see if it would all get into the bag and be fine, and it is, so it works! Here you go. Merry Christmas and happy birthday for every Christmas and birthday you've spent in Azkaban."
Ron muttered, "Bloody hell."
Briar began to put the stuff back away for Sirius, who was grinning from ear to ear. The smile on her face was almost as wide as his, whereas Harry looked more confused.
Harry smiled back at Sirius. "What're you doing here, Sirius?"
"Fulfilling my duty as godfather," said Sirius. "Don't worry about it, I'm pretending to be a loveable stray." He paused, seeming to notice the look on Harry's face. "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."
"What if they catch you?" asked Harry. "What if you're seen?"
"They're not going to find him, though," said Briar. She rolled her eyes. "C'mon. He spent all of last year hidden in the school, and they didn't notice him, nor did they notice me leaving dinner almost every night with food. And, even without that — he's Sirius Black! Padfoot! One of the marauders!" She looked at Ron. "Do you honestly think that Fred and George would admire someone — Padfoot, that is — if they weren't just as good as they are with staying away from being caught?"
"You four and Dumbledore are the only ones around here who know I'm an Animagus," said Sirius.
Ron had been looking at the newspapers and passed them over to Harry. Briar glanced over, her brain figuring them out for her — MYSTERY ILLNESS OF BARTEMIUS CROUCH and MINISTRY WITCH STILL MISSING – MINISTER OF MAGIC NOW PERSONALLY INVOLVED.
"They're making it sound like he's dying," said Harry. Briar's stomach dropped. Her teeth gritted together and she pierced her fingernails into her palms to stop herself from thinking in any detail. Not now, at least. "But he can't be that ill if he managed to get up here..."
What about Barty Jr.?
Briar stayed quiet. She wasn't going to open that question right now. She wasn't going to give the three something to pounce on, and something to believe in, unless she knew it was definite. She knew what they were like. They suspected her because they were their first suspect. She wasn't going to make them suspect someone who might be dead, just because she had one thought that contradicted their mortality, and loss of it.
"My brother's Crouch's personal assistant," informed Ron. Sirius nodded along. "He says Crouch is suffering from overwork."
"Mind you, he did look ill, last time I saw him up close," said Harry. "The night my name came out of the goblet..."
Hermione muttered, "Getting his comeuppance for sacking Winky, isn't he? I bet he wishes he hadn't done it now — bet he feels the difference now she's not there to look after him."
Briar stayed quiet. She'd rather not contribute to a discussion that bashed her grandfather, even if she didn't like him that much. A bad feeling sat in her stomach whenever he was mentioned. It made it rather impossible to act upon her dislike. Which, really, wasn't much of a problem, considering the world would run far more smoothly if conversations were laced with more positivity than bitterness.
"Hermione's obsessed with house-elves."
Sirius asked, "Crouch sacked his house-elf?"
"Yeah, at the Quidditch World Cup..." At that, Harry burst into the tale of what happened last summer. Briar listened but remembered the story from when they were all sitting around in the tents, and everyone went through their personal views on how it all went down, considering the entire group had been split up and sent all over.
"Let me get this straight," said Sirius. "You first saw the elf in the top box. She was saving Crouch a seat, right?"
The three went, "Right."
"But Crouch didn't turn up for the match?"
"No. I think he said he'd been too busy."
Sirius began to pace around. Briar was instantly reminded of both of her parents. "Harry, did you check your pockets for your wand after you'd left the top box?"
"Erm... no. I didn't need to use it before we got in the forest. And then I put my hand in my pocket, and all that was in there were my Omnioculars. Are you saying whoever conjured the Mark stole my wand in the top box?"
"It's possible."
"Winky didn't steal the wand!"
"The elf wasn't the only one in that box. Who else was sitting behind you?"
"Loads of people. Some Bulgarian ministers... Cornelius Fudge... the Malfoys..."
"The Malfoys!" exclaimed Ron. "I bet it was Lucius Malfoy!"
"I bet it wasn't," retorted Briar. "And who's the Seer? Um, me. I win all bets."
Sirius said, "Anyone else?"
"No one," said Harry.
"Yes, there was," said Hermione. "There was Ludo Bagman."
"Oh, yeah..."
Sirius was still pacing, as he said, "I don't know anything about Bagman except that he used to be Beater for the Wimbourne Wasps. What's he like?"
"He's okay. He keeps offering to help me with the Triwizard Tournament."
"Does he, now? I wonder why he'd do that?"
Harry said, "Says he's taken a liking to me."
Briar frowned. "Moody's taken a liking to Livvy if that helps. Maybe it's just favouritism, with Bagman, too?"
"We saw him in the forest just before the Dark Mark appeared," said Hermione. She looked towards Harry and Ron. "Remember?"
"Yeah, but he didn't stay in the forest, did he? The moment we told him about the riot, he went off to the campsite."
"How d'you know? How d'you know where he Disapparated to?"
"Come off it. Are you saying you reckon Ludo Bagman conjured the Dark Mark?"
In Briar's mind, there was a voice that seemed to chuckle and say, of course, he didn't. They missed out the person's name, but they continued with, did it, not fucking Bagman, what the hell?
"It's more likely he did it than Winky."
It wasn't Winky, fucking hell, it was—
Sirius held up a hand, silencing Ron. Briar raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. The name was on the tip of the voice's tongue, it just needed a push to get there.
"When the Dark Mark had been conjured, and the elf had been discovered holding Harry's wand, what did Crouch do?"
Briar remarked, "Treated her like he treated his daughter."
Sirius sent her a look. Briar shrugged. She was true.
"Went to look in the bushes," said Harry. "But there wasn't anyone else there."
"Of course — of course, he'd want to pin it on anyone but his own elf... and then he sacked her?"
"Yes. He sacked her, just because she hadn't stayed in her tent and let herself get trampled?"
Briar and Ron turned to Hermione in unison. In all honesty, Briar respected the fact that Hermione wanted to promote justice and equality for the house-elves, but she also felt like the approach was the same attitude that her mum had.
Ron let out, "Hermione, will you give it a rest with the elf?"
"She's got the measure of Crouch better than you have, Ron," said Sirius. He shook his head as he spoke. "If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals."
"All these absences of Barty Crouch's... he goes to the trouble of making sure his house-elf saves him a seat at the Quidditch World Cup but doesn't bother to turn up and watch. He works very hard to reinstate the Triwizard Tournament and then stops coming to that too... It's not like Crouch. If he's ever taken a day off work because of illness before this, I'll eat Buckbeak."
Harry said, "D'you know Crouch, then?"
Sirius' face visibly changed. He resembled the man holding all of the darkness that the three originally thought he had, on the night when they were in the Shrieking Shack and they thought that Briar was helping a murderer.
"Oh, I know Crouch all right," he said, his voice quieter than before. "He was the one who gave the order for me to be sent to Azkaban — without a trial."
Ron and Hermione let out, "What?"
"You're kidding!" said Harry.
"No, I'm not," said Sirius. "Crouch used to be Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, didn't you know?" The three shook their heads. Sirius glanced at Briar, nodding in her direction. "Briar's mum — Laurel — is his second eldest. Merlin, Crouch was fuming when he realised that he couldn't see his granddaughter — grandson, too, after a while. Probably thought he could take a stab back at Laurel if he locked me up unfairly."
Briar cleared her throat. "No," she shook her head. "Mum's always said that he blamed the whole lot of you. Ruining his daughter and her world views, and what friend would let her have a child with a werewolf—"
"No," said Sirius.
Briar said, "Mum sent me a letter at Christmas. I think that she had spoken to her dad in the summer."
The look on Sirius' face made Briar dreadfully miss every dinner and lunch and morning and afternoon she had spent keeping Sirius company, and they had discussed random things about the war and her visions and what she did at school and what he had done at school.
He looked back at the three. "He was tipped for the next Minister of Magic. He's a great wizard, Barty Crouch, powerfully magical — and power-hungry. Oh, never a Voldemort supporter. No, Barty Crouch was always very outspoken against the Dark Side. But then a lot of people who were against the Dark Side... well, you wouldn't understand... you're too young..."
Ron snapped, "That's what my dad said at the World Cup. Try us, why don't you?"
Briar's brows furrowed. "They've been through a hell of a lot more than most people have in their entire lives, Sirius," she reasoned. "All of us have, actually. It's wrong that we're kept in the dark, because if anything does happen in the next few years — which it probably will — we're going to be at the age where they throw us into battle and hope for the best."
"All right, Moony," muttered Sirius. Briar raised an eyebrow, and Sirius grinned. "All right, I'll try you." His gaze had gone towards Ron, before he continued speaking. "Imagine that Voldemort's powerful now. You don't know who his supporters are, you don't know who's working for him and who isn't; you know he can control people so that they do terrible things without being able to stop themselves. You're scared for yourself, and your family, and your friends. Every week, news comes of more deaths, more disappearances, more torturing... the Ministry of Magic's in disarray, they don't know what to do, they're trying to keep everything hidden from the muggles, but meanwhile, muggles are dying too. Terror everywhere... panic... confusion... that's how it used to be."
Briar's memories were flooding back. Even if she only remembered the visions and predictions, she remembered some of what happened.
"Well, times like that bring out the best in some people and the worst in others. Crouch's principles might've been good in the beginning — I wouldn't know. He rose quickly through the Ministry, and he started ordering very harsh measures against Voldemort's supporters. The Aurors were given new powers — powers to kill rather than capture, for instance. And I wasn't the only one who was handed straight to the Dementors without trial. Crouch fought violence with violence, and became as ruthless and cruel as many on the Dark Side."
"He had his supporters, mind you — plenty of people thought he was going about things the right way, and there were a lot of witches and wizards clamouring for him to take over as Minister of Magic," said Sirius. "When Voldemort disappeared, it looked like only a matter of time until Crouch got the top job. But then something rather unfortunate happened... Crouch's own son was caught with a group of Death Eaters who'd managed to talk their way out of Azkaban. Apparently, they were trying to find Voldemort and return him to power."
Hermione inhaled, "Crouch's son was caught?"
"Yep," nodded Sirius. "Nasty little shock for old Barty, I'd imagine. Should have spent a bit more time at home with his family, shouldn't he? Ought to have left the office early once in a while... gotten to know his son — and his eldest son, and his daughter..." He began eating the bread.
Harry asked, "Was his son a Death Eater?"
"No idea," said Sirius. "I was in Azkaban myself when he was brought in. This is mostly stuff I've found out since I got out. The boy was definitely caught in the company of people I'd bet my life were Death Eaters — but he might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, just like the house-elf."
Briar said, "No, he was." Her eyes were somewhat glassy from thinking about all of the visions she used to get, all of the nightmares that upset her because she didn't get why her parents always got so sad when she didn't quite understand because she was out of it during every vision. "I've overheard Mum telling Dad about it countless times. Aster — the eldest — used to be. They killed him when they thought he wasn't."
She was protecting family, she reminded herself.
"Did Crouch try and get his son off?" asked Hermione.
Sirius laughed. "Crouch let his son off? I thought you had the measure of him, Hermione! Anything that threatened to tarnish his reputation had to go; he had dedicated his whole life to becoming Minister of Magic. His eldest son was dead to him when he was declared missing, and refused to dig deeper into it. He kicked his daughter out for having different — better — views than him. You saw him dismiss a devoted house-elf because she associated him with the Dark Mark again. Doesn't that tell you what he's like?"
He paused for a minute. Briar thought briefly about Aster, and the times he had talked about his father, always finishing the tale with, you're lucky you're without him.
"Crouch's fatherly affection stretched just far enough to give his son a trial, and by all accounts, it wasn't much more than an excuse for Crouch to show how much he hated the boy..." said Sirius. "Then he sent him straight to Azkaban."
Harry said, "He gave his own son to the Dementors?"
"That's right," said Sirius. "I saw the Dementors bringing him in, watched them through the bars in the cell door. He can't have been more than nineteen. They took him into a cell near mine. He was screaming for his mother by nightfall. He went quiet after a few days, though... They all went quiet in the end... except when they shrieked in their sleep..."
Harry said, "So he's still in Azkaban?"
No, a voice in her brain said. He's over in—
"No," said Sirius. Briar wanted to jump back, to let her thoughts continue. No doubt, though, they'd skip the name until they thought it was important to mention. "No, he's not in there anymore. He died about a year after they brought him in."
"He died?"
Sirius said, "He wasn't the only one. Most go mad in there, and plenty stop eating in the end. They lose the will to live. You could always tell when a death was coming, because the Dementors could sense it, they got excited. That boy looked pretty sickly when he arrived. Crouch being an important Ministry member, he and his wife were allowed a deathbed visit. That was the last time I saw Barty Crouch, half carrying his wife past my cell. She died herself, apparently, shortly afterward. Grief. Wasted away just like the boy. Crouch never came for his son's body. The Dementors buried him outside the fortress; I watched them do it."
"So old Crouch lost it all, just when he thought he had it made," continued Sirius. "One moment, a hero, poised to become Minister of Magic...next, his son dead, his wife dead, the family name dishonoured, and, so I've heard since I escaped, a big drop in popularity. Once the boy had died, people started feeling a bit more sympathetic toward the son and started asking how a nice young lad from a good family had gone so badly astray. The conclusion was that his father never cared much for him. So Cornelius Fudge got the top job, and Crouch was shunted sideways into the Department of International Magical Cooperation."
Silence. Briar desperately hoped that the thoughts produced by her Seer side would return and tell her the rest, like the song of a mermaid swimming like someone, paced, swimming closer, swimming further back, parts of the speech being missed...
Harry said, "Moody says Crouch is obsessed with catching dark wizards."
Moody stuck firmly onto Briar's thoughts. Briar frowned.
"Yeah, I've heard it's become a bit of a mania with him," nodded Sirius. "If you ask me, he still thinks he can bring back the old popularity by catching one more Death Eater."
Ron declared, "And he snuck up here to search Snape's office!"
"Yes, and that doesn't make sense at all," said Sirius.
Ron replied, "Yeah, it does!"
"Listen, if Crouch wants to investigate Snape, why hasn't he been coming to judge the tournament?" said Sirius. "It would be an ideal excuse to make regular visits to Hogwarts and keep an eye on him."
Briar's voice was quiet, as she spoke, "There's more than one Barty Crouch." No one had been close enough to hear. The expression on her face was grave; it made sense. The map was made when her uncle was in school. They wouldn't bother distinguishing between Junior and Senior, would they? It wouldn't have seemed important at the time, it would've been an addition that wasn't initially needed.
Four pairs of eyes were looking at her.
Ron said, "Fred and George say that you do that a lot. You space out and say something without realising. None of us heard, though, if that helps."
"Yeah, um, it does," she mumbled. In that moment, all Briar wanted was to be left to think, and not to mention the thought until she felt certain on something.
Harry said to Sirius, "So you think Snape could be up to something, then?"
Hermione interrupted, "Look, I don't care what you say, Dumbledore trusts Snape—"
Briar, like Ron had put it, spaced out for a couple of minutes. She focused on her breathing, which usually helped her focus on her thoughts, which usually helped her focus on the thoughts that were predicting the future. Her brain was whirring into action about the statement of there being two people named Barty Crouch. If she could just ask to borrow the Marauder's Map, even if it's for one night.
Her mind was thrown back into the present as Hermione announced the time. Briar blinked a couple of times, wiping her eyes and realising that they had gotten glassier the longer that she had been staring into nothingness. Sirius got to his feet, and said, "You'd better get back to school. Now, listen, I don't want you lot sneaking out of school to see me, all right? Just send notes to me here. I still want to hear about anything odd. But you're not to go leaving Hogwarts without permission. It would be an ideal opportunity for someone to attack you."
Putting a hand on her heart, Briar said, "But I love sneaking out."
Ron muttered, "You and Fred absolutely adore—" He stopped himself, seeing the odd look on Sirius' face. "Oh, yeah, Briar's going out with Fred. They've been sneaking out most nights to snog under the stars or something, I dunno, but he won't bloody shut up about it—"
"Okay, it's not every night, and it's not under the stars because Filch would see," said Briar. "And, you know what, I'm a Leo, so I'm a great kisser, therefore, he can talk about making out with me as much as he pleases."
"No one's tried to attack me so far," said Harry. "Except a dragon and a couple of grindylows."
"I don't care," said Sirius. "I'll breathe again freely when this tournament's over, and that's not until June. And don't forget, if you're talking about me among yourselves, call me Snuffles, okay?"
Before they left the cave, Sirius had transformed back into the dog. When they reached the end of the beaten track, Harry, Ron, and Hermione patted Sirius the Dog on the head, and Briar hugged him in the way that she hugged Sergeant.
On the walk into Hogsmeade, Briar quickly turned to Harry. "Is there any chance that I could borrow the map off of you?" she asked.
Harry frowned. "Why'd you—"
"The twins want to go down to the kitchens to get some things for their joke products," she said, lying seamlessly. "I'm tired, and that usually makes it harder to predict when someone's coming around the corner or not."
He continued to frown, obviously just confused by how the whole Seer thing went. "Moody still has it from a couple nights ago," he explained.
Briar shrugged it off, and thanked him regardless, her pace speeding up as she got into the castle. A crystal ball would have to do.
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"Any reason behind why you skipped dinner, or why you've got a crystal ball with you?" asked Fred. Briar had been sitting on the step that made the divide between one small corridor, and one wider corridor, with the crystal ball on her lap. He had appeared from behind her and sat next to her.
Briar told him, "Detective work. Daphne doesn't stop sleuthing for food."
"Daphne...?"
"Scooby Doo, the muggle cartoon," she explained. Briar moved the crystal ball, making it sit by itself in the corner of the underused corridor. "There's a character called Daphne. And, really, I think that I'm most like Daphne."
He was frowning but shrugged. "Obviously," said Fred. "What are you looking for? Harry thought that you were using the map for something with me and George later on." Her eyebrow rose, and he noticed her expression, trying his best to be nonchalant about his continuation. "Of course, me and George went along with it. Thought it was best to protect my — um — what are you?"
Slowly, Briar said, "Close to getting annoyed, depending on what you call me."
"But, I mean," he paused. "Are we going out, or what?"
Briar remarked, "You're so romantic."
"I am romantic, thank you very much," muttered Fred. Briar looked unconvinced, and he shot her a look. "I am romantic! Look at me! All romance!"
She lowered her voice by an octave, and mimicked him, "Are we going out, or what? Briaaaarrrrrrrr, are we going out, or what? Oh, I'm so romantic, la de la de la, I'm all romance, of course — are we going out, though, or what?"
Fred looked at her.
Briar frowned back.
He asked, "Well, are we?"
"I don't know!" she exclaimed. "This is a mutual decision! Would you like to?"
Fred said, "Sure, sounds like fun."
"So romantic," said Briar.
"Well," said Fred. "Do you want to go out with me?"
Briar smiled at him, and said, "Sure, sounds like fun."
He gave her a look, which caused her to burst into laughter. Like usual, when she laughed, she leaned into whoever she was laughing with, her forehead pressing against his shoulder. He put an arm around her, and her laughter died down, just as she looked up at him. As she put her hands on his shoulders, he put both arms around her. Both of them smiled. And, with that, they kissed each other, just like they had done most evenings and nights since Christmas.
It was a shame, though, since when Moody wandered past, it wasn't for the reason it would've been for; instead, it had felt more like a warning, both of which shuffling further into the shaded area of the corridor, despite the fact that one of Moody's eyes was a nightmare to anyone trying to be sneaky.
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edited: 20.08.17