\ wherein she is cursed /
"HE DID WHAT?!" I HEARD Fred yell from outside the Hospital Wing.
"YOU'RE DEAD, MALFOY." bellowed George.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S IN THE HOSPITAL WING ALREADY?!" George and Fred walked in, their footsteps echoing against the marble floor, Hermione, Harry, and Ron hurrying in after them.
"PHEOBE OH MY GOD ARE YOU OKAY?!"
"She's...fine," said Ron carefully.
"Holy shit," Fred breathed as I winced at his and George's stares.
"Guys, it's not that bad," said Harry as he came and sat down in the chair beside my cot, picking up my hand and intertwining our fingers. "She's the exact same, hex or no hex."
"Pomfrey says it'll be gone in ten to twenty minutes, the potion just has to work its magic," Hermione said quickly.
"Where the hell is Malfoy, then? I don't see him sitting here looking like-"
"There," Ron pointed to once of the cots. I craned my neck to see him but Hermione quickly stepped in my view.
"Er...I don't think you want to see him right now, especially after...this." I nodded weakly and picked up a book on my nightstand as George frowned at me.
"Why isn't she saying anything?"
"Malfoy, of course," said Harry, shaking his head furiously. "But the git had to be dealt with, and so I did."
"Did you really think you dealt with him? I'll give him a piece of my mind and then he'll know what it's like to be dealt with," Ron and the twins muttered angrily as they went over to Malfoy's cot. The corner of Harry's lip twitched; he was probably able to tell that I wanted to know what he did to Draco.
"I did a couple of spells on him...he's got these huge warts all over his face and his famous blonde hair is no longer blonde," he grinned slightly.
"Yeah, now it's color changing." Hermione chimed in.
"Worth the month of detentions." I stared at him. "Definitely worth it.
"You're mental," I whispered hoarsely, my voice raspy as he chuckled and I massaged my throat gently, a feeling stabs of pain when I spoke those simple two words.
"Yeah, I might be."
"He's going to murder you once he gets out of here," said Hermione, glancing over at him.
"At least I'll die knowing Moldy Voldy couldn't kill me, but a pathetic fourth year could," Harry said, grinning.
"Oh- hey, the potion's starting to work!" Ron exclaimed, looking at me. "Your face isn't all rainbow anymore- and your nose is back to normal!"
"Annnnnddd...the spots are officially gone!" cheered Harry.
"Can you speak now?" asked Hermione.
"Don't ask her to speak!" exclaimed Pomfrey as she rushed over. "Yes...Pheobe, your face is entirely back to normal-"
"And her voice?" asked Fred and George instantly.
"The spell Mr. Malfoy used is an advanced spell, I don't have the necessary remedy yet, it's being flown in as we speak. It should be here in two days' time."
"So... she can leave, then?" Harry asked. Pomfrey frowned.
"She can-"
"And what about Malfoy?" asked Hermione. "When's he going to leave here?"
"He'll be staying the night, most likely."
"WHOO- er- I'm so sorry for him," Ron amended quickly as Madam Pomfrey eyed him disapprovingly.
"Hm. Pheobe, you may leave, however-"
"Thanks," I croaked out, jumping to my feet as Pomfrey frowned at me.
"Well, no talking until you return here and receive the remedy. Otherwise I don't know what to expect."
"Got it. She won't talk for two days," Hermione said. "We'll make sure."
"And Draco won't live for two minutes," whispered Fred as the six of us left the Hospital Wing together.
"We've got Binns now," said Ron, checking his watch. "Can't we just skip it? Say Pheeb isn't feeling well and we've got to make her feel better-"
"No, Ron, we're learning about giants and trolls today and those-"
"Might come up on our O.W.L.s," Harry and Ron recited boredly. "We know. You've told us every time we've suggested skipping a class."
"Well, we've got to go and...definitely not plot for ways to murder a certain stupid ferret," said George, backing away with Fred.
"See you around!"
"BY THE WAY PHEOBE YOU'RE AMAZING AND THAT FERRET NEVER DESERVED YOU OKAY BYE." yelled Fred and George as they left, leaving me smiling and shaking my head.
"Well, let's go to the torture classroom," groaned Ron as the four of us headed towards the class together.
"Okay, be serious, how was it finally getting revenge on Malfoy?" asked Ron as we walked. I grinned and motioned to Hermione to hand me some parchment and a quill.
'Bloody fucking awesome' I wrote as he beamed.
"That moment will probably live on in my memory for...ever."
"Ah, you four," said Binns, looking us up and down as we entered the classroom, catching the attention of every student there. "And what is the reason for your lateness?"
"Oh- we were in the Hospital Wing," said Hermione quickly. Professor Binns nodded shortly and turned back to the rest of the class as we quickly took our seats beside Seamus.
"How come you were in the Hospital Wing?" Seamus whispered to me. I shrugged and put a finger to my lips as I pulled out my textbook to the chapter that Professor Binns had written on the board.
"Hey," Harry whispered quietly from my other side, before sliding a small folded piece of parchment over to me. I frowned and glanced up to make sure Binns wasn't looking before I unfolded the parchment.
How're you feeling? What Malfoy said was fucking awful and you don't deserve any of it.
I reached over and took Harry's quill before looking back to the parchment.
Thanks, but he's right. In the end, aren't I just a muggleborn who has no idea what I'm doing?"
I rfolded the parchment back up, sliding it over to him as Binns lectured us. He frowned before taking his quill back and scribbling something, then passing it to me.
Shut the fuck up, you know bloody well what you're doing, Pheobe May Wilson. You're nothing that asshole says and, quite frankly, you should believe the people who love you.
I smiled softly and read the last few words again. He was referring to himself, right? So he loved me? But was it platonic?
I sighed and folded up the paper, slipping it into my pocket as a reminder of the words the Harry James Potter had written purely for me.
Suddenly I felt Seamus nudge me slightly on my other side and pass me a piece of parchment. I frowned and unfolded it to see it signed from Hermione.
You've got the egg figured out, right?
Her and that bloody egg.
Her concern was valid, but I was beginning to accept my fate.
Besides, Harry Potter wrote that he was one of the people who loved me.
I won in life already, what more was waiting for me?
No, Hermione, I haven't made any more progress since the last time you asked me, approximately forty-five minutes and thirty-two seconds ago, thank you.
.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.★.*｡･ﾟ✫*.
"Cedric told me I needed to take a bath," Harry blurted out while I was reading at night in the common room, Ron, him, and me the last ones awake. I raised an eyebrow at him over the top of my book.
That's nice, I scribbled on a piece of parchment. Did you really smell that bad?
"Oh, shut up," he scoffed. I grinned and motioned to my throat as he huffed. "Would you come with me, please?"
Come where?
"The Prefect's bathroom." I blinked.
Let me get this straight: you want me to come with you to take a bath in a bathroom you're not allowed to be in?
"Well when you say it like that, it sounds weird as hell!"
Harry, it sounds weird as hell even if I write it.
"Just come with me, would you?" I sighed.
Fine.
Harry planned our excursion carefully, because he had been caught out of bed and out-of-bounds by Filch the caretaker in the middle of the night once before, and had no desire to repeat the experience. The Invisibility Cloak would, of course, be essential, and as an added precaution, I thought we should take the Marauders Map. The map showed the whole of Hogwarts, including its many shortcuts and secret passageways and, most important of all, it revealed the people inside the castle as minuscule, labeled dots, moving around the corridors, so that we would be forewarned if somebody was approaching the bathroom.
Harry also had the brilliant idea to go ten minutes from now.
Ron left the common room so that he could come back and open it for us when it was time so that even the Fat Lady wouldn't know we had gone.
He slipped the Invisibility Cloak over both of us as the portrait hole swung open. "Good luck," Ron muttered, climbing into the room as we crept out past him.
It was awkward moving under the cloak tonight, I was holding Harry's heavy egg and Harry had the map held in front of his nose, and we were both under there together. However, the moonlit corridors were empty and silent, and by checking the map at strategic intervals, we were able to ensure that we wouldn't run into anyone we wanted to avoid. When we reached the statue of Boris the Bewildered, a lost-looking wizard with his gloves on the wrong hands, Harry located the right door, leaned close to it, and muttered the password, "Pine fresh," just as Cedric had apparently told him.
The door creaked open. I slipped inside as Harry bolted the door behind him, and we pulled off the Invisibility Cloak, looking around.
My immediate reaction was that it would be worth becoming a prefect just to be able to use this bathroom. It was softly lit by a splendid candle-filled chandelier, and everything was made of white marble, including what looked like an empty, rectangular swimming pool sunk into the middle of the floor. About a hundred golden taps stood all around the edges of the pool, each with a differently colored Jewel set into its handle. There was also a diving board. Long white linen curtains hung at the windows; a large pile of fluffy white towels sat in a corner, and there was a single golden-framed painting on the wall. It featured a blonde mermaid who was fast asleep on a rock, her long hair over her face. It fluttered every time she snored.
I moved forward, looking around as Harry put one of the fluffy towels, the cloak, the map, and the egg at the side of the swimming-pool-sized bath, then knelt down and turned on a few of the taps.
I could tell at once that they carried different sorts of bubble bath mixed with the water, though it wasn't bubble bath as I had ever experienced it. One tap gushed pink and blue bubbles the size of footballs; another poured ice-white foam so thick that I thought it would have supported my weight if I'd cared to test it; a third sent heavily perfumed purple clouds hovering over the surface of the water. I amused myself for a while turning the taps on and off, particularly enjoying the effect of one whose jet bounced off the surface of the water in large arcs. Then, when the deep pool was full of hot water, foam, and bubbles, which took a very short time considering its size, Harry unbuttoned his shirt and got into the pool, watching the taps incredulously.
I played with the warm water a little, watching him swim a few laps. "You should get in, it's really nice," he offered, smiling stupidly, and of course I obliged because a. what was the point of taking all those swimming lessons if I wasn't going to use them?, and b. I was dreadfully in love with that idiot.
I got in fully clothed, and Harry must have assumed that I didn't know how to swim because he walked over to me with his hand outstretched, the other one hovering behind my back in case I slipped.
And then suddenly, all those years of swimming lessons slipped away from my mind and I slipped on the tiles, falling straight into Harry's arms, and then- isn't that nice?- I could count how many eyelashes he had.
Harry's cheeks flushed, and I could tell mine had turned red too.
"Er- I- I don't-" Harry stammered, looking away bashfully.
"I'd try putting it in the water, if I were you. The egg." said a loud voice suddenly, making the two of us jump apart. I stood up, soaking head to toe as Harry sputtered and turned to see the ghost of a very glum-looking girl sitting cross-legged on top of one of the taps. It was Moaning Myrtle, who was usually to be heard sobbing in the S-bend of a toilet three floors below.
"Myrtle!" Harry said in outrage, "I'm - I'm not wearing a shirt!"
"I closed my eyes when you got in," she said, blinking at him through her thick spectacles. "Besides, you let her come into the water with you," she nodded towards me as I felt my cheeks heat up. Harry turned red.
"Yeah, that's cause she's alive," he muttered under his breath, adding something else in a much lower voice before glancing at me to make sure I hadn't heard, causing me to raise my eyebrows as his cheeks flushed.
"You haven't been to see me for ages," Myrtle went on.
"Yeah...well..." said Harry, "I'm not supposed to come into your bathroom, am I? It's a girls' one."
"You didn't used to care," said Myrtle miserably. "You used to be in there all the time."
"Don't say what I know you're thinking," Harry said suddenly, whirling to me as I grinned. "Myrtle, I got told off for going in there," said Harry, "I thought I'd better not come back after that."
"Oh...I see..." said Myrtle, picking at a spot on her chin in a morose sort of way. "Well...anyway...I'd try the egg in the water. That's what Cedric Diggory did."
"Have you been spying on him too?" said Harry indignantly. "What d'you do, sneak up here in the evenings to watch the prefects take baths?"
"Sometimes," said Myrtle, rather slyly, "but I've never come out to speak to anyone before."
"I'm honored," said Harry darkly. "Pheobe, can you give me the egg?" Myrtle made a disgusted face as if suddenly remembering I was there.
"You know, Cho Chang didn't come with Cedric Diggory."
It was lucky I couldn't talk.
I handed the egg to Harry before sitting on the edge again, playing gently with the water and knowing Myrtle wasn't even supposed to help him.
"Go on, then...open it under the water!"
Harry lowered the egg beneath the foamy surface and opened it...and this time, it did not wail. A gurgling song was coming out of it, a song whose words we couldn't distinguish over the water.
"You need to put your head under too," said Myrtle, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying bossing him around. "Go on!"
Harry took a great breath and slid under the surface, and as soon as he was gone from our sight, Myrtle scowled at me.
"Are you his girlfriend?" I stared at her.
She was a ghost!
What, was she planning on marrying him and having his ghost-babies?
I shook my head wordlessly, staring determinedly at the water. Harry broke through the bubbly surface, shaking his wet hair out of his eyes. Droplets of waters splattered onto me and I sighed as Harry frowned, looking lost in his thoughts.
"Hear it?" said Myrtle.
"Yeah...'Come seek us where our voices sound...' and if I need persuading...hang on, I need to listen again...."
He sank back beneath the water. It took three more underwater renditions of the egg's song before Harry had it memorized; then he trod water for a while, thinking hard, while Myrtle and I sat on the edge, Myrtle watching him longingly as I wrote the words onto a piece of parchment.
"I've got to go and look for people who can't use their voices above the ground...." he said slowly. "Er...who could that be?"
"Slow, aren't you?"
"Underwater creatures," Harry said slowly, turning to me. "Wouldn't that be something like it?"
Yeah, I wrote on the parchment, already knowing what the second task was, but what creatures, Octavian?
"Well, that's what Diggory thought," Myrtle said, quite literally confirming that the squid's name was Octavian. "He lay there talking to himself for ages about it. Ages and ages...nearly all the bubbles had gone...."
"Underwater..." Harry said slowly. "What lives in the lake, apart from the giant squid?"
"Oh all sorts," she said. "I sometimes go down there...sometimes don't have any choice, if someone flushes my toilet when I'm not expecting it...."
My thoughts flew to Moaning Myrtle zooming down a pipe to the lake with the contents of a toilet.
"Well, does anything in there have a human voice? Hang on -"
Harry's eyes had fallen on the picture of the snoozing mermaid on the wall.
"Myrtle...there aren't merpeople in there, are there?"
"Oooh, very good," she said, her thick glasses twinkling, "it took Diggory much longer than that! And that was with her awake too" - Myrtle jerked her head toward the mermaid with an expression of great dislike on her glum face - "giggling and showing off and flashing her fins...."
"Thats it, isn't it?" said Harry excitedly. "The second task's to go and find the merpeople in the lake and...and..." he trailed off, looking at me with wide eyes.
"Pheobe," Harry said slowly, "how are we supposed to breathe?"
At this, Myrtle's eyes filled with sudden tears again.
"Tactless!" she muttered, groping in her robes for a handkerchief.
"What's tactless?" said Harry, bewildered. I fought to stifle a laugh as Myrtle shrieked with distress.
"Talking about breathing in front of me!" she said shrilly, and her voice echoed loudly around the bathroom. "When I can't...when I haven't...not for ages..."
She buried her face in her handkerchief and sniffed loudly. Harry backed away from her, bumping into my legs, but he didn't seem to notice, too shocked by Myrtle's sudden outburst.
"Sorry," he said to Myrtle quickly, "I didn't mean - I just forgot..."
"Oh yes, very easy to forget Myrtle's dead," said Myrtle, gulping, looking at him out of swollen eyes. "Nobody missed me even when I was alive. Took them hours and hours to find my body - I know, I was sitting there waiting for them. Olive Hornby came into the bathroom - Are you in here again, sulking, Myrtle?' she said, 'because Professor Dippet asked me to look for you -' And then she saw my body...ooooh, she didn't forget it until her dying day, I made sure of that...followed her around and reminded her, I did. I remember at her brother's wedding -" I zoned out, wondering who this Olive Hornby was and if she had ever recovered.
"-and then, of course, she went to the Ministry of Magic to stop me stalking her, so I had to come back here and live in my toilet."
"Good," said Harry vaguely. "Well, I'm a lot further on than I was...." Harry climbed out of the pool and pulled his shirt back on.
I shouldn't have even come, I wrote gloomily on the parchment, sorry I couldn't be of much use.
"Oh, shut up, you think I'd have been able to handle Myrtle without you here?" harry whispered, outstretching an arm that I accepted and pulling me up.
"Will you come and visit me in my bathroom again sometime?" Moaning Myrtle asked mournfully as I picked up the Invisibility Cloak with a small grin.
"Er...I'll try...See you. Myrtle...thanks for your help."
"Bye, 'bye," she said sadly, and as Harry put the Invisibility cloak over us I saw her zoom back up the tap.
Out in the dark corridor, we examined the Marauders Map to check that the coast was still clear. Yes, the dots belonging to Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris, were safely in their office...nothing else seemed to be moving apart from Peeves, though he was bouncing around the trophy room on the floor above....we had taken our first step back toward Gryffindor Tower when something else on the map caught Harry's eye. He nudged me and pointed to a single dot that was flitting around a room in the bottom left-hand corner - Snape's office. But the dot wasn't labeled "Severus Snape"...it was Bartemius Crouch.
Harry stared at the dot for a few seconds, probably realizing Crouch had said he wouldn't be coming to the Yule Ball because he was unwell.
"Let's go," Harry whispered quickly. I shook my head firmly but he ignored me and took my hand gently, pulling me with him and turning and setting off in the opposite direction toward the nearest staircase.
We walked down the stairs as quietly as possible, though the faces in some of the portraits still turned curiously at the squeak of a floorboard, the rustle of our pajamas. Creeping along the corridor below, I pushed aside a tapestry about halfway along, and proceeded down a narrower staircase, a shortcut that would take us down two floors. He kept glancing down at the map, wondering...It just didn't seem in character, somehow, for correct, law-abiding Mr. Crouch to be sneaking around somebody else's office this late at night....
And then, halfway down the staircase, very obviously not thinking about what he was doing, not concentrating on anything but the peculiar behavior of Mr. Crouch, Harry's leg suddenly sank right through the trick step Neville always forgot to jump. He gave an ungainly wobble, and the golden egg, still damp from the bath, slipped from under his arm. I lurched forward to try and catch it, but too late; the egg fell down the long staircase with a bang as loud as a bass drum on every step - the Invisibility Cloak slipped - Harry snatched at it, and the Marauder's Map fluttered out of his hand and slid down six stairs, where, sunk in the step to above his knee, he couldn't reach it.
The golden egg fell through the tapestry at the bottom of the staircase, burst open, and began wailing loudly in the corridor below. Harry pulled out his wand as I leapt forward to grasp the Marauder's map, but Harry tugged me back underneath the cloak as we heard footsteps approaching us.
I listened hard with my eyes screwed up in fear...and, almost immediately -
"PEEVES!"
It was the unmistakable hunting cry of Filch the caretaker. I could hear his rapid, shuffling footsteps coming nearer and nearer, his wheezy voice raised in fury.
"What's this racket? Wake up the whole castle, will you? I'll have you, Peeves, I'll have you, you'll...and what is this?"
Filch's footsteps halted; there was a clink of metal on metal and the wailing stopped - Filch had picked up the egg and closed it. Harry stood very still, one leg still jammed tightly in the magical step which I couldn't help him with without making any sounds. Any moment now, Filch was going to pull aside the tapestry, expecting to see Peeves...and there would be no Peeves...but if he came up the stairs, he would spot the Marauder's Map...and Invisibility Cloak or not, the map would show our names standing exactly where we were.
"Egg?" Filch said quietly at the foot of the stairs. "My sweet!" - Mrs. Norris was obviously with him - "This is a Triwizard clue! This belongs to a school champion!"
I felt sick; my heart was hammering very fast -
"PEEVES!" Filch roared gleefully. "You've been stealing!"
He ripped back the tapestry below, and Harry saw his horrible, pouchy face and bulging, pale eyes staring up the dark and (to Filch) deserted staircase.
"Hiding, are you?" he said softly. "I'm coming to get you, Peeves....You've gone and stolen a Triwizard clue, Peeves....Dumbledore'll have you out of here for this, you filthy, pilfering poltergeist...."
Filch started to climb the stairs, his scrawny, dust-colored cat at his heels. Mrs. Norris's lamp-like eyes, so very like her masters, were fixed directly upon Harry and me. Harry looked at me desperately and I attempted to help him tug his foot out of the trick step- but it was useless, it was jammed in there too tight-
"Filch? What's going on?"
Filch stopped a few steps below me and turned. At the foot of the stairs stood the only person who could make our situation worse: Snape. He was wearing a long gray nightshirt and he looked livid.
"It's Peeves, Professor," Filch whispered malevolently. "He threw this egg down the stairs."
Snape climbed up the stairs quickly and stopped beside Filch. I grit my teeth, convinced my loudly thumping heart would give us away at any second....
"Peeves?" said Snape softly, staring at the egg in Filch's hands. "But Peeves couldn't get into my office...."
"This egg was in your office. Professor?"
"Of course not," Snape snapped. "I heard banging and wailing -"
"Yes, Professor, that was the egg -"
"- I was coming to investigate -"
"- Peeves threw it. Professor -"
"- and when I passed my office, I saw that the torches were lit and a cupboard door was ajar! Somebody has been searching it!"
But Peeves couldn't -"
"I know he couldn't, Filch!" Snape snapped again. "I seal my office with a spell none but a wizard could break!" Snape looked up the stairs, straight through me, and then down into the corridor below. "I want you to come and help me search for the intruder, Filch."
"I - yes, Professor - but -"
Filch looked yearningly up the stairs, right through Harry and me, and I could see that he was very reluctant to forgo the chance of cornering Peeves. Go, I pleaded silently, go with Snape...go...Mrs. Norris was peering around Filch's legs....I had the distinct impression that she could smell us....
"The thing is, Professor," said Filch plaintively, "the headmaster will have to listen to me this time. Peeves has been stealing from a student, it might be my chance to get him thrown out of the castle once and for all -"
"Filch, I don't give a damn about that wretched poltergeist; it's my office that's -"
Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.
Snape stopped talking very abruptly. He and Filch both looked down at the foot of the stairs. I saw Mad-Eye Moody limp into sight through the narrow gap between their heads. Moody was wearing his old traveling cloak over his nightshirt and leaning on his staff as usual.
"Pajama party, is it?" he growled up the stairs.
"Professor Snape and I heard noises, Professor," said Filch at once. "Peeves the Poltergeist, throwing things around as usual - and then Professor Snape discovered that someone had broken into his off -"
"Shut up!" Snape hissed to Filch.
Moody took a step closer to the foot of the stairs. I saw Moody's magical eye travel over Snape, and then, unmistakably, onto myself.
My heart gave a horrible jolt. Moody could see through Invisibility Cloaks...he alone could see the full strangeness of the scene:
Snape in his nightshirt, Filch clutching the egg, Harry, trapped in the stairs behind them, and me attempting to silently help Harry out. Moody's lopsided gash of a mouth opened in surprise. For a few seconds, he and I stared straight into each other's eyes. Then Moody closed his mouth and turned his blue eye upon Snape again.
"Did I hear that correctly, Snape?" he asked slowly. "Someone broke into your office?"
"It is unimportant," said Snape coldly.
"On the contrary," growled Moody, "it is very important. Who'd want to break into your office?"
"A student, I daresay," said Snape. I could see a vein flickering horribly on Snape's greasy temple. "It has happened before. Potion ingredients have gone missing from my private store cupboard...students attempting illicit mixtures, no doubt...."
"Reckon they were after potion ingredients, eh?" said Moody. "Not hiding anything else in your office, are you?"
I saw the edge of Snape's sallow face turn a nasty brick color, the vein in his temple pulsing more rapidly.
"You know I'm hiding nothing, Moody," he said in a soft and dangerous voice, "as you've searched my office pretty thoroughly yourself."
Moody's face twisted into a smile. "Auror's privilege, Snape. Dumbledore told me to keep an eye -"
"Dumbledore happens to trust me," said Snape through clenched teeth. "I refuse to believe that he gave you orders to search my office!"
"'Course Dumbledore trusts you," growled Moody. "He's a trusting man, isn't he? Believes in second chances. But me - I say there are spots that don't come off, Snape. Spots that never come off, d'you know what I mean?"
Snape suddenly did something very strange. He seized his left forearm convulsively with his right hand, as though something on it had hurt him.
Well, strange to Harry, at least.
Moody laughed. "Get back to bed, Snape."
"You don't have the authority to send me anywhere!" Snape hissed, letting go of his arm as though angry with himself. "I have as much right to prowl this school after dark as you do!"
"Prowl away," said Moody, but his voice was full of menace. "I look forward to meeting you in a dark corridor some time....You've dropped something, by the way...."
With a stab of horror. I saw Moody point at the Marauders Map, still lying on the staircase six steps below him. As Snape and Filch both turned to look at it, Harry threw caution to the winds; he raised his arms under the cloak and waved furiously at Moody to attract his attention, mouthing "It's mine! Mine!"
Snape had reached out for it, a horrible expression of dawning comprehension on his face -
"Accio Parchment!"
The map flew up into the air, slipped through Snape's outstretched fingers, and soared down the stairs into Moody's hand.
"My mistake," Moody said calmly. "It's mine - must've dropped it earlier -"
But Snape's black eyes were darting from the egg in Filch's arms to the map in Moody's hand, and I could tell he was putting two and two together, as only Snape could....
"Potter," he said quietly.
"What's that?" said Moody calmly, folding up the map and pocketing it.
"Potter!" Snape snarled, and he actually turned his head and stared right at the place where Harry was, as though he could suddenly see him. "That egg is Potter's egg. That piece of parchment belongs to Potter. I have seen it before, I recognize it! Potter is here! Potter, in his Invisibility Cloak!"
Snape stretched out his hands like a blind man and began to move up the stairs; I could have sworn his over-large nostrils were dilating, trying to sniff Harry out - trapped. Harry leaned backward, trying to avoid Snape's fingertips, but any moment now -
"There's nothing there, Snape!" barked Moody, "but I'll be happy to tell the headmaster how quickly your mind jumped to Harry Potter!"
"Meaning what?" Snape turned again to look at Moody, his hands still outstretched, inches from Harry's chest.
"Meaning that Dumbledore's very interested to know who's got it in for that boy!" said Moody, limping nearer still to the foot of the stairs. "And so am I, Snape...very interested...." The torchlight flickered across his mangled face, so that the scars, and the chunk missing from his nose, looked deeper and darker than ever.
Snape was looking down at Moody, and I couldn't see the expression on his face. For a moment, nobody moved or said anything. Then Snape slowly lowered his hands.
"I merely thought," said Snape, in a voice of forced calm, "that if Potter was wandering around after hours again...it's an unfortunate habit of his...he should be stopped. For - for his own safety."
"Ah, I see," said Moody softly. "Got Potter's best interests at heart, have you?"
There was a pause. Snape and Moody were still staring at each other, Mrs. Norris gave a loud meow, still peering around Filch's legs, looking for the source of the bubble-bath smell.
"I think I will go back to bed," Snape said curtly.
"Best idea you've had all night," said Moody. "Now, Filch, if you'll just give me that egg -"
"No!" said Filch, clutching the egg as though it were his firstborn son. "Professor Moody, this is evidence of Peeves' treachery!"
"It's the property of the champion he stole it from," said Moody. Hand it over, now."
Snape swept downstairs and passed Moody without another word. Filch made a chirruping noise to Mrs. Norris, who stared blankly at me for a few more seconds before turning and following her master. Still breathing very fas, I heard Snape walking away down the corridor; Filch handed Moody the egg and disappeared from view too, muttering to Mrs. Norris. "Never mind. my sweet...we'll see Dumbledore in the morning...tell him what Peeves was up to...."
A door slammed. I was left staring down at Moody, who placed his staff on the bottommost stair and started to climb laboriously towards us, a dull clunk on every other step.
"Close shave, Potter, Wilson," he muttered.
"Yeah...I - er...thanks," said Harry weakly.
"What is this thing?" said Moody, drawing the Marauder's Map out of his pocket and unfolding it.
"Just a map," said Harry as "Moody" (Barty Crouch Junior, thank you very much) approached us.
"Merlin's beard," Moody whispered, staring at the map, his magical eye going haywire. "This...this is some map."
"Yeah, its...quite useful," Harry said weakly. "Er - Professor Moody, d'you think you could help me -?"
"What? Oh! Yes...yes, of course...."
Moody took hold of Harry's arms and pulled; Harry's leg finally came free of the trick step, and he climbed onto the one above it. Moody was still gazing at the map.
"Potter..." he said slowly, "you didn't happen, by any chance, to see who broke into Snape's office, did you? On this map, I mean?"
"Er...yeah, I did..." Harry admitted. "It was Mr. Crouch."
Moody's magical eye whizzed over the entire surface of the map. He looked suddenly alarmed.
"Crouch?" he said. "You're - you're sure, Potter?"
"Positive," said Harry.
"Well, he's not here anymore," said Moody, his eye still whizzing over the map. "Crouch...that's very - very interesting...."
He said nothing for almost a minute, still staring at the map and I wanted nothing more than to rip it out of his grip and expose him for who he was.
"Er...Professor Moody...why d'you reckon Mr. Crouch wanted to look around Snape's office?" said Harry.
Moody's magical eye left the map and fixed, quivering, upon Harry. It was a penetrating glare, and I had the impression that Moody was sizing him up, wondering whether to answer or not, or how much to tell him.
"Put it this way, Potter," Moody muttered finally, "they say old Mad-Eye's obsessed with catching Dark wizards...but I'm nothing - nothing - compared to Barty Crouch."
He continued to stare at the map.
"Professor Moody?" he said again. "D'you think...could this have anything to do with...maybe Mr. Crouch thinks there's something going on...."
"Like what?" said Moody sharply.
"I don't know," Harry muttered, "odd stuffs been happening lately, hasn't it? It's been in the Daily Prophet...the Dark Mark at the World Cup, and the Death Eaters and everything...."
Both of Moody's mismatched eyes widened.
"You're a sharp boy, Potter," he said. His magical eye roved back to the Marauder's Map. "Crouch could be thinking along those lines," he said slowly. "Very possible...there have been some funny rumors flying around lately - helped along by Rita Skeeter, of course. It's making a lot of people nervous, I reckon." A grim smile twisted his lopsided mouth. "Oh if there's one thing I hate," he muttered, more to himself than to Harry and me, and his magical eye was fixed on the left-hand corner of the map, "its a Death Eater who walked free...."
You are a Death Eater who walked free! I wanted to yell out.
"And now I want to ask you a question, Potter," said Moody in a more businesslike tone.
"Can I borrow this?"
"Oh!" said Harry.
I wanted to tell Harry no, tell Moody no, but (thanks for that, Malfoy) I couldn't speak.
"Yeah, okay."
"Good boy," growled Moody. "I can make good use of this...this might be exactly what I've been looking for....Right, bed, Potter, Wilson, come on, now...."
We climbed to the top of the stairs together, Moody still examining the map as though it was a treasure the like of which he had never seen before. We walked in silence to the door of Moody's office, where he stopped and looked up at Harry.
"You ever thought of a career as an Auror, Potter?"
"No," said Harry, taken aback.
"You want to consider it," said Moody, nodding and looking at Harry thoughtfully. "Yes, indeed...and incidentally...I'm guessing you weren't just taking that egg for a walk tonight?"
"Er - no," said Harry, grinning. "I've been working out the clue."
Moody winked at him, his magical eye going haywire again. "Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas, Potter....See you in the morning...."
He went back into his office, staring down at the Marauders Map again, and closed the door behind him.
"An Auror," Harry repeated. "What do you think?" I raised an eyebrow at Harry as he grinned. "Oh, right. Okay, I'll play you. Oh yes, Harry, that's a wonderful idea!" Harry said in a high-pitched, girly voice. "I know, right? Yes, and also you're so handsome! I wish Myrtle hadn't been there or else maybe we would've-" he cut off abruptly, his cheeks flushing. I rolled my eyes as we walked on, hearing the pitter-patter sound of rain coming closer. "Hey," Harry said suddenly, "want to go to the Astronomy Tower? We're already out of bed at night, anyways, what's the harm now?"
We raced up to the Astronomy Tower together, hand in hand, and I stepped into the rain, letting little droplets of cold water fall onto me. Harry watched me for a second with the corner of his lips quirked upwards before joining me, and he twirled me in the rain. We were like that for a little more, soaking wet but enjoying ourselves.
I woke up early the next morning with a plan in mind about the second task, but suddenly remembered Madam Pomfrey said I shouldn't speak for two days.
Silently swearing out Malfoy, I gently nudged Hermione awake.
"What?" she asked groggily. I nudged her again, no parchment or pens in my sight. She peeked open her eyes and looked at me tiredly. "What?" I desperately looked around again before attempting to motion my plan.
First I used my hands to create a bottle kind of thing which (hopefully) resembled a potions bottle, and then I (attempted) to show a mermaid, although I think it came out differently than it did in my head, because she sat up, furrowing her eyebrows at me.
"You...drank water and then sprouted a tail?" I shook my head vigorously.
This was not going to work.
"You...er, you're trying to drink something and then sprout a tail?" I raised my eyebrows and nodded. She frowned at me and glanced at her clock. "Right, and you're trying to do this in the ten minutes we have before Transfiguration starts?"
"Your plan's what?" asked Ron with wide eyes after school by the lake as I showed him the piece of parchment on which I had developed my plan during Transfiguration. "You want to use Polyjuice Potion to become a mermaid?"
"You can't," Hermione sighed, "strictly for human transformations only."
This is hopeless, then," I wrote, lying on my back and staring up at the sky. That plan took me hours to come up with.
"Maybe there's something we need to do first," Ron said hopelessly, lying down beside me. "Is there, like, a riddle or something?"
"This isn't a show, Ron," said Hermione, sighing and laying down beside us.
Am I supposed to learn how to hold my breath for an hour?
"The longest record for holding your breath underwater is a little less than twenty-five minutes," Hermione recited.
"Way to be optimistic," Ron muttered. "Okay, what do mermaids like?"
"Water." said Hermione, "along with their tails."
"Wait, that's it!" exclaimed Ron, sitting up. "We turn Pheobe into a mermaid!"
That's exactly the point of a Polyjuice Potion, idiot.
"No, but like- there must be a spell! Can't you imagine if someone just woke up and decided 'I want to be a mermaid today!' and then created a spell?!" I frowned as I sat up, looking at him with an eyebrow raised.
"Nobody in their right mind would say that," said Hermione.
Wait...Ron might be onto something!
I wrote quickly, thinking.
Hermione, there's got to be some kind of book about mermaids that has a spell, right?
Hermione frowned and slid her book over to me, which Ron and I quickly flipped through.
"Mermaid lifestyle...how to take care of a mermaid- OOOH CAN WE GET A PET MERMAID!?"
"No."
"Buzzkill," Ron muttered. "Oh- look! There's a chapter on 'becoming a mermaid'!"
Sounds like so much fun.
"No, imagine! If you were a mermaid- YOU COULD BE A PET MERMAID!" I glared at Ron.
I'm nobody's pet, Ron!
"Right, right," he said hastily, flipping through the chapter as Hermione scoffed and sat up as well, helping us search.
"Here!" Hermione exclaimed suddenly, pointing to a tiny sentence in the corner of the last page. "If you wish to truly become a mermaid, say 'Volo essi-'"
"Don't say it!" Ron exclaimed. "If you say it then you'll become a mermaid! Wait- that'd actually be epic-"
"Oh, hush, Ron," Hermione scoffed as Ron took the book and did the worst thing he could possibly do, and--
dog-eared the page.
Hermione gasped for the both of us as we gaped at Ron.
"What is wrong with you?!" Hermione exclaimed, snatching back the book and unfolding the corner, attempting to flatten it out. Ron blinked.
"I was saving the page so we know what to go back to tomorrow when her voice is back! What's the big deal?!" Hermione glared at him.
"That's what bookmarks are for!" she exclaimed, throwing one at his face. He picked up the bookmark and stared at it as I shook my head disapprovingly at the ginger.
Shame on you, Ron. Shame. On. You.
Ron looked up from the parchment to the both of us, utterly bewildered.
"You're mental! Both of you!"
.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.★.*｡･ﾟ✫*.
"Harry, you've figured out what you're going to do for the second task, haven't you?" asked Hermione in the common room that night as the four of us sat on the couches in front of the fireplace.
Ron and I were reading on mermaids on one of the couches, Hermione holding a long piece of parchment titled 'why you should never dog-ear a book' and a quill on a loveseat sofa, and Harry was running a hand through his hair as he stared at the fire dazedly, sitting on the ground with his other hand on my knee which Ron kept glancing at warningly.
I looked up from our page on 'what mermaids eat' to see Harry shrug.
"Well, Pheobe hasn't, have you?" I simply nodded, motioning towards the textbook.
"As a matter of fact, she has, Harry!"
"What?" Harry said with a frown. "What's she doing?"
"It doesn't matter, because you can't do the exact same thing as her! That's, unfortunately, the exact definition of cheating!"
"Well what am I supposed to do?!"
"Train to hold your breath?" said Ron absentmindedly as he flipped the page, shifting the book to his lap. "Hey, look at this!" Harry perked up eagerly as Ron grinned at the book, "it says that mermaids are low-maintenance and has a list on why you should have a pet mermaid!" Hermione sighed as I rolled my eyes at Ron and Harry groaned. I yawned as I felt my eyelids get heavier.
"He's been like this all afternoon," Hermione said to Harry annoyedly. "You should've seen him- can we get a pet mermaid?! Honestly!"
Harry's POV but at the exact same time:
"Pheobe'd want a pet mermaid!" exclaimed Ron. "Right, Pheobe? Pheobe-?" I frowned and turned around to see Pheobe fast asleep, her head on Ron's shoulder and her hand on top of mine. Ron rolled his eyes, smiling slightly down at her. "And she calls me a sleepyhead."
"Smile!" Hermione whispered suddenly, and before I knew it, there was a bright flash that made me think I'd gone blind for a moment.
"Bloody hell," Ron blinked the light out of his eyes, "are you trying to blind us, 'Mione?!
"Don't overreact, Ron, it was just a picture," Hermione rolled her eyes as she showed the picture to us, Ron and I smiling as we looked at the peacefully sleeping Pheobe.
"How come it isn't moving?" asked Ron with a frown.
"Because this is a regular picture, Ronald," said Hermione, tucking the photo in her pocket as she closed her book and stood up. "Here, I can levitate Pheobe and take her to-"
"What if you drop her?" I exclaimed, staring at her. "Then she'll topple down the stairs!"
"Actually," said Ron, "she'd roll."
"I'm not going to drop her-"
"I'll just pick her up," I suggested. Ron and Hermione stared at me.
"And go into the girls dorms?" Hermione said with a raised eyebrow.
"Er- then I'll take her up to the boys dorms."
"And where would you like her to sleep?" I shrugged offhandedly.
"She can sleep on my bed, I'll just sleep on the floor. It's not a big deal, Ron, honestly, I don't know why you're being so drama-" I widened my eyes as I felt heat come into my face. "Holy shit, you're insane!"
"I'm being normal!" Ron exclaimed, before freezing as Pheobe rubbed her eyes and cleared her throat.
"You guys are mental, both of you," she said with a small smile, shaking her head as she flattened her dark hair, her gray eyes sharp and alert. "Yeah, that's right, I heard the whole conversation. Honestly, I can't imagine how difficult it would've been to instead just leave me here and go up to bed."
"What if some psycho broke in and kidnapped you or something?" Ron said. Pheobe closed her eyes and smiled.
"Thanks, big bro, but I think I can defend myself if a psycho snuck in here. I'm a pretty light sleeper- I woke up the second you two started talking about me rolling down the stairs."
"Wait- you're talking again!" I exclaimed suddenly. Pheobe nodded with a grin.
"I went to Pomfrey earlier and she said the remedy would kick in by nightfall. I'd like to go to the Slytherin common room and hide until someone opens the portrait before sneaking in and then screaming 'screw you, Draco Malfoy'- anyone want to come with?" she suggested. Hermione sighed and tipped her head back with a small smile as Ron and I nodded eagerly.
"What a strange group of people. Magic and they want to scream! I'll bring my wand," said Hermione, standing up and pulling her wand out from her pocket as the three of us grinned and jumped to our feet.
"Brilliant," I said eagerly.
"Let's go, then," chuckled Ron as the four of us ran out of the common room together.