Chapter 39

A/N: My deepest thanks to JKR for letting me use her words and her world so I could write this fic. Also, my gratitude to luvsev and WriterMerrin for their tireless work.

***

When Hermione woke up, she was in the middle of the Black Lake, holding onto Viktor Krum's shoulders. His strong arms were wrapped tightly around her middle. Eager to get out of his embrace, she eagerly got up onto the floating stand everyone was gathered on, and she jumped up to be immediately enfolded by one of Madam Pomfrey's blankets.

Viktor, clad in another blanket, said, "Hermy-own-ninny, I vould luff for you to come and visit me in Bulgaria this summer. I think you vould like to see my homeland." He leaned in closer to her. "I haff never thought for a girl this vay before," he whispered shyly in her hair as his lips nearly brushed her ear.

"I'll have to talk to you about that later, Viktor," she said uncomfortably as she maneuvered away from him. Right now, all she cared about was Harry and Ron.

"Oh, Harry!" she exclaimed as she watched him appear suddenly with Ron and Gabrielle, Fleur Delacour's sister, in tow. Fleur had been most hysterical that her sister would die, and Hermione had waited with everyone else as the minutes ticked by. As soon as Harry got onto the barge, Hermione hugged him fiercely.

"That was brilliant! We were so scared for you!" she exclaimed.

Viktor was hovering over her and commenting she had a beetle in her hair. She brushed his hand away in annoyance and continued to chat and cheer along with the others about Harry's success.

"Harry Potter wins 45 points, due to his example of moral fiber in the face of danger!" announced Ludo Bagman. "Also, the third and final task will take place on June 24th."

Hermione and Ron hugged and congratulated him together.

"Whew," Harry said. "At least I can take a breather. June, that's loads away from today."

"It really isn't Harry," said Hermione. "However, you do deserve a nice break."

***

Over the next month, Hermione was growing increasingly tetchy and shirty. It seemed that she was yet again a part of the latest gossip concerning Viktor Krum picking her as his "hostage." What was even worse was that Viktor was following her around, constantly wanting to study with her. She found him annoying, but sweet. He didn't mean any real harm, and it wasn't his fault the girls were gushing over him. He certainly didn't lead them on. So, Hermione decided to put up with his presence. She just hoped that Severus wouldn't think she was reconsidering anything.

A week later, a note came from Sirius telling them to meet him outside of Hogsmeade on their next weekend outing. It was all the three could think about. Harry said he feared he had overly concerned Sirius and now he was risking his life because of him. Hermione tried to get Harry to see the bright side of things...at least they could ask Sirius questions about Barty Crouch.

***

One day as they made their way towards Potions, Hermione caught Pansy Parkinson giggling at her with a bunch of other fourth-year Slytherin girls. Once she sat down at the desk, Pansy came over and handed her a magazine. Severus was writing notes for the day's lesson on the board, so she hastily flipped through it. There, in the center was a picture of Harry, and underneath was an article entitled, "Harry Potter's Secret Heartache."

Hermione groaned. Severus was going to have kittens when he saw this. She scanned it quickly while Ron leaned over to hiss in her ear, "I told you! I told you not to annoy that Skeeter woman, and now she's made you out to be some...some sort of scarlet woman!"

Hermione turned slowly to look at him. "Good Lord, Ron," she whispered as she began to giggle. "Wherever did you hear that one?"

Ron blushed. "It's what my mum calls them," he mumbled.

Hermione sniffed. "Well, if that's the best Rita Skeeter can do, the hag is losing her touch," she said as she flung the copy of Witch Weekly onto an empty chair. "What a pile of rubbish."

She glanced over at the Slytherins, who were waiting for an emotional display of some sort. She gave a sarcastic smile and a small wave. There was no way she was going to allow a group of teenagers to get her goat!

Later as she was working her scarab beetles into powder with her pestle, she said aloud, "You know, I wonder how she could have known?"

"Please tell me you haven't been messing about with Love Potions!" moaned Ron.

"Don't be absurd!" she snapped. "It's just that when Viktor pulled me out of the lake, we were talking alone and he was whispering, so no one heard us. He asked then about coming to visit him in Bulgaria and then said that he really liked me. How did she find out?"

"What did you tell him?" asked Ron.

"Well, honestly, I was far more concerned with you and Harry at the moment," she replied.

"Fascinating though your social life undoubtedly is, Miss Granger," said an icy voice from behind them, and all three of them jumped, "I must ask you not to discuss it in my class. Ten points from Gryffindor."

Hermione was growing angry. She knew Severus and he was getting jealous again. The rumor mill had obviously reached his ears, and he was getting afraid.

"What is this?" he said as he picked up the magazine Hermione had discarded in the empty chair next to her. "Ah... reading magazines under the table as well?" Snape added. "A further ten points from Gryffindor... oh, but of course..." Severus' black eyes glittered as he found the article Rita Skeeter wrote about the triangular relationship between Harry, Hermione, and Viktor. "Miss Granger must keep up with all the heartbreaks she has caused this year," he said snidely.

The Slytherins sniggered as Severus began to read the article aloud. Hermione was incensed. She had never been this furious with Severus in all her life. How can he do this to me? This is a mockery of everything we are! she thought.

She toyed with the necklace that held her engagement ring and tried to remember why she loved this person when he was doing his damndest to be so unlovable.

Each sentence he read in that derisive tone cut at her heart. She wasn't going to cry; though she was going to kick his ass!

After he had finished, he moved them apart and had Harry up near him where he could hiss all he wanted about how much he loathed him. Hermione focused on her work, biding her time, and then he was going to pay.

Then suddenly, Igor Karkaroff came in the room like a storm, demanding to talk to Snape. He tried to brush him off, but Karkaroff would not be deterred. Finally, class ended, and everyone left. Hermione left as well, but waited outside. She was glad Potions was the last class of the day. Nothing was going to stop her from giving him a piece of her mind.

She noticed she hadn't seen Harry, and at that moment, she heard yelling, then a couple of minutes later, Harry bolted out the door. "Come on!" he hissed. "I've got something big to tell you!"

"No, you go ahead, Harry. I have to speak with Snape." Harry gave her a look that said, "Don't piss him off more," but she brushed it away and said, "Go, Harry. I will see you at dinner."

She waited, and about forty-five minutes later, Igor Karkaroff stormed out of the classroom. He glared at Hermione and went up the dungeon stairs. She slipped into the office where Severus had his back to the door. He was leaning his fists atop his desk, his posture defeated.

Hermione flicked her wrist and shut and silenced the door. Severus whirled around, brandishing his wand.

"Get out!" he yelled.

Hermione dropped her bag and strode over to him. "Hey, who do you think you're talking to, you prick!" she snarled.

He looked at her with amusement.

"I'm so glad I give you so much entertainment, Severus. I never realized that was my true calling. Now, do you mind wiping that damn smirk off your face and telling me what the hell possessed you to act like a complete fuckwit in front of everyone today?" she bellowed.

"You have been playing me for a fool, Hermione. I see it with my own eyes!" he snarled. "You are constantly with that dunderhead, Krum. He follows you around like a puppy on a leash. There is only one reason a grown man would stoop to such idiocy!"

Hermione laughed in his face. "You're punishing me because he happens to fancy me? I don't get it. I just don't get it. We went through this years ago over Remus, and you were more understanding then! I could understand a seventeen-year-old boy acting like an arse in front of everyone, but not a grown man!" she shouted.

He remained silent. Hermione folded her arms. "I'm waiting, Severus. I am not leaving until you start telling me the truth...the entire truth. That means no half-truths or lies of omission."

She picked up the magazine that he had read from off of his desk. She crumpled it in her raised hand as she shook it at him. "I can't believe you, of all people, would fall for this tripe!" she yelled as she threw it in the waste bin.

"You have no idea the amount of stress I am under, Hermione. Igor is constantly on my back, and so is Moody. The Mark is growing blacker every day. Soon, Hermione, he'll be back. When that happens, you and I shall be right where we were on Graduation Day. I have to keep my Vow to Dumbledore, and I know you won't follow," he said sadly.

Hermione went over and forced his face to look at hers. "It's different this time," she said as she searched his eyes with hers. "I'm not a child anymore. I may look it, but it's me, Severus, it's me! It will always be me!" She took his hand, placed it over her heart, and said, "Inside here, inside this husk is the woman you love. The outer shell is different, but it's me!"

She searched his eyes for recognition. All she could see was fear. She grasped his arms and said, "Remember when you took me to the record store and we sat in the booth listening to Elvis Presley? Remember that song?" she whispered.

"Yes," he mumbled as he lowered his head.

She began to breathe the words in his ear, "'Wise men say, only fools rush in, but I can't help falling in love with you.'

"Remember, love does not know time," she whispered and then she kissed him softly on his lips. He grabbed her and held her close before rushing them into to his private quarters, the home they had shared together. He lowered her onto the bed they had once shared and began to kiss her madly while hovering over her.

"I love you, Hermione," he whispered as he kissed her face and throat. "Tell me, does he kiss you the way I do?"

She pushed him upright, and she sat up. "Severus, I made a vow that there would be no other man for me. Viktor likes me, it's true, but I do not return his affections. Nor has he ever tried to kiss me other than a peck on the back of my hand during the Yule Ball."

She got up off the bed and shook her head. "Why is it so hard for you to trust me? To believe in me? Why do you always expect the worst after all I've done to prove the opposite?"

Severus punched a fist into the mattress as he kept his head down. "I told you I could not promise I would never be jealous again, Hermione. It's hard being older; I see my youth starting to go away. I'm thirty-six, and you have the body of a teenager. How can I compete with all the young wizards?"

Hermione straddled him on the bed and placed her hands on either side of his face, forcing him to look at her. She took out her necklace with her engagement ring on it and said, "There is no competition. For there to be one would mean the competitors were on equal footing. It cannot be, my love. You and I have a rich history that goes back decades. We are bound, you and I, remember?"

Severus leaned forward and embraced her. "I miss you," he choked out. His body was shaking, and she knew he was crying. She held him and whispered, "Let me stay the night in our bed. Let me care for you, Severus."

He nodded, and she gathered her things. "I shall return after dinner," she promised.

"Hermione," he called out to stop her. She turned to face him, and he looked at her with pain-filled eyes.

"I am so very sorry I have continued to hurt you."

***

Later, as the gossips talked about Hermione and Krum being secret lovers, Hermione was curled up with her real lover, although the only intimacy they shared was of holding the other's hand and baring their souls.

***

"What are you doing today?" Severus asked her in the morning while she fussed with her hair.

"To Hogsmeade, and to meet up with an old acquaintance," she replied absent-mindedly.

"Who?" he asked suspiciously.

"Sirius," she replied.

"Why?" he demanded.

"Sirius is Harry's godfather, and he is very concerned with this tournament. He wants to talk to Harry about Karkaroff and also enlighten him a little of how things were when the Dark Lord was in power the first time," she explained.

Severus made a growling noise in the back of his throat.

"If it's any consolation, love, you and Sirius are of one mind. He thinks the Dark Lord is returning, and that it's only a matter of time. He's been warning Harry all year to keep focused on his tasks and his nose out of trouble."

***

Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way out of the bustling streets of Hogsmeade to the outskirts where Sirius told them he would be waiting. At the end of a lane, near a stile, was a black, shaggy dog, carrying newspapers in his mouth and looking oddly familiar.

"Hullo, Sirius," said Harry.

The black dog gave them all a good sniff and then wagged his tail once, turned around, and trotted away from them towards a hardscrabble hill at the foot of the mountains. They followed Sirius as he bounded and climbed up the descent of the mount. It was a hard climb, but once they reached a small entrance of a cave, they followed Sirius inside and plopped down on the hard dirt floor, panting and out of breath.

They turned at the sound of a strange noise and saw the orange eyes of Buckbeak, the hippogriff. They all bowed respectfully, and he bowed in return. After that they collapsed onto the ground and Sirius, who had in the meanwhile changed back into his human form, joined them. He looked horrible! His hair was even more matted and filthy than when they had previously seen him. He was also terribly thin. He sniffed in the air and rasped, "Chicken!"

Harry tossed him his rucksack, and Sirius tore into the chicken and bread like the starving man he was.

"Thanks," he said as he chewed. "Been livin' mostly off of rats. Can't steal too much food in the village. Can't risk getting caught."

"What are you doing here, Sirius?" Harry asked.

"Fulfilling my duty as godfather," he replied as he ate. "Don't worry about it. I'm pretending to be a loveable stray."

He glanced at all of them, and his face turned serious. "Look, I want to be on the spot. Let's just say things are... fishier. I've been stealing papers every day one gets thrown out, and by the looks of things, I'm not the only one getting worried."

He nodded towards a stack of old newspapers as he continued to inhale his food. Ron began to unfold them and look at the headlines.

"But what if they catch you?" Harry said, sounding panicked.

"Don't worry! The only ones around here that know I am an Animagus are you three, Dumbledore, and Snape."

Harry and Ron snorted. "Snape would love to get a chance at you!" Harry seethed.

"Don't think so," Sirius said as he gnawed on a chicken bone.

"What makes you say that?" Harry challenged him.

"Snape doesn't want trouble with Dumbledore. Besides, Dumbledore made him take an oath." He stole a glance at Hermione while the boys exhaled and calmed down. Hermione and Sirius spoke volumes in that glance. They both knew there had not been any such oath. It was Severus' devotion to Hermione that kept him safe. Hermione would never forget how badly she had judged Sirius for so many years based on incomplete knowledge and prejudice. This was her way of atonement, and Severus would respect that.

Ron passed Harry the Daily Prophets. "Mysterious Illness of Barty Crouch, Ministry Witch Still Missing...Minister of Magic Now Personally Involved."

"Hasn't been seen in public since November..." Harry read.

"But they make it sound like he's dying!" Ron said.

"That is wrong!" Harry said definitively. "He cannot be so ill if he managed to get up here..."

"My brother is Crouch's assistant," Ron informed Sirius. "He says Crouch is suffering from overwork," he explained.

"Well, he did look ill," Harry said, "the night my name came out of the Goblet."

"Well, he's probably feeling the crunch now that he doesn't have Winky to help him," Hermione added.

"Crouch sacked his house-elf?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, at the World Cup," Harry said. Then he told him the whole story of getting his wand stolen, Winky being caught with it, and the Dark Mark.

"Harry, where was the last time you knew you had your wand with you?" Sirius asked.

"At the bleacher seats at the game."

"Had you seen this Winky around you at the time?" he asked pointedly.

Harry looked puzzled. "Yeah, she was in the top box next to us. There was an empty seat for Mr. Crouch, but he never came."

Sirius was pacing now as he ate his chicken leg. "So, after you left your seats, did you check for your wand?" he asked.

"Uh, no," Harry said guiltily. "So, you think my wand was stolen up there in the top box during the game?"

"It's possible," Sirius said simply.

"No!" said Hermione. "Winky did not steal that wand. I talked with her. She's in a right state. She's lost without Mr. Crouch. She still thinks he is her master. She wouldn't do anything to upset him. There has to be another way Harry's wand got stolen and used."

"Well, was anyone else was sitting around you?" he asked.

"Loads of people," answered Harry. "Bulgarian ministers, Cornelius Fudge, the Malfoys..."

"The Malfoys!" Ron said with an ugly sneer. "I just bet it was Lucius Malfoy."

"Anyone else?" Sirius asked.

"No," the boys answered.

"You forgot Ludo Bagman," said Hermione as she was stroking Buckbeak's wings.

"Can't say I know much about him other than he was a fantastic Qudditch player once. What's he like now?" Sirius asked.

"He's taken a fancy to Harry!" Hermione said laughing.

Sirius looked confused. "What's this?"

"Oh, he's just taken an interest in my doing well on the tasks is all," Harry replied.

"Wonder why?" Sirius mused. "When the Dark Mark was conjured and the elf discovered, what did Crouch do?"

"He went to look around the bushes for signs of other people, but there wasn't anything," said Harry.

"He didn't want it pinned on his elf, well, that's understandable," he replied. "But then he sacked her?"

"Yes," answered Hermione. "Poor thing. Just because she wouldn't stay in her tent and risk being trampled to death by all the running people."

"This is interesting, this is," Sirius replied. "You add up these incidences, and it doesn't add up. I know Barty Crouch. There is no way being sick or under 'a bit of strain' would keep him from taking part in the Tournament. He's worked far too hard to not be a part of it now."

Hermione was getting nervous. They were getting into dangerous territory now. She kept quiet and let Sirius tell his story.

"You know Crouch?" asked Harry.

"Oh, yes. I know Crouch. He was the one who threw me in Azkaban without a trial."

Hermione winced inwardly. She knew all to well those terrible days of Sirius' arrest and then the torture of the Longbottoms.

"No!" said Ron and Harry together.

"Yes, it made my head swim how fast I found myself imprisoned," he said as he stole another glance at Hermione. She swallowed and looked back into his hollowed eyes as he continued. "Crouch was the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He was tipped for the next Minister of Magic. His star was rising high those days. He was a great wizard, powerful in his magic and power-hungry as well. He was never a Voldemort supporter. Never that...he was very outspoken against Voldemort and even those who were sympathetic to him. But that wasn't too far-fetched. Many people were outspoken in those days. You had to be in a way, but you're too young. You can't understand how it was," he said shaking his head.

"Tell us, then," whispered Hermione.

She didn't know why she was doing this. Torture? A means of penance? A desire to hear his story because he had been denied so long? Hermione couldn't understand it. She just wanted to hear him talk about it.

"All right," he said looking into her eyes. "Imagine Voldemort's in power right 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 to do terrible things without being able to stop themselves. You're scared for yourself, your family, for everyone you love. Every week, news comes in about another raid, another death, another disappearance, more torturing... the Ministry of Magic is in complete disarray, they don't know what to do, they're dashing about trying to keep it all hushed up from the Muggles, but meanwhile, Muggles are dying as well. Terror everywhere, fear everywhere... panic... confusion... that's how it used to be."

Hermione's eyes were filled with tears. Her heart was racing. She remembered some of those days; some she had mercifully escaped by running off and disappearing into Muggle London. She wondered if Sirius knew about what little she tried to do, how she had managed to be a snag in the Death Eater's fun of Muggle-baiting, torture, and rape?

Her tears spilled over, and she was glad Harry and Ron could just chalk it up to her being a girl. She wanted to scream, "I did what I had to do! If I hadn't have left, yes, James would be here, but Harry would not, and Harry is the answer to defeating Voldemort. He's the one!"

Sirius glanced over and noticed her tears. Hermione caught his eye watching her and wiped them away. "Well, times like that bring out the best and worst in people," Sirius continued softly. "I even heard about a witch who completely fell off the Ministry's radar and went on a vigilante spree, tracking down Death Eaters and saving Muggle women and girls from being raped and tortured. After You-Know-Who was gone, she came back. 'Never would of thought it of her,' said the people who had known her.

"Others, like Crouch, well, he saw the potential for power. Now, his methods may have been good to implement...I don't know. All I do know is that he allowed Aurors to use the same torture methods the Death Eaters were using in order to bring them to justice. Now to me, that's not justice. Old Mad-Eye Moody, your Defense teacher. He was the best Auror...ever!" he said as he slapped his hand on his knee.

"He never liked to stoop to that level. Now he trained his people to recognize it and fight off Unforgivables, but he never used it to take down a Death Eater, and he has my respect for it."

"What if Moody saw a wizard try to hex another wizard while their back was turned?" Hermione asked tentatively.

Sirius' eyes narrowed. "He'd hex that wizard so bad he'd feel it for quite a while," he said darkly. "Moody takes things seriously and has a high standard."

"He wasn't one of the renegades that took fun or sport in hexing another person, right?" Hermione asked again.

Sirius looked confused. "Of course. Moody is all business. He takes dirty pool seriously. That doesn't mean he won't stoop to vicious teaching methods. He wants all of his students to know what kind of evil is out there."

Sirius changed the subject back to Crouch. "There were a lot of people after Voldemort's fall clamoring for a change. It looked as if he might get the top job...until his son was caught with the Lestrange brothers and the wife of one of them, Bellatrix Black Lestrange."

"Your relative?" said Harry incredulously.

"Bella is my cousin. She's Draco's aunt, Narcissa's sister. A real nutter, too. She was deranged before Azkaban; she's probably beyond all rational thought by now. Anyway, Crouch's son, Barty Jr. was with them on their torture spree. Got life in Azkaban. Sent there by his dear old dad," he said with a sinister grin.

"His own son?" Ron whispered.

"Yep," Sirius said lightly as he threw his chicken bone towards Buckbeak. "Perhaps he should have stayed home more nights instead of furthering his political career."

"Was his son really a Death Eater?" asked Harry.

"I don't know," Sirius answered truthfully. "I was there when he came in, screaming, crying for his mum...terrible. After a few days, he got quiet. They all got quiet after a while." Sirius sat for a bit with a haunted look in his eyes.

He shook himself out of it and said, "He was dead within a year. His Mum and Dad came to give him a bedside visit; his mum had been real sick from what I heard. He was dead within days after that. Saw him buried with my own eyes by the Dementors.

"So in the end, Crouch lost it all: wife, son, career. One moment a hero, one moment dishonored. The public couldn't respect a man who would send his own son to Azkaban. Perhaps if he had shown any emotion over it... I don't know. So in the end, Cornelius Fudge, who was 'on the job' the day Wormtail pulled his great disappearing act, started his own journey on the rise to fame, and he got the top job."

"Moody said Crouch was obsessed with catching Dark wizards," said Harry after a long pause.

"True," Sirius agreed. "Although, it could have been all mania, chasing after a dream. If he could catch just one more, then he could get back on top again."

"And he snuck into Snape's office, remember?" said Ron triumphantly.

"That's makes absolutely no sense," said Sirius, looking confused. "If Crouch wanted to get at Snape, then why isn't he pulling himself together and watching him during the Tournament? It's the perfect opportunity to poke around without looking like he's snooping. Why risk a middle of the night jaunt to Hogwarts?"

"So you do think Snape is up to something?" Ron asked eagerly.

Hermione groaned as she rolled her eyes. Ron huffed at her. Sirius looked at her pensively.

"Look, I don't care what you say, Dumbledore trusts Snape..." Hermione snapped.

"Oh, give it a rest, Hermione!" Ron said impatiently. "I know Dumbledore is brilliant and all that, but don't tell me that a clever Dark wizard couldn't fool him."

"Why did Snape save Harry's life our first year, then? Why didn't he just let him die?" she challenged Ron.

"I dunno...maybe he thought Dumbledore would kick him out..." he stammered.

"What d'you think, Sirius?" asked Harry loudly.

Sirius looked at Ron and Hermione. "I think they've both got a point. Ever since I found out Snape was teaching here, I wondered to myself 'why?' Why would Dumbledore hire him? He was neck deep into the Dark arts, famous for it. He knew more curses and hexes than most seventh-years when I met him as a firstie. He was a piece of work. He turned out to be in a part of a gang that all became Death Eaters."

Hermione set her face firmly, looking at Sirius as if he had betrayed her. Why can't he ever say anything nice about Severus?

Sirius continued his count of the old Slytherin crowd, the ones that Sirius knew Hermione had dealt with, making deals for the safety of all Gryffindor Muggle-borns.

"Snape's clever and cunning enough to keep himself out of trouble," he finished quietly.

"Snape knows Karkaroff and wants it all hushed up," said Ron.

"Yeah, you should have seen Snape's face when he barged into Potions yesterday!" Harry said quickly. "Snape's been avoiding him, but Karkaroff wouldn't be brushed off. Then he showed him something on his arm."

Sirius glanced at Hermione again without Harry and Ron getting wise. "He did, did he?" he asked. "Well, that could be very important. And if it's what I think, he's got a right to be afraid."

He looked at Hermione again and said, "There is also the fact that Dumbledore does trust Snape. And he does...fiercely. I don't know why...it was made clear that it was none of my business...but that Snape, for all his nastiness, is really Dumbledore's man."

"If that's true, then why are Moody and Crouch so keen on getting into his office?" Ron challenged him.

"Well," Sirius said as he shrugged, "Moody has always been one to go after his gut instinct. He's not about to take anyone's word for anything. He's always been a bit paranoid. That and the fact he never was able to nail Snape and kick his arse into Azkaban. That infuriated him. As for Crouch, well, we've already covered that. Imagine how huge it would be for him to discover a Death Eater hiding in Hogwarts under Dumbledore's radar all this time. Power-hungry!" he finished.

"Hey," Sirius said as he turned to Ron. "Your brother is Crouch's assistant; any chance you could get information on Crouch's whereabouts?"

"I reckon I can try," said Ron. "Although, I'd best be cautious. Percy acts like he's in love with him!"

"While you're at it, try and find out about any leads on Bertha Jorkins. Her mysterious disappearance sounds awfully familiar and upsetting," Sirius said ominously.

"Bagman told me they hadn't any," replied Harry.

Sirius shook his head. "Well, I read that article, and it was rubbish! The Bertha Jorkins I knew was not how Bagman made her out to be. Sure, she was on the dim side, but she knew how to gossip and had a memory like no one else! It used to get her into trouble in school, and I bet she's been quite a liability to the Ministry as well."

"It's half past three, boys," Hermione announced.

They all got up and said their goodbyes. When Hermione went to hug Sirius, he pressed a note into her hand. She shoved it in her pocket, and he gave her a wink.

She pressed on ahead with Ron so Harry could get some alone time with his godfather. After they all left Sirius at the stile, they walked on for a while in silence.

"Imagine living off rats!" said Ron, sounding disgusted.

"That's how much he loves you, Harry," Hermione whispered as she put her arm in his.

Harry smiled at her. She could see the pain his eyes. He hated seeing Sirius like that. It hurt her as well.

"Perhaps now that we know where he is, we can at times leave some more food for him," she suggested.

"Yeah, that might help him out a bit. Thanks, Hermione," he said with a small smile.

"Makes me wonder," said Ron pensively.

"What?" asked Hermione.

"If Percy would do what Crouch did, put his own family into prison," he said.

"No," Harry said flatly.

"Dunno, Harry," Ron said, his brow furrowed. "Percy is awfully ambitious."