Dark Pasts { A Harry Potter Story }

Chapter 14 - Dragons and Death Eaters

I was in the library the next morning when Harry rushed in and sat down in front of me.

"Hey," he said. "Have you seen Hermione?"

"She just went to the loo."

Thinking he would wait or even leave, I looked down at the book in front of me but was surprised when he began to confide in me.

"Karkaroff was a Death Eater."

I looked up at him with wide eyes. "What?"

He nodded, leaning in to avoid being overheard. "Sirius said he was caught, but then he got released by doing a deal with the Ministry. Said he'd seen the error of his ways then he gave them other names. . . ."

"Oh, of course!" I said, suddenly remembering. Harry frowned. "Before the start of term, I overheard my dad talking to Remus. He said he couldn't believe they were letting scum like him into Hogwarts . . . I didn't understand it then . . . He also said something about never truly being free again once entering his service . . . I bet he meant you never really stopped being a Death Eater."

"What are you guys talking about?" Hermione said curiously as she took her seat beside me.

Harry put her up to speed before going on. "He also reckons the night Moody was attacked wasn't actually a false alarm. He says maybe someone tried to stop him from getting to Hogwarts because they knew he would make their job more difficult."

"And no one's going to look too closely into it because Moody sees killers everywhere," I said.

"Exactly," Harry said. "Sirius also said that the Death Eaters have been more active than usual. Remember that Ministry lady who went missing?"

"Bertha Jorkins?" Hermione said.

"Yeah," Harry nodded. "According to Sirius, she was in Albania before she disappeared, and that's where Voldemort was rumoured to be last."

"But she would have known about the Triwizard Tournament coming up, wouldn't she?" Hermione said.

"Sirius thinks so, yeah," Harry said grimly. "Sirius knew her and he thinks it would have been only too easy to lure her into a trap."

"So there's a chance You-Know-Who knows about the Tournament?" I asked.

Harry shrugged, but his nervousness was obvious to us. "He could."

"Do you think Karkaroff put your name in the goblet?" Hermione asked.

"Sirius isn't sure Karkaroff would be the type to go back to Voldemort, given how he snitched some of his followers to escape Azkaban . . . but he's sure the person who did put my name did it for a reason. Maybe give them a way to attack me and make it look like an accident."

Hermione and I exchanged an alarmed look.

"What did Hagrid want?" Hermione asked suddenly.

"He showed me what the first task is gone be," Harry said. "Dragons."

"What?"

"You're joking!" I said.

"Wish I was," he sighed.

"You have to fight it?"

"No, just get past it . . . not really sure exactly," he explained. "Sirius reckons there's a simple spell to overcome a dragon, but he didn't get around to telling me before Ron walked into the common room. The git."

"It's not his fault," Hermione said. "He couldn't possibly know you were talking with Sirius."

"He's still a git."