𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐚¹- hp.

𝐱𝐥. jinx, you owe me a pop!

꧁—— ❦ ——꧂

"You said you'd already worked out that egg clue!" Hermione snapped, furrowing her brows.

"Keep your voice down!" Harry crossly replied, glancing around the room to see if they've drawn any attention to themselves. They haven't. "I just need to — sort of fine-tune it, all right?"

He, Ron, and Hermione were sitting at the very back of the Charms class with a table to themselves. They were supposed to be practicing the opposite of the Summoning Charm today — the Banishing Charm. Owing to the potential for nasty accidents when objects kept flying across the room, Professor Flitwick had given each student a stack of cushions on which to practice, the theory being that these wouldn't hurt anyone if they went off target. It was a good theory, but it wasn't working very well. Neville's aim was so poor that he kept accidentally sending much heavier things flying across the room — Professor Flitwick, for instance.

"Just forget the egg for a minute, all right?" Harry hissed as Professor Flitwick went whizzing resignedly past them, landing on top of a large cabinet. "I'm trying to tell you about Snape and Moody..."

This class was an ideal cover for a private conversation, as everyone was having far too much fun to pay them any attention. Harry had been recounting his adventures of the previous night in whispered installments for the last half hour.

"Snape said Moody's searched his office as well?" Ron whispered, his eyes alight with interest as he Banished a cushion with a sweep of his wand ( it soared into the air and knocked Parvati's hat off ). "What... d'you reckon Moody's here to keep an eye on Snape aswell as Karkaroff?"

"Well, I dunno if that's what Dumbledore asked him to do, but he's definitely doing it." Harry told them, waving his wand without paying much attention, so that his cushion did an odd sort of bellyflop off the desk. "Moody said Dumbledore only lets Snape stay here because he's giving him a second chance or something."

"What?" Ron's eyes widened, his next cushion spinning high into the air, ricocheting off the chandelier, and dropping heavily onto Flitwick's desk. "Harry... maybe Moody thinks Snape put your name in the Goblet of Fire!"

"Oh Ron." Hermione said, shaking her head sceptically, "We thought Snape was trying to kill Harry before, and it turned out he was saving Harry's life, remember?"

She Banished a cushion and it flew across the room and landed in the box they were all supposed to be aiming at. Harry looked at Hermione, heavily thinking. It was true that Snape had saved his life once, but the odd thing was, Snape definitely loathed him, just as he'd loathed Harry's father when they had been at school together. Snape loved taking points from Harry, and had certainly never missed an opportunity to give him punishments, or even to suggest that he should be suspended from the school.