𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 | 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿

𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆-𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗲.

FINE LINE - BARTY CROUCH JR

At daybreak the morning after Mavis, Harry, Ron and Hermione had crept out of their dormitories very early, and hurried up to the Owlery together to send a note to Sirius. All three of four were puffy-eyed and pale, barely keeping their eyes open as they stood, looking out at the misty grounds.

"Just go through it again, you two," Hermione said. "What did Mr Crouch actually say?"

"We've told you, he wasn't making much sense," Harry said.

"He said he wanted to warn Dumbledore about something," Mavis said, her mind going back to the night before. "He definitely mentioned Bertha Jorkins, and he seemed to think she was dead. He kept saying stuff was his fault... he mentioned his son."

"Well, that was his fault," Hermione said testily.

"He was out of his mind," Mavis muttered. "Half the time he seemed to think his wife and son were still alive, and he kept talking to Percy about work and giving him instructions."

"And... remind me what he said about You-Know-Who?" Ron said tentatively.

"I've told you," Harry repeated dully. "He said he's getting stronger."

There was a pause. Then Ron said in a falsely confident voice, "But he was out of his mind, like you said, so half of it was probably just raving..."

"He was sanest when he was trying to talk about Voldemort," Mavis said, ignoring Ron's wince. "He was having real trouble stringing two words together, but that was when he seemed to know where he was, and knew what he wanted to do. He just kept saying he had to see Dumbledore."

Mavis turned away from the window and stared up into the rafters. Half the many perches were empty; every now and then, another owl would swoop in through one of the windows, returning from its night's hunting with a mouse in its beak.

"If Snape hadn't held us up," Mavis said bitterly, "we might've got there in time. 'The Headmaster is busy, Black... what's this rubbish?' Why couldn't he have just got out of the way?"

"Maybe he didn't want you both to get there!" Ron said quickly. "Maybe - hang on - how fast d'you reckon he could've got down to the Forest? D'you reckon he could've beaten you and Dumbledore there?"

"Not unless he can turn himself into a bat or something," Harry said.

"Wouldn't put it past him," Ron muttered.

"We need to see Professor Moody," Hermione said. "We need to find out whether he found Mr Crouch."

"I doubt it," Mavis huffed. "He could've been outside the grounds by then -"

"Shh!" Hermione said suddenly, clasping a hand around Mavis' mouth.

Mavis quickly went quiet, tilting her head down to glance at Hermione with a raised eyebrow. Hermione blushed and took her hand away from Mavis' mouth to be met with a cheeky smirk.