Thick Smoke

Suspicions

The morning of the second task came faster than Eliza expected. She woke up to something licking her cheek and even half asleep she recognized it to be Furvus.

"What?" She mumbled groggily and then noticed something that looked a lot like a letter next to her hand. "What's this?"

Be there at Hogsmeade with Harry- Dad.

That was all. Eliza frowned and looked down at Furvus before taking a good look around. No one was there which only meant they were all watching the second task.

Eliza dressed quickly and followed Furvus down the marble stairs to the Entrance Hall. The castle was deserted except the house elves. She saw the elf that took a liking to Furvus and stopped right in front of him.

"Ah, miss! You wants to go look after Harry Potter! They're at the lake, miss!" He said and blinked those immense green eyes of his.

Eliza nodded and left the castle. When she got to the lake she only saw Seamus and Neville looking expectantly at the water.

"They dived in." Neville explained, seeing how she was terribly confused. "There is one person for each contestant and they have to free them while being underwater," He continued, Eliza nodding along with wide eyes. "I hope Harry won't drown and die." He mumbled to himself.

"Be a little more positive, will you?" She mumbled, fidgeting nervously while waiting for Harry's head to get out of the water.

He didn't die, of course, and even took second place granted to saving Fleur's little sister besides Ron.

Everyone was screaming in delight except the Slytherins and Durmstrang's Headmaster. Karkaroff was glaring at Harry before he turned his head and saw her. His eyes narrowed in confusion before he turned around and disappeared.

Now that she was back in the common room, she couldn't cease her curiosity about some tiny detail.

"Harry, what happens at our next Hogsmeade break?" She asked like she was talking about the weather.

Ron and Hermione glanced at each other before they looked at Harry. He was finally gaining some color in his cheeks after the stress of the second task.

"Dad told me."

Right. The trio almost forgot that Eliza was Sirius' daughter. She was bound to be involved even if she didn't want to. Besides, everyone knew she was good at keeping secrets.

With that in mind, Harry told her everything at breakfast the next day.

"There's something I don't get. Why is Snape so out of character around Moody? Dumbledore kept him in Hogwarts so he must trust him."

"To be honest, Moody is...he's giving me a very bad feeling. One that screams at me to run away from him every time he approaches. And he drinks from that flask so often. He said it's juice but..."

"Maybe it's alcohol, and that's why he is so odd," Ron said but Eliza didn't quite believe it.

*****

Eliza turned her head to the door she was hiding behind. She wasn't in the same house her mother died, this one was bigger, posh, and yet it had no real personality. It didn't feel like a home.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Bellatrix' evil chanting was echoing throughout the whole house, scaring the poor house elves that were only doing their chores. "Babbity~ there are just a number of places you can hide and I will find you." The certainty in that simple statement was nerve wrecking.

Eliza was confused. Her aunt was calling out for her mother? In the same house? But then Eliza looked down at herself and realised she was her mother in this dream. She wasn't bleeding, and every part of her body hurt.