The Wolf's Lion ~ Harry Potter (Editing)

Chapter Forty-Seven | Condemned to the Great Indoors

The mysterious appearance of Mr. Crouch, who Harry said was completely out of his mind as if he had taken some sort of drug, was weighing heavily on the minds of Ariana, Hermione, Ron and Harry.

The latter had sent an owl to Sirius early the next morning and Ariana had sent one to Remus, because she felt as if she should keep him informed.

The following morning, two responses swooped through the Great Hall in the beaks of Nova and Hedwig, who were both happy to have been out on an errand. Hermione was delivered her Daily Prophet newspaper and couldn't find anything about the situation with Mr. Crouch; clearly

Dear Ariana,

I'm glad to hear you're alright, but running into the forest at night was a risky move. I can't tell you what to do, nor do I wish to, but I suggest you remain inside Hogwarts until this is over.

Your name didn't end up in the Goblet of Fire by accident; someone dangerous is clearly trying to attack both you and Harry. The third task is their final chance to do so. Arm yourself, I imagine you'd do well with a few hexes and Stunning spells. The book I bought you shoukd contain some useful strategies, maybe take a look at it.

Try to remain as close as possible to Harry, Hermione and Ron; if you're alone, you will have a bigger target in your back.

Good luck. You know where to send an owl if you need me.

Remus.

After Ariana had read her letter, she, Hermione and Ron all read the letter Sirius had written to Harry.

Harry -

what do you think you are playing at, walking off into the forest with Viktor Krum? I want you to swear, by return owl, that you are not going to go walking with anyone else at night.

There is somebody highly dangerous at Hogwarts. It is clear to me that they wanted to stop Crouch from seeing Dumbledore and you were probably feet away from them in the dark. You could have been killed.

Your name didn't get into the Goblet of Fire by accident, nor did Ariana's. If someone's trying to attack you, they're on their last chance. Stay close to Ariana, Ron and Hermione, do not leave Gryffindor Tower after hours, and arm yourself for the third task. Practice Stunning and Disarming. A few hexes wouldn't go amiss either.

There's nothing you can do about Crouch. Keep your head down and look after yourself. I'm waiting for your letter giving me your word you won't stray out-of-bounds again.

I don't have any right to scold Ariana but I do suggest she, too, remains indoors; she's at as much risk as you are.

Sirius

"Who's he, to lecture me about being out-of-bounds?" Harry said in mild indignation as he folded up Sirius's letter and put it inside his robes. "After all the stuff he did at school!"

"He's worried about you!" said Hermione sharply. "Just like Moody and Hagrid! So listen to them!"

"No one's tried to attack ud all year," said Harry. "No one's done anything to ud at all-"

"Except put your name in the Goblet of Fire," said Hermione. "And they must've done that for a reason, Harry. Snuffles is right. Maybe they've been biding their time. Maybe this is the task they're going to get you."

"Look," said Harry impatiently, "let's say Sirius is right, and someone Stunned Krum to kidnap Crouch. Well, they would've been in the trees near us, wouldn't they? But they waited till I was out of the way until they acted, didn't they? So it doesn't look like I'm their target, does it?"

"Harry, if we die during a task it can be made to look like an accident," Ariana said calmly. "It would be difficult to pass it off as an accident if we had been murdered in the middle of the -"

"They didn't care about attacking Krum, did they?" Harry asked rhetorically, angry. "Why didn't they just polish us off at the same time? They could've made it look like Krum, Ariana and I had a duel or something."

"Harry, I don't understand it either," said Hermione desperately. "I just know there are a lot of odd things going on, and I don't like it... Moody's right - Sirius is right - you've both got to get in training for the third task, straight away. And you make sure you write back to Sirius and promise him you're not going to go sneaking off alone again. Both of you."

"Both of us?" Ariana questioned, eyebrows furrowed. "No-one's told me to swear to anything."

"No, they haven't, but both Sirius and Lupin made it clear that they think you should stay inside," Hermione reasoned fiercely.

Ariana stared at Hermione for a moment, then relented. "Alright," she sighed, "you make an excellent point."

~~~~~

Over the next few days Ariana and Harry spent all of their free time either in the library researching hexes, or in empty classrooms, practising.

The Hogwarts grounds never looked better to Ariana, who was beginning to suffer from cabin fever big time. She wasn't the type of girl who benefitted from remaining indoors at all times, no, she needed to get out and stretch her legs.

She and Harry were focusing on the Stunning Spell, which they had never used before now. As it required certain sacrifices of Ron and Hermione's, it was quite difficult to continue practising for hours on end.

"

Can't we kidnap Mrs. Norris?" Ron suggested on Monday lunchtime as he lay flat on his back in the middle of their Charms classroom, having just been Stunned and reawoken by Ariana for the fifth time in a row. "Let's Stun her for a bit. Or you could use Dobby I bet he'd do anything to help you two. I'm not complaining or anything" - he got gingerly to his feet, rubbing his backside - "but I'm aching all over...."

"Well, you keep missing the cushions, don't you!" said Hermione impatiently, rearranging the pile of cushions they had used for the Banishing Spell, which Flitwick had left in a cabinet. "Just try and fall backward!"

"Once you're Stunned, you can't aim too well, Hermione! "said Ron angrily. "Why don't you take a turn?"

"Well, I think Harry and Ariana've got it now, anyway," said Hermione hastily. "And we don't have to worry about Disarming, because they've been able to do that for ages... I think we ought to start on some of these hexes this evening." She looked down the list they had made in the library.
"I like the look of this one," she said, "this Impediment Curse. Should slow down anything that's trying to attack you. We'll start with that one."

"What about your - uh - lion, Ariana?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," Ariana sighed. "I have no idea how to conjure it at will, it only appeared when I was absolutely furious."

"Well, we can work on that as well," Hermione added eagerly, apparently excited by the prospect of seeing this new magic.

The bell rang. They hastily shoved the cushions back into Flitwick's cupboard and slipped out of the classroom.

"See you at dinner!" Hermione smiled as she and Ariana peeled off to attend Arithmancy, as the boys trailed upstairs to Divination.