Hermione Granger and the Goblet Of Fire (Completed)

Chapter 21 - The Egg Clue

"You said you’d already worked out that egg clue!” said Hermione loudly
“Keep your voice down!” said Harry “I just need to - sort of fine tune it, all right?”
They were sitting in Charms. It was the perfect place to have a private conversation, as everyone was having too much fun to pay attention to what anyone else was doing. Today they were leaning the banishing charm, and cushions were flying across the room left right and centre
“Just forget the egg for a minute, all right?” Harry whispered as Neville missed his cushion and sent Professor Flitwick flying across the room “I’m trying to tell you about Snape and Moody...”

Apparently, when Harry went on his little night time stroll last night, he had got more than he bargained more on the way back. He had seen Barty Crouch's name on the Marauder's Map and, being Harry Potter, decided to investigate. He had got more than he bargained, as various events got him caught in the middle of an argument between Moody, Snape and Filch

“Snape said Moody’s searched his office as well?” Ron breathed “What... d’you reckon Moody’s here to keep an eye on Snape as well as Karkaroff?”
“Well, I dunno if that’s what Dumbledore asked him to do, but he’s definitely doing it” said Harry “Moody said Dumbledore only lets Snape stay here because he’s giving him a second chance or something...”
“What?” said Ron “Harry... maybe Moody thinks Snape put your name in the Goblet of Fire!”
“Oh Ron” Hermione sighed “we thought Snape was trying to kill Harry before, and it turned out he was saving Harry’s life, remember?”
She Banished her cushion into the basket they were aiming for

“I don’t care what Moody says” she continued “Dumbledore’s not stupid. He was right to trust Hagrid and Professor Lupin, even though loads of people wouldn’t have given them jobs, so why shouldn’t he be right about Snape, even if Snape is a bit-”
“-evil,” said Ron promptly. “Come on, Hermione, why are all these Dark wizard catchers searching his office, then?”
“Why has Mr. Crouch been pretending to be ill?” said Hermione “It’s a bit funny, isn’t it, that he can’t manage to come to the Yule Ball, but he can get up here in the middle of the night when he wants to?”
“You just don’t like Crouch because of that elf, Winky” said Ron
“You just want to think Snape’s up to something” Hermione snapped back
“I just want to know what Snape did with his first chance, if he’s on his second one” said Harry darkly

Hermione thought that it would be best to focus on the second task, as it was in just over a week's time. The three of them trooped off to the library again
"Tell me it again"
Harry had finally been able to listen to the clue but putting the egg underwater. Harry sighed and repeated the clue again
“Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you’re searching ponder this:
We’ve taken what you’ll sorely miss,
An hour long you’ll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour - the prospect’s black,
Too late, it’s gone, it won’t come back.
It means the merpeople in the lake. They've taken something and I have to get it back. If only I had an Aqua-lung”
"A what?" said Ron
Harry briefly explained
"Easy, then!" said Ron brightly "you could Summon one from a Muggle town!"

"I don't think so" said Hermione "not only would that be very hard, but it would almost break the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy in several ways. Muggles would surely notice an Aqua-lung flying across the countryside"
"Oh, yeah" said Ron glumly
“Of course, the ideal solution would be for you to Transfigure yourself into a submarine or something” said Hermione “If only we’d done human Transfiguration already! But I don’t think we start that until sixth year, and it can go badly wrong if you don’t know what you’re doing...”
“Yeah, I don’t fancy walking around with a periscope sticking out of my head” said Harry. “I s’pose I could always attack someone in front of Moody; he might do it for me...”
“I don’t think he’d let you choose what you wanted to be turned into, though” said Hermione “No, I think your best chance is some sort of charm”