Redemption For A Monster (Marauder fanfic) Book Three

19- Barty Crouch

In the new year, Sara and Sirius heard some strange news about Barty Crouch, from Harry, which prompted them to made the long way back up north.
Since Sara didn't think either of them were strong enough to Apparate, they flew Buckbeak to Hogwarts. Which took longer, but was the safest option.
Instead of hiding in the Shrieking Shack this time, Sirius and Sara chose to hide out in a cave up in the mountains around Hogsmeade, as getting any closer to Hogwarts was too risky.
Harry had told them that he didn't need any help with his 2nd task, so they just had to sit nervously in the cave, waiting for the Daily Prophet the following day, like they had done for the 1st task. And luckily Harry passed the task with flying colours.

When Harry's next Hogsmeade visit finally arrived, Sara waited nervously in the cave with Buckbeak, while Sirius went to fetch Harry, in his dog form.
Sara hadn't seen Harry face to face, in nearly a whole year, and she was anxious about seeing him again.
The three of them hadn't really gotten to speak properly last time, as they had been interupted by a full moon, and having Peter around them had made them all edgy. But this time, they had all afternoon to talk without any interuptions.
She immediately removed her wand when she heard people approaching her hiding place, but lowered it when she saw Sirius leading Harry and his friends inside.
Sara shoved her wand into her trousers, and threw herself into Harry's arms, wrapping him in a tight hug.
For a moment she was worried that she'd come on too strong, since they didn't really know each other that well. But Harry hugged her back, erasing the doubt from her mind.

After Harry released her, he removed his bag from his shoulder, and opened it, revealing a large amount of chicken drumsticks inside.
Sirius returned to human form and took the bag from Harry, before sitting down at the back of the cave.
Though Sara had more manners than Sirius, she too, was starving, so she quickly joined him on the floor, and began tearing apart pieces of chicken from their bones.
"Thanks. We've been living off rats mostly. Can't steal too much from Hogsmeade, we'd draw attention to ourselves" said Sirius, grinning up at Harry.
"What are you both doing here?" Harry asked, looking worried.
Sara could understand his worry, since she had also thought it was very dangerous for them to return to Hogsmeade. But her and Sirius' need to protect Harry, came above their own personal safety.

"We're fulfilling our roles as godparents of course. Don't worry about me, I've been pretending to be a lovable stray, and Sara rarely leaves the cave, let alone goes anywhere near the villiage... We wanted to come, because your last letter was rather worrying. I've been stealing a paper every time someone throws one out, and by the looks of things, we aren't the only ones getting worried" admitted Sirius, pointing to the Daily Prophets that were scattered around the cave floor.
"What if they catch you? What if you're seen?" Questioned Harry.
"Don't worry about us Harry. We are being careful" reassured Sara.
"She's right. I only leave here in dog form. And you three, plus Dumbledore are the only ones who know that I'm an Animagus" added Sirius.
Harry sighed, and began looking at some of the headlines on the Daily Prophets, a lot of which were about Barty Crouch.
"They make it sound like he's dying. But he can't be, if he managed to get up here, and break into Snape's office" mumbled Harry.

"My brother is Crouch's personal assistant. He says Crouch is suffering from overwork" informed Ron.
"I mean, he did look ill last time we saw him" agreed Harry.
"Serves him right from sacking Winky" commented Hermione.
"Hermione's obsessed with house-elves" explained Ron, to Sara and Sirius' confused faces.
"Crouch sacked his house-elf?" Asked Sirius curiously.
"Yeah at the Quidditch World cup. She got caught with my wand, underneath the Dark Mark, so Crouch fired her on the spot, because she hadn't stayed in his tent to wait for him" answered Harry.
"When the elf was found, what did Crouch do exactly?"
"Went to look in the bushes, to see if there was anyone else there. But there wasn't"
"Of course... He'd want to pin the blame on anyone but his own elf... And then he sacked her?".