New Romantics | Hermione Granger Book IV

|84| Chapter Eighty-Four

E I G H T Y  F O U R 

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After her strange encounter with Olly, Saffron discovered that Hermione, Harry and Ron got very little of substance out of their conversation with Professor Moody. He told them that Mr. Crouch hadn't been found yet and instead reminded Harry to focus on the maze that he was going to have to face in the Third Task, something that Saffron fully agreed with.

"I think Moody is right, Harry," Saffron said in agreement the next morning, as the owls dropped the post down to them all. "There's no point in worrying about two things at once, just focus on winning the tournament,"

"Or just surviving the tournament," remarked Ron grimly.

"That too," nodded Saffron in agreement, as Harry opened a letter that no doubt came from Sirius and Sage in relation to what happened with Mr. Crouch. "But winning too, anyway, what've they got to say?"

"Oh, it's just Sirius," said Harry shaking his head, dismayed by what he was reading. "And he's only being extremely hypocritical,"

Saffron leaned in and read the letter:

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. If someone's trying to attack you, they're on their last chance. Stay close to Saffron, Hermione and Ron, 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.

Sirius

"Who's he, to lecture me about being out-of-bounds?" Harry rolled his eyes dismissively when he finished reading. "After all the stuff he did at school!"

"He's worried about you!" Hermione told him earnestly. "Just like Moody and Hagrid! So listen to them!"

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

"Except put your name in the Goblet of Fire," Hermione pointed out. "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," groaned Harry, "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?"

"They couldn't have made it look like an accident if they'd murdered you in the forest!" replied Hermione. "But if you die during a task-"

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

"Harry, I don't understand it either," Hermione cried out. "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 got to get in training for the third task, straight away,"