Shifted: Book One

Chapter Twenty Seven - A Thief

"You see, I've searched and searched for something, some small detail", Dumbledore began to explain whilst Hazel was helped off the ground by Harry who had caught his breath back.

"Something I might've overlooked, something that would explain why these terrible things have happened", he continued, walking over to a glossy cabinet and deeply studying what it held.

He turned around with a concentrated squint in his old eyes, looking at Hazel and Harry who were stood a bit behind him, almost clueless.

"Every time I get close to an answer, it slips away! It's maddening", he sighed, walking back to his desk.

"Sir, Mr Crouch's son... what exactly happened to him?", Harry asked, approaching the old professor with a glum expression on his wrinkly face.

"He was sent to Azkaban, it destroyed Barty to do it. But he had no choice, the evidence was overwhelming", Dumbledore stated quite obviously.

Dumbledore shot Harry a perplexed look, wondering why Harry asked such a question with an obvious answer. Harry cleared his throat and admitted something unusual.

"I had a dream about him", he said before describing the dream to him and Hazel, who both looking at him with concern.

"It was in a dark room, wasn't it?", Hazel asked knowingly.

Harry paused. He had never shared his dream, how was it that Hazel knew?

"Voldemort was with Barty Crouch Jr and... Wormtail, right?", she continued.

They both turned to her strangely.

"Yes, how did you know?", Harry asked with complete confusion.

Hazel herself wasn't even entirely sure how she knew, but just like finding Barty Crouch Sr's corpse in the forest, this all felt familiar to her, as though she had heard these words spoken before.

"It's happening again, these events, they feel like I've lived through them before", Hazel admitted, turning to Harry and Dumbledore. She held her arms together and bit the inside of her bottom lip whilst Harry looked at her with uncertainty and Dumbledore glared into her eyes, trying to read her thoughts.

"Do not worry for now, the two of you must prepare yourselves for the final task in a few days, do not speak of this situation to anyone", Dumbledore demanded before sending them out.

They slowly walked back to the common room.

"Hazel, is there something you're not telling me?", Harry stuttered, remaining polite.

"Harry, I don't know how and I don't know why, but things are becoming strangely familiar to me", Hazel said with concern.

"I'm sorry I can't explain it more than that, but I promise I'm not hiding anything", she lied whilst Harry nodded his head.

Before they made their way to the common room, they were stopped in their tracks by two gentlemen bickering from inside a small cupboard. Snape slammed the door open as Igor Karakaroff had his sleeve rolled up, revealing a black tattoo of a skull's head on a snake's body printed in his porcelain skin. They immediately glanced to Hazel and Harry who had caught them in the act before Igor rolled his sleeve back down and glared at the two as he walked away.

Hazel and Harry looked at each other and were about to follow Igor before being interrupted by Snape's ominous voice.

"Potter! Jones! What's your hurry?", he snapped.

Snape sarcastically congratulated the two for their performance in the second task, though he didn't sound very genuine with his praise.

"Gillyweed. Am I correct?", he asked, looking at the both of them suspiciously.

"Yes, sir", Hazel replied nervously.

Snape locked eyes with Hazel for a couple seconds, studying her facial expression.

"Ingenious", he replied before walking back in the cupboard that was stacked with hundreds if not thousands of bottle filled with different substances and potions.

"A rather rare herb, not something found in your every day garden. Nor is this", he spoke, standing on the ladder to reach the higher shelves and shuffling the bottles, finding a specific one.

He climbed down the ladder again and presented a small bottle. He waved the bottle in their faces and asked them if they knew what it was. Hazel was about to open her mouth to answer his question, for she knew what it was, she had seen the bottle before, though she can't exactly remember where or when. But before she could reveal the name of the bottle, Harry subtly nudged her and answered for her.

"Bubble juice, sir?", Harry asked, obliviously.

"Veritaserum", Snape replied slowly.

"Three drops of this and You-Know-Who himself would spill his darkest secrets ", he continued, glancing from Harry and now to Hazel.

"The use of this on a student is regrettably forbidden- however, should either of you ever steal from my personal stores again, my hand might just slip over your morning pumpkin juice", he hissed with a snide twinkle in his dark eyes.

"We haven't stolen anything", Harry pleaded before being interrupted again by Snape's overpowering voice.

"Don't lie to me", he snapped back.

"Gillyweed may be innocuous but Boomslang skin, Lacewing flies, you and your little friends are brewing Polyjuice potions and believe me, I'm going to find out why!", Snape demanded, about to slam the door but was interrupted by Hazel.

"We're not! You can't just accuse us of theft and brewing potions without permission with no proof", Hazel replied back with an angry look growing in her eyes.

Snape swiftly turned his head to Hazel and slightly leaned in closer to her. A sense of uneasiness swarmed over her as a cold shiver trickled down her spine.

"You believe I am accusing you of theft to make unpermitted substances, Miss Jones?", he asked, gritting his teeth ever so slightly.

Hazel crossed her arms and subtly furrowed her eyebrows.

"As a matter of fact, yes, you are", she hissed back.

Snape sneered under his breath and leaned back. Hazel and Harry left the room before the door slammed shut behind them.