「014. hair of the dog 」

TRELAWNEY SAT sipping her tea idly like she just knew honey was going to visit her. they opted to meet in her classroom, and the air was heavy with incense. the woody aroma wafted and stuck to everything in the classroom, bringing honey back to images of their last lesson (crystal balls revisited, was it?). she managed the maze of beanbags and soft pillowed chairs to the front where two bean bags sandwiched a low table with a pot of tea, with her divination professor already seated.

"professor," she said simply, plopping herself down without much fuss. she poured herself a cup, gently pouring in a lump of sugar and mixing carefully before adding a touch of milk. she held the tea pot up, "refill?"

trelawney's eyes were glassy as she looked around the room, humming to herself. "hmm, no. perhaps not. i will read the leaves when i'm finished, i think." suddenly, her eyes snapped to honey's. "you came to speak to me." she said it like a statement, no room for any hesitation or questions.

"yeah... i've got this feeling."

"feeling?"

"well, i've been getting dreams about stuff every so often, i had a major one during the summer, but that's not really what's going on right now." honey shrugged, leaning back in her bean bag. "i just have this terrible feeling about the third task."

"you should trust your intuition," trelawney nodded sagely, "it's a seer's greatest skill."

honey frowned, a touch frustrated. she didn't trounce up the multiple stairs to get to her divinations professor just to be told this. "but professor," she said, sitting up a bit, "you told me that something dark was coming in harry's future— walls and labyrinths and... something about trust?" she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember. and yet, all she could think of was the swirling incense around them, clogging her nose. "i just want to know, for sure, if harry will get hurt or not. i mean, you said he might die, that's... 'might' is a high chance, isn't it? it's probable."

"i do not deal with probabilities, i deal with divining the future," trelawney replied.

"isn't it the same thing, sort of?"

"my dear girl, no! probabilities are... mathematical, life is unexpected— the future is unexpected. you may calculate to your heart's content, but one twist will destroy all that work." trelawney sighed, sipping her tea. "if you know what you know, and i know what i know, then what is there to continue? something may happen, and harry potter will be tested, but he has his own future he must follow."

she's being cryptic, honey thought, huffing.

"and does the third task have anything to do with that? i mean... i heard things professor, bad things. things about death, and killing somebody and..." honey practically wilted in her beanbag.

"drink some tea, honey. do not let it go to waste."

and so, she did. she watched as her professor swirled her cup, draining it before inspecting it. "hm, what do you see, miss jordan?"

"is this a test? we're not in lessons."

trelawney gave a snort, or what honey guessed was meant to be one, "no, i just want to know what you see." she looked at her, an air of expectation around her.

"er, well, alright then." honey set her own cup down, and glanced down at trelawney's instead. the loose leaves had clumped themselves together in odd patterns, and honey's eyes danced between each shape until she found a distinct one. she pointed at one, "a cross– meaning... a delay of something or trouble." she hummed, her pointer finger moving around before she stopped at another. "and that... looks like... a hammer, maybe? meaning that you've got a challenge to overcome– or that you're going to overcome a challenge. there's a few more, ok– wait, i've got it."

she sat back, "right, here it is: so you've got a delayed challenge to overcome– something to do with business. it's probably not from a friend because that symbol there looks blurry, so maybe somebody at hogwarts? not a friend, just somebody you know– oh! maybe somebody you work with!" she glanced up at trelawney, "well?"

"drat," trelawney mumbled, "tea reading was never my favourite form of divination." honey raised an eyebrow at that, slightly unimpressed. she had a suspicion it was because honey had told her something she didn't like. "well, i think it's best if we leave it here. trust your intuition, honour. it's the strongest thing you have." she paused, "besides your seer abilities, of course. though i suppose they go hand in hand. i sense you don't need to talk to me anymore."

the bell rang, chiming for lunch.

"ah, there it is," grinned trelawney, standing up. "i do love when i'm right. lunch. well, i truly am famished. shall we go, honour?"

honey stood up, absolutely miffed. her mouth opened and closed, simultaneously having so many questions and so little to say. finally, after a few cycles of confusion, she finally just shook her head, standing up.

"right, yeah. let's go."

it seemed she'd gotten herself into rotten luck. just as she'd gotten closer to picking trelawney's brain about anything, food would sound. honey was beginning to wonder if this was by design. if it was, she stubbornly had to admit it was quite smart.

the next morning, honey invaded the gryffindor table (to absolutely nobody's surprise). the crisp friday morning air didn't do much to honey's horrendous morning attitude, but it certainly did something to hermione, who was very ready to scold an on-the-run-but-innocent-man (one sirius black, wherever he may be).

"that's ridiculous," hermione promptly huffed, dipping the crusts of her toast into her boiled egg. "he'll get caught!"

"it is reckless," harry tacked on wearily, seeming out of sorts at the fact he'd just agreed with hermione on the matter.

"he'll be fine," ron said, smoothing it over between bites of his breakfast. "made it so far, hasn't he? and it's not like that place is crowded with dementors anymore. i think he could do alright."

"what exactly did he say?" honey asked, leaning over to harry, making a grabby motion. "give it here."

"bossy."

"you like it," she quipped, snatching the parchment and scanning over it. be at stile at the end of road out of hogsmeade (past dervish and banges) at two o'clock on saturday afternoon. bring as much food as you can.

"well," honey mumbled, folding up the parchment and handing it back over to harry. "he's got his priorities straight, food is important. not many people are willing to sell a bite to eat to a supposed mass-murderer."

"are you going to join us?" harry asked with a tilt of his head.

honey shrugged, "probably? i might be a bit late." she rolled her eyes, leaning closer. "i think i'll have to act as a buffer between emmery and kai."

"a buffer?" hermione repeated, confused.

"a buffer," she confirmed. she nodded over to the ravenclaw table, where emmery sat with what honey assumed were people in her dorm. then, her eyes glanced over to further down the table, where kai was sitting beside seamus and dean. "look, they're not even sitting beside each other."

"well, yeah, but how d'you know it's because something happened? not many people break the rules of sitting at different tables, honey." ron said, his voice muffled to the end as he bit into some toast (covered in a treacherous raspberry jam).

"well, i do know what happened," honey retorted, "so i've got strong sources when i say that this buffering is going to be a touch painful."

"what happened?" hermione asked, ever the secret gossip.

honey leaned in even closer, pitching her voice low. "...they kissed." hermione gasped. "and now emmery feels all panicked about it, and kai... i don't know, actually."

"maybe they like each other," suggested hermione, her head swivelling to ron and harry. "will you sleuth?"

"sleuth?" repeated the two boys. harry snorted, "ron wouldn't know sleuthing if it hit him in the backside."

"oi! rude, mate." ron huffed, before finally adding, "but, yeah. i don't think we'll be doing that."

hermione glared, "why not?"

"we don't really talk about stuff like that," shrugged ron.

"what, because you're above it?" snorted honey.

"hey! no. i never said that," ron wagged a finger at her. "no, we just don't talk about it because recently all we've been talking about is the tournament. no room for crushes and romance, mate. priorities need to be in order. count your sickles and the galleons will be taken care of, or whatever it is."

"i don't think that's how that phrase is meant to be used," honey remarked, sipping at her pumpkin juice.

"whatever, you're worse than hermione."

"and what is that supposed to mean, ronald?"

"erm, nothing!"

the bell rang, and honey sighed. taking a final piece of toast to eat on the way to lessons. the four friends split off, with the trio of gryffindors heading off to battle potions, whilst honey meandered over to transfiguration with the ravenclaws.

the hour passed with her brows furrowed, frowning as her button stood stubbornly in beetle form. beside her, hannah's was scuttling around with glee, clambering over their quills and dipping its little legs in the ink by accident, trekking around with it's steps on both their parchments. and yet, honey's small onyx black button remained exactly as it was.

"ridiculous," she muttered, "this thing is stubborn." she nodded over at hannah's beetle, "what was it that got you that, then? wand movement, annunciation or—"

sheer dumb luck, would've been her next guess, but suddenly her shoulder was being tugged backwards, and honey damn near fell out of her chair.

she squawked, turning around, a furious expression on her face ready to snap before she suddenly let it drop.

"emmery?"

"are you coming to hogsmeade tomorrow?"

"er, yes— but... i need to be somewhere at two."

"two?"

"yes, two," she snipped back, semi-looking at emmery and semi-glaring at her stupid button. "i take you want me as a buffer?"

emmery's jaw dropped. seconds later, she rather meekly asked, "is it that obvious?"

"only to those who know you," honey shrugged in reply, "but you weren't even sitting next to each other at breakfast, you didn't even wave." she sighed, taking one last look at the blasted button before she turned right back around to emmery. "you know, it's not a big deal if you kissed kai."

"not so loudly!" emmery hissed.

"emmery," honey frowned, her tone serious. "it's not a big deal– it's not. not unless you like him, in which case then maybe it is. and since you do like him– maybe you should actually talk to him instead of dragging me along as a go-between. which, really, if we're all going to be honest, is not going to work. i'll end up third wheeling you."

it was perhaps the first time honey had spotted emmery going the same shade as her hair. she opened her mouth and closed it in quick concession, and then simply frowned. "i don't want to ruin my friendship with him."

"ems," honey said, her voice firm. "what will ruin your friendship is if you don't talk about it. if you don't want anything to happen, then just tell him that you're not ready for it. but—" she pointed at the redhead, "do not say it was an accident. unless it was." she paused, "was it?" emmery squirmed, and honey swivelled properly so they were face to face. "you never told me what happened."

"i—"

"miss tates, miss jordan." honey jumped out of her skin, quickly turning around and facing her damned black button again. "the lesson is not over yet, and we are in transfiguration," professor mcgonogall said, her lips pursed together, "this is not time for chatting."

"yes, professor," both girls mumbled, and honey kept her eyes trained on mcgonagall until she was far enough away. then, she turned around quickly, hissing, "you're telling me what happened after class."

"but—"

"miss jordan? did i not just say—"

"sorry, professor. promise, i wasn't chatting. just asking about... wand movements." honey shot one final look at emmery that read you better tell me, or else, and set back to being tortured by an inanimate object.

honey would love to say that transfiguration flew by, and that she finally managed to change that absolutely ridiculous black button into something resembling a beetle.

that was not the case.

the remainder of the lesson dragged on, seconds felt like minutes and minutes seemed to surpass hours and turn to days. if mcgonagall hadn't dismissed them right on the mark of the bell, honey might have run out. instead, she dismissed them on the dot, and honey practically latched onto emmery like a leech. they had a short thirty minute break now between their next block of lessons, and that gave honey plenty of time to weasel out as much information as she could from emmery.

she sat them down in a secluded section of the courtyard, far away enough from everybody else so that nobody could necessarily overhear them (though, knowing emmery, she'd probably ask for a quickly hissed muffliato as well) but close enough to their next lesson, charms, that they could have ample time to chat.

"so," honey said simply, sitting down on a stone wall, crossing her legs carefully. "what actually happened?"

"well, we kissed."

honey rolled her eyes, "you're being purposefully obtuse, ems. i mean, what happened? how did it happen?"

the redhead squirmed, looked around, and finally sighed. "we'd just danced to the weird sister's 'stinging hex'—"

"good song," honey commented.

"right? anyways, we'd just finished, and i was a bit warm. so, i thought it would be a great idea to get some fresh air, not outside but not in the hall, you know?" honey nodded, and emmery continued. "anyways, we were outside and we were just... talking, you know? i mean, it's kai and i, we always talk, even if there's nothing to talk about we'll find a bloody way. and we kept going and going, but i got cold, and kai gave me his jacket—"

"oh my god."

"and, i dunno— some sort of like, feeling entered me, and we were looking at each other and then the next thing i know we've kissed!" honey's eyes widened, and emmery shuffled back, her face turning pink.

"oh, em..."

"i don't know what to do," she said, fretting. "i feel like i've gone and fucked everything up, like nothing will be the same after this. i feel... rotten."

"about the kiss?"

"no! just... i've had time to think about it," emmery began, looking at the floor. "i just— i know that rationally, it's ok to like a friend. it's very ok. but i'm scared of it, and i don't want it to ruin anything between us."

"you said that on the night," the hufflepuff nodded, her body a bit stiff. she thought back to the night of the yule ball, the way she'd snapped at emmery— jealousy. not because of emmery and kai, but because emmery seemed to latch onto him so hard, like he was the only thing she needed. it hurt, it probably always would. there was no true recovery for what honey and emmery used to be, honey knew that. but maybe that was just it— they'd never be what they were before, perhaps they'd be something else; something more.

focus, she said to herself, unpack that later. emmery was fretting, and an emmery tates that worried was an emmery tates that could crumble the world around her with just her thoughts.

"look, ems," honey began, taking a deep breath in. "i think you two need to talk. i know you said you didn't want to, and that you're worried about all these things that could happen... but how do you know that it's going to be like that? just try to talk to him, just the two of you."

"how am i supposed to do that?"

"well," honey began, eyes darting around as she thought. "you guys were going to go to hogsmeade, weren't you? tomorrow?"

"well, yes, but you were—"

"i was coming too, i know." honey interrupted. "look, that's the perfect time to talk to each other."

"but you'll be there!"

"not for all of it," honey replied, "hermione wants me to go with her for a little bit. i could come for a bit and then fuck right off, it's a good plan, isn't it?"

"well..."

"come on, stop being stubborn and scared."

"i'm not scared!" emmery retorted before petulantly adding, "or stubborn!"

"then prove it," honey said, goading her. "let's get you talking to him, and let's get this sorted."

if honey hadn't already realised she could predict the future, she would've considered hogsmeade as the nail in the coffin. with her suspicion proved to be factual, she felt like she'd rather take a dive in the black lake again then stay a second longer beside the bumbling pair that was kai sasuki and emmery tates. it felt wrong to stand beside them, mostly because she felt like a gnat on their shoulders as they essentially had a date right in front of her.

by the time it drew close to two in the afternoon, honey was itching to leave. when she spotted hermione ahead of her, she perked up like a crup and rushed over to her.

"need to go," she simply said to emmery, voice quick.

"er—"

"enjoy your date!" she yelled, skidding over to hermione, practically colliding into the poor girl.

"did you just say date?" hermione asked, glancing back at the embarrassed pair honey had left behind. she gasped, "are they on a date?"

"essentially," honey muttered. she looped her arm with hermione's, and the two began to walk. "merline, hermione, it was torture being with them. sasuki kept complimenting her, and emmery does this weird pitchy thing with her voice when she's flustered and the two of them—" she shuddered, "they're sickening and they're not even together!"

"do you think they will be after today?" hermione queried.

she shrugged, "who knows? maybe? hopefully? please merlin they are."

"i think they're sweet," hermione mused, a small little smile on her face. "i suppose it's all built up to that, then."

"maybe," honey replied, eyes glancing around. "where's the other two?"

"ron and harry?"

"the very two."

"they stopped in zonko's again," hermione explained, rolling her eyes. "they've got the basket with all the food, so we can't exactly go on ahead. they should be out soon, or well, they need to be. it's almost two."

"i'm sure they're coming out now," honey said.

hermione tutted, "they need to manage their time better."

"well—"

"you're here!" ron greeted. the two boys stumbled out of zonko's with nothing to show beside a basket, and honey was rather sure that was the food parcel for sirius. "finally."

"finally?!" hermione repeated, eyes narrowed. "we were the ones waiting for you!"

"not long, though." ron huffed, "we were only in there for a minute. honestly."

"whatever, ronald. let's just get going." and with that, the lot of them marched forward.

the path there was long, full of winding roads and sloping fields that became more and more common the further they walked out of the hustle and bustle of hogsmeade's town centre. cottages distanced themselves and garden paths became longer. between cold gusts of wind, honey could hear the chitter of magical creatures and the hissing tone of gnomes skipping about.

by the time they walked to the edge of the village, the sky had gotten dimmer and the clouds hung over the sun. turning a corner, they found two paths. one was well worn, leading off to more cottages and another clustering town that seemed to join onto hogsmeade. the other was barely there, the path looking more like a trick of dim light than anything else, but standing at the very end was a man in tweed alongside a shaggy black dog.

"is that professor lupin?" hermione muttered, eyes wide.

the large dog yipped, trotting over to them eagerly.

"sirius," harry nodded, smiling. the crunch of pebbles and twigs came closer and closer until honey was face to face with her defence teacher from the previous year. "uh... professor."

"remus, please." he insisted, his voice smooth despite the scratchy quality to it. "i'm not your teacher anymore, so the name is hardly one to use."

"i'll stick with lupin," honey decided resolutely, and remus chuckled.

"well—" the black dog barked, hind legs jumping upwards. remus tutted, "well, alright then drama queen. christ." remus lupin turned back to the four of them, "you might as well follow him. he's an impatient thing."

with one more snarky yip from sirius, the group of them followed the wagging tail of the black hound. careful not to trip, they heaved their way up jagged stones that formed something close to steps, winding all the way up to a cavern in the mountain.

"prof— remus," hermione began, "what are you doing here?"

"sirius wrote to me," he explained, shrugging. "we've been trying to keep in contact, but such a life is hard when somebody is a wanted criminal." he rolled his eyes fondly as sirius growled. "he's paranoid, truly. and a hypocrite. he won't stay in one place for more than a week before he's off but he thinks it's fit to come to a place teeming with wizards!"

"is this the first time you've seen him, then?" ron asked, his voice weak as they climbed higher and higher.

"oh, no. definitely not. sirius likes to masquerade as a stray dog around my flat sometimes, does my landlord's head in." their old professor grinned, "he'll come every so often and then i'll have to be the one to pretend that i never had a dog with me."

honey stumbled into the mouth of the mountain, teetering back before harry grabbed her arm.

"trust me," sirius's croaking voice called out, "it's funny sometimes. i like it more when i become me again, and you have to stutter out an excuse for me." he batted his eyelashes, "last time, i was a man who had saved him from being mugged."

"mr chen did not believe for a second that i had thanked you by letting you stay in my flat," remus said, his tone bland and dry.

sirius simply shrugged, moving further into the cave.

"how did you get here?" harry asked, eyes flickering about the place.

"buckbeak," sirius replied before making a clicking sound. with a gruff squawk, buckbeak clopped towards them. the hippogriff tilted it's head, inspecting them all before playfully nipping at the patches on remus' tweed coat.

"no eating remus' clothes, buckbeak. we talked about this!" sirius scolded.

"they did?" hissed ron, glancing between the two of them.

"we did," sirius confirmed, before making a grabbing motion to the basket in harry's hand. "now, come on. i'm a starving man, here. pass us the food, harry?"

"right—" honey watched as harry fumbled the large basket of food over to sirius. the older man let out a broken cry of thanks before ripping the tea towel off the top of the basket and gasping.

"roast chicken. merlin's bloody beard i'd kill for this every day."

"this is why they didn't believe us when we tried to explain your innocence," huffed their old teacher, sitting down on a large bit of rock, arms crossed.

"bog off, remus," sirius said between mouthfuls, using the tea towel to dab daintily at the corners of his mouth. it seemed that even if sirius black was a wanted criminal and a rebel for all he was worth, he still had pureblood habits ingrained into him. "i've been living off of rats, mostly. surprisingly nutritious but a fright to kill. when it's not that, it's stealing or some poor old woman offering me a chip."

"and you decided to come here?" harry asked, frowning. "i mean, i'm glad to see you— but... you're wanted, sirius."

"i had to fulfill my duty as your godfather," he cheekily replied. when remus lightly nudged him with his foot, his tight grin broke, and he sighed. "fine, i was worried. after your last letter, i thought something was suspicious. i did a bit of stealing from bins for the paper— and i'm not the only one. people are wondering where crouch is, they want to know what's happening. they're saying he's ill."

"but you think he isn't?" honey asked, settling down on the ground.

sirius nodded. "and if he is, it's not for any plausible reason."

"my brother works for him," ron piped up, "said that he's taken ill because he works too much."

"percy weasley?" murmured remus, "christ," he grimaced, "what a job. to work with that man..."

"he's barbaric!" hermione uttered, "crouch probably looks the way he does because he's having to do all the work by himself now. without his house-elf, he's probably realised how much of a lazy sod he really is."

"he sacked his house elf?" remus asked, and sirius perked up from eating.

"he did?"

hermione nodded, "accused her of stealing a wand, saying she'd used it to conjure the dark mark. ridiculous."

"and this happened, when?" sirius queried, holding a slice of cherry pie in his hand, waiting for them to respond.

"the quidditch world cup," ron explained. he launched into a quick recount of the day, with honey, hermione and harry adding their own tidbits as he continued. from the win of the irish to the lot of them stumbling into the opening in the forest being accused of dark magic. from the look of remus' face, he knew all too well what had happened, probably reading it in one of the papers, but sirius sat rapt. he took in every detail they said, nodding and prodding when harry would add something else.

in a rather twisted way, it was nice to see their old professor and harry's godfather in a dingy little cave. harry seemed to glow with the two men there, even if he was thick with worry.

"so you first so winky in the top box," sirius summarised slowly, "and she was saving croush a seat, right?"

the four teens nodded.

"but crouch didn't turn up for the match?"

"no," harry said, "i think he said he'd been too busy."

the two adults looked at each other.

"harry..." remus said, his voice wary. "did you check your pockets for your wand after you'd left the top box?"

honey's eyes flickered over to harry, whose face was scrunched up as he tried to remember the day. after a few seconds, he looked back at the two men and shook his head. "no, i don't think so. i didn't really need to use it before we got to the forest, and by that point all i could find were my omnioculars in my pocket." he stared at sirius and remus, "so whoever conjured the mark stole my wand? in the top box?"

"it's possible," sirius nodded.

"but it wasn't winky," hermione stressed.

honey waved her off, "none of us think it was, hermione."

ron nodded, "yeah, come off it. you saw the way she was shaking, how could we? crouch was being a right bastard to her."

"then who else was sat with you?" remus asked as sirius handed him a badly wrapped slice of chocolate cake. "sirius," he scolded, "they bought this for you."

"moony," the man whined, "it's chocolate."

"sirius, i swear—"

"should we leave you two alone?" honey blurted, and the two of them snapped out of whatever dreamy daze they'd pulled themselves into. hurried embarrassed coughs filled the air, and remus and sirius shuffled away from each other.

"merlin," ron muttered, quiet enough that the two couldn't hear. "it's unbearable."

"reminds me of ems and kai," added honey, "except they're adults and one's a criminal and the other's a werewolf."

"the seating?" remus said, cutting through their whispering. he had the decency to try look applogic, unlike sirius who seemed quite pleased with himself after forcing a slice of chocolate cake onto him.

harry blinked, "right. er... usual ministry people, some bulgarian ministers... oh, the malfoys as well."

"it might of been them," ron nodded vigorously. "definitely, who else could it be?"

"well there was bagman as well," harry murmured, suddenly remembering.

his godfather's eyes narrowed. "bagman? think he used to be the beater for the wimbourne wasps."

"could be nothing nefarious," remus reasoned. "what's he like?"

"he's alright," harry replied awkwardly.

ron snorted, "he is not. he keeps asking harry if he wants any help with the tournament."

"he does?" frowned honey, looking over at harry. "why didn't you say anything?"

"well... it's not that bad, he says he's taken a liking to me."

"that does not sound good," honey insisted.

"nor does it sound good that he was in the forest just before the mark appeared," hermione added.

ron shook his head. "but he didn't stay in the forest, the moment we told him about that riot he went off."

"so you're saying he definitely couldn't have conjured it? is that it?" hermione's tone was forceful and laced with the stubborn quality that made it hard to fight against her.

"merline hermione i don't bloody know," huffed ron, "i'm not a mind reader! i can't tell the bloody future like honey—! oh, er—"

"nice save," honey's droll voice rang out. "it's ok, ron. don't break into hives about it." she turned to the two adults, her voice determined, "i can tell the future."

silence.

"like, a seet. i'm a seer, basically. that's what ron was fucking crying about," she crossed her arms, squinted at them, and then added rather resolutely, "and you can't go blabbing about that. and i don't know what the fuck is going on with this tornement business, and i don't know how harry's going to do— i just sense a bad thing, that's all."

more silence.

"you're terrible at explaining yourself," ron finally said.

"i wouldn't have to if you weren't such a babbler, ron!"

"you—"

"it... makes sense, i think," remus said, and the two went silent before their squabble could even begin. he turned to sirius, "remember? in the shack?"

"she said peter's name," nodded sirius, "and you were rather quick to think i was innocent." he nodded to her, "thank you."

"don't thank me," she replied, "please. it did my head in to have all of that happen to me. i thought i was going mad."

"you are mad," grumbled ron.

she glared at him, "what was that?"

"the two of you, enough!" remus said, an authoritative tone spinning through his voice that made honey suddenly very aware he had once been their teacher. he turned to harry, "you said crouch was there when he found all of you after the mark was shown." harry nodded. "what did he do when he discovered winky had been holding your want?"

"went to look in the bushes, but there wasn't anybody there."

sirius scoffed, "and so, of course, he blamed his elf. ridiculous man, i swear."

"you know him?" harry asked.

"we went to school with his son," remus explained. "barty, we all called him."

"rotten little shit," sirius huffed.

"he wasn't that bad to start with," remus reasoned, "he... wasn't a good person in the end, but to begin with. he wasn't bad. saw his father around sometimes. barty had a penchant for getting himself in isolation, sometimes he'd be taken home early because he would misbehave so much."

"crouch senior is the reason i landed in azkaban," sirius said, "that's mainly how i remember him. his beady little prickish eyes staring at me, humming, and then sending me off to that place without a trial."

the group of them gasped, and remus looked away, his brows furrowed with guilt.

"i thought that couldn't happen?" ron said, growing angry. "how could they do that?"

"there's no they about it," sirius explained bitterly, picking at more food. "it was all crouch. he used to be head of department of magical law enforcement, tipped to be the next minister of magic. he was... vicious in court, hungry for recognition and would send away anybody who he thought looked like they were on the dark side. at the start, it was all admirable. good morals. but things when times are tough. back then... it wasn't good."

"it wasn't good," honey repeated, unimpressed. "do you want to expand on that, or...?"

"you're young—"

"not young enough," argued harry, staring at his godfather with a pleading look. "tell us, sirius. please."

sirius looked back at remus, a silent conversation flickering between the two of them before he sighed, pointing his fingers at hermione, ron and honey. "i don't want your bloody parents hearing about any of the things i'm about to tell you."

"my parents are muggles," hermione retorted.

"mine won't hear," promised ron.

they all looked at honey. she sighed, before simply saying, "i'm not a snitch."

sirius blinked, staring at her for a few moments before he shook his head, continuing. "voldermort was at his peak back then. muggles were murdered every few months and his supporters grew in numbers. back then, you didn't know who to trust— not really. you didn't know who was his supporter or who was working for him. you couldn't even trust your family. a healthy dose of paranoia, that's what the..." sirius shook his head, "that's what a group of us called it.

"imagine it," sirius continued, "you're scared for yourself, for your family and for all your loved ones." he wilted a bit, looking off into the mouth of the cave, "every week, news came with more death, more disappearances, more torturing. being muggleborn was a death sentence, something to hide and something to fear. the ministry was a mess. in those types of times... sometimes the best is brought out in people."

"and sometimes the worse," remus said, voice sombre. "crouch worked well in the beginning, of course. but it all soured. after voldemort disappeared, it looked like it was only a matter of time before crouch settled himself as minister of magic— the papers blabbed about it. but then, crouch's son, barty, got caught."

"caught?" frowned harry. "doing what?"

"from the sounds of it when he was lugged into azkaban, he'd been trying to collude with death eaters and find a way for voldemort to return." sirius shivered, "he was in a cell close to mine. that rotten boy lost his mind in azkaban."

"crouch didn't try help him?" hermione gasped.

"crouch isn't that type of man, hermione." sirius snorted, "no, if anything, he doubled down. the most fatherly thing he did was allow his son a trial. by the time he was brought in and was locked away, he was screaming for his mum."

hermione's face morphed into a conflicted patch of sympathy and shock,"that's..."

"confusing," agreed sirius. "but azkaban isn't a kind place. it's the highest form of cruelty imaginable. even the worst don't deserve what goes on there."

he snatched at a drumstick of chicken, biting into it as he frowned. remus put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently, and after a few moments, sirius continued.

"he died a year after he arrived. it was only a matter of time. azkaban isn't clean by any means, and the food they give you... i'd rather keep to rats than go back to that. by the end of the year, all the dementors were swarming his cell."

the hufflepuff frowned, "what?"

"death," sirius supplied. "dementors get excited over it— terribly so. the crouchs were allowed a deathbed visit. i remember seeing crouch, half carrying his wife past my cell." he scrunched up his face, "she died too, i think. old crouch lost everything, but he didn't even care for a funeral for his son. after that, it was like dominoes."

"dominoes?" ron asked.

"muggle thing," hermione supplied quickly, "it's— oh, i'll explain it to you later." she turned to sirius, "so crouch lost the spot for minister?"

"quickly," sirius said, "very quickly. after barty died, everybody started to feel a bit more sympathy for him. sure, he was a rotten little shit in school, but everybody knew how he felt about his father. people came to the conclusion that his father had never cared, so that was why he'd started acting out. fudge got the spot, and crouch was gently shoved to the department of international magical cooperation."

"honey's mum works there," harry said, as if he suddenly remembered.

"your mother works with crouch?" sirius asked, tilting his head. "who?"

"erm... michelle jordan, but that's not... i can't really remember what her maiden name was, something-lace?"

"lovelace?" remus tried. "ravenclaw?"

"must be her," shrugged honey.

"she was a few years above us," sirius explained, "fiercely competitive at quidditch. merlin forbid you get on the wrong end of her beater's bat."

"my mum played quidditch?"

"you don't know?" sirius frowned. "strange."

"stranger that her boss is crouch," honey muttered. "he's a miserable old bastard."

"most people agree with you," assured sirius, "not to worry."

"moody says he's obsessed with catching dark wizards," harry added, "is that it? because he can't catch another?"

"he probably thinks he can get back into the good books of everybody if he does so," hummed remus. "not a bad idea, but with what's in the papers about crouch... he's become obsessed with it. manic."

"he has been sneaking around," ron began, eyes widening as he blurted out, "oh! and he went up to search snape's office!"

"that makes no sense at all," sirius replied, shaking his head. "if crouch wanted to investigate the slimy shitstain—"

"sirius," remus interjected.

"right, sorry. if crouch wanted to do anything, he'd have come to judge the tournament. it's the ideal excuse to make ideal visits and to keep an eye on him."

"so he's up to something?" harry asked.

"he was talking to karkaroff," ron insisted, nudging harry. "remember? you said he showed snapped something on his arm."

"i mean—"

"we can't assume," remus stated, squashing any conspiracy theory ron might've cooked up. he watched as sirius flipped through an old copy of the daily prophet. "if you want to find out more about snape, crouch and whatever else you have in mind— it's best to ask and observe." he nodded to ron, "your brother works for crouch, doesn't he? i would start there."

ron frowned, crossing his arms. he clearly was not a fan of the denial of his theories. "but moody and crouch, they're dead keen on looking into snape's office. why would they do that if they weren't suspicious?!"

"moody's old," remus said, "paranoid. i knew him when we were younger, and he probably hasn't gotten any better. he watches out for everything and anything."

"he probably would've searched every single office," sirius agreed.

"exactly," nodded remus. "after all the things moody has been through, i'm fairly certain that he doesn't really trust much, and probably trusts people less so. but... sirius and i knew moody when we were younger. he never killed, not if he could help it. he always brought people back alive if it were possible. crouch however..."

"odd," finished sirius. "if he's ill, i don't know why he'd want to be dragging himself down stairs to look in snape's office, and i don't know why he would have avoided the world cup. that's his area— magical cooperation. he probably should've been there because of protocol, regardless of anything else."

"stick to observation and asking around, but not too obviously." remus said, diverting the conversation. he looked at harry. "you've already found yourself muddled in the tournament, you don't need anything else going wrong."

"and i want to hear about anything going on," sirius added, "no sneaking out to see me, nothing like that. you don't need to give somebody an opportunity to attack you."

"i haven't been attacked though," harry grumbled, "not by people, just a dragon and a couple of grindylows."

sirius scowled, "don't care. this tournament is danger. i'll breathe freely when it's all over, and that's not until june. so... take care of yourselves."

"we'll keep up with it," remus said, smiling gently. he looked down at his watch for a moment, before standing up. "it's three, sirius. they should get going."

"i'm being carted off like they're my parents," hissed harry, clearly displeased.

"they care," argued back hermione lowly, as the two adults whispered amongst themselves. "it's sweet."

"you think everything is sweet." ron muttered.

"incorrect. i think caring about people is sweet. i certainly don't think your attitude is sweet, ronald. it's rotten actually."

ron glared. "you're such a windup!"

"well—"

"we'll walk you to the edge of the village," remus said, interjecting the two gryffindor's squabbling match. "i need to buy sirius a paper, anyways."

"you do not—"

"you're bored out of your mind, and i know you enjoy the crossword, even if you won't admit it," remus shot back.

sirius huffed, "fine." he turned to the teenagers, "be careful on the way back. and if you're talking about me, use the name snuffles, alright?"

"alright," the four of them said.

and with that, six people set off down the jagged stairs of the mountain, stumbling back to the edge of the icy wizarding town.

rosie speaks!

... hi.

this chapter is NOTT edited, sorry.
but it's here and it's like two years
late but it's here!! i'm trying to
get back into wattpad so hopefully
this helps me <3 welcome back to
this area of my writing, i hope you
enjoy!

not much to say besides i'm always
going to be a marauder girl and always
going to add wolfstar when i can. that's all
actually <3

i'll see you when i see you!

fuck jkr, trans rights are human rights,
and essentially be kind to yourself ❤️

ok bye bye now!!!!

word count: 7,046 words