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𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐏𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐌 - the ◦'𖥸'◦ - the 𝒜𝒞𝒯 𝒯𝒲𝒪
↳ ❛ what did they do that was so horrible ❜︎
𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟱𝟯 / / 🏛🧺 ˚◞𑁍ﾟ𝙳𝙸𝙾𝚁𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙸𝙰𝙼𝙴𝚃

As they entered march the weather came drier. 

Harry sent an owl to Sirius and in return, he got a letter that was almost as short as the previous one. 

Be a stile at end of the road out of Hogsmeade ( Pas Devish and Banges ) at two o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Make sure to bring Celeste.

"He hasn't come back to Hogsmeade?" said Ron incredulously. 

"It looks like it, doesn't it?" said Hermione, glimpsing at Harry to see his reaction at the mention of the pretty Slytherin girl. 

To be frank, she was getting sick of their constant cold shoulder. They were best friends! Even before they joined Hogwarts they were the best of friends and now it's like she couldn't recognize Harry anymore. 

It wasn't like he changed, more like he lacked sleep and forgot to eat sometimes due to his anxiousness about the Tournament. For Celeste, she missed her best friend greatly but like her Uncle Sirius and Regulus, they both are hard-core stubborn. 

"You need to talk to her Harry,"

"I know," Harry said gloomily. He had been a complete arse to her for the past few weeks...months all because he didn't fess up his feelings. Now look where she is now, dating Cedric Diggory. Other than his jealousy, he missed his person. It wasn't the same without her. Sure he had Hermione and Ron but Celeste was always there whenever nobody understood him. 

He glanced over at the Slytherin table and saw Cedric carrying her bag over his shoulder while his hand intertwined with Celeste's. 

𑁍ﾟ

"I can't believe Skeeter wrote about Hermione like that. I should talk to her after class." Celeste crushed the magazine and looked ready to cast Incendio on it. 

Cedric also seemed pissed at the Rita Skeeter lately for basically slandering Hermione. The two have become good friends ever since they started dating. 

"My dad told me to stay away from her but how can I when she's constantly following me...It's like she knows where I'm at." Cedric shivered at the thought of the woman. 

"She's one creepy woman." Celeste agreed. 

Once they were near Snape's classroom Cedric tried to lean down and kiss her only for Draco to pull her into the classroom.

"I just ate breakfast and I'm not about to throw up at the sight of my cousin snogging the Hufflepuff prince charming," Draco commented snidely earning looks from Blaise and Theo. 

Theo rolled his eyes, "Don't listen to him, go live your life Cece." 

"I mean that Hufflepuff bloke happens to be very good-looking," Blaise added earning an amused expression from Celeste. 

When they sat down on the other side of the dungeon room Draco took the opportunity to flash POTTER STINKS as Snape turned around. 

"Ah...reading magazines under the table as well," Snape added, snatching up the Witch Weekly. "Ten points from Gryffindor...oh but of curse..." Snape's black eyes glittered as they fell on Rita Skeeter's article. "The Love Triangle over the Girl Who Lived."

Celeste turned red in embarrassment and shock. She looked at her friends and cousin. Draco was already flipping through his copy furiously and stopped at the page where a picture is taken. 

The picture shows Cedric and Celeste in each other's arms after the second task and Harry in another picture looking in their direction. 

"What the fuck..." Celeste muttered. 

"I'm going to kill that wretch." seethed Draco. He ripped up a parchment of paper and scribbled on it. 

Blaise rolled his eyes, "What's your albino of a father going to do about it?" 

Celeste kept her head down for the whole remaining lesson. The looks that were flashed by her friends ( Ron, Hermione, Blaise, and Theo ) were of concern while Harry also seemed flustered. 

There was a knock on the door. 

"Enter," said Snape in his usual voice. 

"We need to talk," said Karkaroff abruptly when he had reached Snape. He seemed too determined to speak with him. 

Harry kept his eyes on the ginger roots listening hard.

"I'll talk to you after my lesson, Karkaroff," Snape muttered, but Karkaroff interrupted him. 

"I want to talk now, while you can't slip off, Severus. You've been avoiding me."

"After the lesson," Snape snapped. 

"What's so urgent?" he heard Snape hiss at Karkaroff once class was over. Celeste heard a small crash and saw Harry dropping down to pick up his armadillo bile. 

Noticing what he was doing, Celeste went over to help him out.

"Here," Celeste gave him a rag and the Potter accepted it.

"Well?" said Karkaroff, still making every effort not to move his lips. Celeste noticed that he had the sleeve of his robe pulled up to show him something on his forearm. 

"Do you see? It's never been this clear, never since --"

"Put it away!" snarled Snape, his black eyes sweeping the classroom. 

"But you must have noticed --"

"We can talk later, Karkaroff," spat Snape. "Potter! Black! What are you doing?"

"Clearing up my armadillo bile, Professor," said Harry innocently, holding up the rag. 

"I was just helping him our Professor," Celeste commented. 

They left the classroom as soon as they cleaned up the mess. Harry was the first to speak up, "I'm sorry about how I've been acting these past couple of weeks. I have no excuse for it. I was a complete git, I know because the next day Hermione, Lavender, and Parvarti poured pumpkin juice on me.

Celeste snickered at the memory but frowned sadly, "You've ignored me Harry because of what exactly? Because I started talking to Cedric? In case you've forgotten Harry he and I have been friends for years."

"Well, he hasn't been friends with you longer than we have." Harry retorted earning a look from his friend. 

"You're always going to be my best friend." Celeste sighed. She had never seen Harry act like this ever since she befriended Theo and Blaise. But for some reason, this seemed different. 

"I just...I just don't want to lose you." Harry said defeatedly. Despite his feelings, he still wanted to be friends with her because above everything he wished for her to be happy. 

"You'll never lose me, I hope you know that." 

𑁍ﾟ

"Finally," Ron stated in relief and happiness that both his friends made up. 

Hermione smiled happily and embraced Celeste, "I was this close to getting McGonagall involved."

"Not Minnie." Celeste shook her head, remembering how much she'd purposely tried to group Harry and her together. 

They went to Gladrags Wizardbear to buy a present for Dobby. Celeste went a bit overboard and bought him five pairs of sweaters and hats for him to wear. A bit worried for the elf that he worked down in the freezing kitchens. 

"I've never been down this direction before," Celeste murmured when they entered the countryside around Hogsmeade. The cottages were fewer down there and the gardens were pretty. They turned a corner to see a large shaggy dog carrying some newspapers in his mouth. 

"Hello Sirius," said Harry. 

"Uncle Padfoot." Celeste greeted already tackling the dog in an embrace. 

The dog happily barked at her excitement and wagged his tail. 

The black dog sniffed Harry's bag eagerly and turned and began to trot away from the scrubby patch on the ground that rose to meet the root of the mountain. 

Eventually, they found themselves at the higher part of the mountain half an hour later. 

Celeste found herself petting buckbeak and this time he wore fresh clothes that Andromeda bought him. 

He looked like he got a fresh haircut and this time looked youthful in his thirties. 

"Thanks," said Sirius, grabbing a drumstick that Harry gave him. "Don't get me wrong, I love Andy but she's a horrible cook."

Celeste snorts at this. 

"What are you doing here Sirius?" he asked. 

"Fulfilling my duty as godfather and a uncle. By the way, I see you've made up now..."

"The ass finally fessed up why he's acting like a git. But we are getting there." Celeste said. 

"I want to be on the spot. Your last letter...well, let's just say things are getting fishier. I've been stealing the paper every time someone throws one out, and by the looks of things, I'm not the only one who's worried."

Sirius turned to Celeste, "No boys!"

The female Black rolled her eyes, "I can date any boy or girl I like."

"What if they catch you? hat if you're seen?"

"Have a little faith Harry, it's Sirius," Celeste said. "Nobody knows that Sirius is an Animagus. Only Dumbledore, the Tonks, and us."

Ron passed over the Daily Prophets to see the Mystery Illness of Bartemius Crouch and the second, Ministry Witch still missing.

"They're making it sound like he's dying," said Harry slowly. "But he can't be that ill if he managed to get up here..."

"My brothers Crouch's personal assistant. He says Crouch is suffering from Overwork."

"Mind you, he did look ill, the last time I saw him up close." Harry pointed out as he read the story. 

Celeste shrugged, "He looked like that too, except he looked at me like he saw a ghost."

"Your mother was a big person at the Ministry," Sirius stated. "Worked with the Prewett Twins."

"Getting his comeuppance for sacking Winky, isn't he?" Hermione said with an edged tone. 

"I don't know whether to feel bad because he treats House Elves like shit." Celeste folded her arms. 

"Hermione and Celeste are obsessed with House Elves."

Sirius looked interested. 

"Crouch sacked his house-elf?"

"At the Quidditch World Cup," Celeste added and Harry launched the story of the Dark Mark's appearance. 

Once Harry finished the story they began launching who would've cast the Dark Mark and thought Ludo Bagman was suspicious out of the Malfoys, Ministers, and other people. 

Celeste despite all the horrible things she heard from her friends about the Malfoy's didn't want to believe that Lucius Malfoy cast the Dark Mark. 

She was just learning about them.

"....D'you know Crouch then?"

"Oh, I know Crouch all right." Sirius' face darkened, "He was the one who gave the order for me to be sent to Azkaban without a trial."

Celeste let out an annoyed yell and scowled. 

"You're kidding!"

"They gave you no trial?!"

"No I'm not," said Sirius taking another bite of his chicken. "Crouch used to be the Head of the Department of Law Enforcement, didn't you know?"

The four shook their heads. 

Sirius began rambling on about Crouch's principles being good from the beginning during the times of the war which slowly became worse. He was harsh against any Voldemort supporter. 

"Doesn't he have a son that went to Azkaban?' questioned Celeste and this earned another surprised look from her uncle. 

"Yep," said Sirius throwing the chicken bone at Buckbeak then tearing apart a loaf of bread. "Nasty little shock for old Barty, I'd imagine. Should have spent a bit more time at home with his family, shouldn't he? Ought to have left the office early once in a while...gotten to know his own son."

"Was his son a Death Eater?"

"No idea," Sirius shook his head. The only one who truly knew the truth was a number of Death Eaters and Reyna. 

"I was in Azkaban myself when he was brought in."

"So it's true that he even sent his own son to Azkaban. His own son to the dementors," said Celeste quietly and Sirius looked at her anxiously. 

Why was she asking about Crouch?

"They took him into a cell near mine. He was screaming for his mother by nightfall. He went quiet after a few days, though...they all went quiet in the end, except when they shrieked in their sleep."

"So he's still in Azkaban."

"No," said Sirius, "No he's not in them anymore. He died about a year after they brought him in."

"Died?" 

"He wasn't the only one. Most go mad in there." Sirius said bitterly. 

Celeste's mind traveled back to some of her relatives in Azkaban. Her mother's brother and her uncle Johnathan went by Jasper and Lestranges. 

What did they all do that was so horrible that they landed in Azkaban?

authors note

Hey guys! sorry for the delay on the new update. Recently I quit my job at Chipotle, I've been stressed over assignments in college, and I've been working at Target now.