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"It comes down to this," said Hermione, rubbing her forehead. "Either Mr. Crouch attacked Viktor, or somebody else attacked both of them when Viktor wasn't looking."

"It must've been Crouch," said Ron at once. "That's why he was gone when Blair and Dumbledore got there. He'd done a runner."

Blair shook her head. "I don't think so. He seemed really weak."

"I don't reckon he was up to Disapparating or anything." Harry said.

Blair shook her head once more. "You can't Disapparate here in Hogwarts."

Ron looked at her, bewildered. "You read Hogwarts, A History?"

Blair winked and pointed at Hermione. "I have one right here." Hermione rolled her eyes before smiling back at her.

"Okay... how's this for a theory," said Ron excitedly. "Krum attacked Crouch — no, wait for it — and then Stunned himself!"

"And Mr. Crouch evaporated, did he?" said Hermione coldly.

"Oh yeah..." Ron frowned.

It was daybreak. Blair, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had crept out of their dormitories very early and hurried up to the Owlery together to send a note to Sirius. Now they were standing looking out at the misty grounds. All four of them were puffy-eyed and pale because they had been talking late into the night about Mr. Crouch.

"Just go through it again, Blair," said Hermione. "What did Mr. Crouch actually say?"

"I've told you, he wasn't making much sense," said Blair. "He said he wanted to warn Dumbledore about something. He definitely mentioned Bertha Jorkins, and he seemed to think she was dead. He kept saying stuff was his fault... He mentioned his son."

"Well, that was his fault," said Hermione testily.

"He was out of his mind," said Blair. "Half the time he seemed to think his wife and son were still alive, and he kept talking to Percy about work and giving him instructions."

"And... remind me what he said about Voldemort?" said Harry tentatively.

"He said he's getting stronger, and he mentioned you, Harry and the weapon. Do you have any idea what it is?" Blair said thoughtfully.

"No, we've been too busy to think about it." Harry said dully.

There was a pause. Then Ron said in a falsely confident voice, "But he was out of his mind, like you said, so half of it was probably just raving..."

"That couldn't be. He was sanest that moment he was talking about Voldemort," said Blair, and Ron winced at the sound of the name. "He was having real trouble stringing two words together, but that was when he seemed to know where he was, and know what he wanted to do. He just kept saying he had to see Dumbledore."

Blair sighed. "If Snape hadn't held me up, we might've got there in time. 'The headmaster is busy, Wood... what's this rubbish, Wood?' Why couldn't he have just got out of the way?"

"Maybe he didn't want you to get there!" said Harry quickly. "Maybe — hang on — how fast d'you reckon he could've gotten down to the forest? D'you reckon he could've beaten you and Dumbledore there?"

"No, it wasn't possible unless he really is a Vampire and turns to a bat," said Blair.

"Wouldn't put it past him," Ron muttered.

"We need to see Professor Moody," said Hermione. "We need to find out whether he found Mr. Crouch."

"If he had the Marauder's Map on him, it would've been easy," said Harry.

"Unless Crouch was already outside the grounds," said Ron, "because it only shows up to the boundaries, doesn't —"

"Shh!" said Hermione suddenly. Somebody was climbing the steps up to the Owlery. Blair could hear two voices arguing, coming closer and closer.

"— that's blackmail, that is, we could get into a lot of trouble for that —"

"— we've tried being polite; it's time to play dirty, like him. He wouldn't like the Ministry of Magic knowing what he did —"

"I'm telling you, if you put that in writing, it's blackmail!"

"Yeah, and you won't be complaining if we get a nice fat payoff, will you?"

The Owlery door banged open. Fred and George came over the threshold, then froze at the sight of Blair, Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"What're you doing here?" Ron and Fred said at the same time.

"Sending a letter," said Harry and George in unison.

"What, at this time?" said Hermione and Fred.

Blair smiled at the twins and mouthed. "Is it about that?" Fred and George nodded.

Fred grinned. "Fine — we won't ask you what you're doing, if you don't ask us," he said. He was holding a sealed envelope in his hands.

"Well, don't let us hold you up," George said, making a mock bow and pointing at the door.

Ron didn't move. "Who're you blackmailing?" he said.

The grin vanished from Fred's face. Blair saw George half glance at Fred, before smiling at Ron. "Don't be stupid, I was only joking," he said easily.

"Didn't sound like that," said Ron.

Fred and George looked at each other. Then Fred said abruptly, "I've told you before, Ron, keep your nose out if you like it the shape it is. Can't see why you would, but —"

"It's my business if you're blackmailing someone," said Ron. "George's right, you could end up in serious trouble for that."

Blair saw Fred and George send her glances, asking for help. "Alright, that's enough. It's all a joke, Ronniekins. Let them be."

Fred sent her a thankful glance as George took the letter and began attaching it to the leg of the nearest barn owl. "You're starting to sound a bit like our dear older brother, you are, Ron. Carry on like this and you'll be made a prefect."

"No, I won't!" said Ron hotly.

George carried the barn owl over to the window and it took off. He turned around and grinned at Ron. "Well, stop telling people what to do then. See you later. Thanks, Little B." He and Fred left the Owlery. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at one another then at Blair.

"You don't think they know something about all this, do you?" Hermione whispered. "About Crouch and everything?"

"No," said Harry. "If it was something that serious, they'd tell someone. They'd tell Dumbledore." Ron, however, was looking uncomfortable.

"What's the matter?" Hermione asked him.

"Well..." said Ron slowly, "I dunno if they would. They're... they're obsessed with making money lately, I noticed it when I was hanging around with them — when — you know —"

"We weren't talking." Blair finished the sentence for him.

"Yeah, but blackmail..." Harry said worriedly.

"It's this joke shop idea they've got," said Ron. "I thought they were only saying it to annoy Mum, but they really mean it, they want to start one. They've only got a year left at Hogwarts, they keep going on about how it's time to think about their future, and Dad can't help them, and they need gold to get started."

Blair let out a chuckle. "Don't worry. If you think they're doing something illegal like blackmailing, they aren't. They wouldn't break the law."

"Wouldn't they?" said Ron, looking skeptical. "I dunno... they don't exactly mind breaking rules, do they?"

"Well, we all break rules, Ronniekins. They know what they're doing. Trust them. Or if you don't, trust me." Blair said cheerfully.

Ron muttered under his breath. "That doesn't assure me at all." He stared at the window through which Fred and George's owl had departed, then said, "Come on, let's get some breakfast."

"D'you think it's too early to go and see Professor Moody?" Hermione said as they went down the spiral staircase.

Blair shuddered at a sudden memory. "Yes. Mister Alastor once blasted me with a hex when I tried waking him up. Thought I was trying to attack him while he was asleep."

"Let's give it till break." Harry said.

History of Magic had rarely gone so slowly. All four of them were so tired, they put their heads down on the desks and slept; even Hermione wasn't taking her usual notes, but was sitting with her head on her hand, gazing at Professor Binns with her eyes out of focus.

When the bell finally rang, they hurried out into the corridors toward the Dark Arts classroom and found Professor Moody leaving it. He looked as tired as they felt. The eyelid of his normal eye was drooping, giving his face an even more lopsided appearance than usual.

"Professor Moody?" Harry called as they made their way toward him through the crowd.

"Hello, Potter, Little B," growled Moody. His magical eye followed a couple of passing first years, who sped up, looking nervous; it rolled into the back of Moody's head and watched them around the corner before he spoke again. "Come in here."

He stood back to let them into his empty classroom, limped in after them, and closed the door.

"Did you find him?" Blair asked without preamble. "Mr. Crouch?"

"No," said Moody. He moved over to his desk, sat down, stretched out his wooden leg with a slight groan, and pulled out his hip flask. "Did you use the map?" Harry said.

"Of course," said Moody, taking a swig from his flask. "Took a leaf out of your books, Potter, Little B. Summoned it from my office into the forest. He wasn't anywhere on there."

"So he did Disapparate?" said Ron.

"You can't Disapparate on the grounds, Ron!" said Hermione. "There are other ways he could have disappeared, aren't there, Professor?"

Moody's magical eye quivered when it rested on Hermione. "You're another one who might think about a career as an Auror, though someone had already told me that," he told her. "Mind works the right way, Granger."

Hermione flushed pink with pleasure and rolled her eyes at the grinning Blair.

"Well, he wasn't invisible," said Harry. "The map shows invisible people. He must've left the grounds, then."

"But under his own steam?" said Hermione eagerly, "or because someone made him?"

"Yeah, someone could've — could've pulled him onto a broom and flown off with him, couldn't they?" said Ron quickly.

"We can't rule out kidnap," growled Moody.

"So," said Ron, "d'you reckon he's somewhere in Hogsmeade?"

Blair shook her head. "He could be anywhere now. If someone took him, they would've brought him somewhere far from here."

Moody nodded proudly at her before he yawned then said, "Now, Dumbledore's told me you four fancy yourselves as investigators, but there's nothing you can do for Crouch. The Ministry'll be looking for him now, Dumbledore's notified them. Potter, Little B, you just keep your minds on the third task."

"What?" said Blair. "Oh yeah..." Her stomach suddenly dropped. She hadn't thought of the maze since she'd left it with Krum the previous night.

"Should be right up your street, this one," said Moody, looking up at Harry and Blair and scratching his scarred and stubbly chin. "From what Dumbledore's said, you've managed to get through stuff like this plenty of times. Broke your way through a series of obstacles guarding the Sorcerer's Stone in your first year, didn't you?"

"We helped," Ron said quickly. "Hermione and I helped them."

Moody grinned. "Well, help them practice for this one, and I'll be very surprised if not one of them doesn't win," said Moody.

"In the meantime... constant vigilance, Little B, Potter. Constant vigilance." He took another long draw from his hip flask, and his magical eye swiveled onto the window.

"You two," counseled Moody, his normal eye on Ron and Hermione, "you stick close to Potter and Little B, all right? I'm keeping an eye on things, but all the same... you can never have too many eyes out."

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Sirius sent their owl back the very next morning. It fluttered down beside Blair at the same moment that a tawny owl landed in front of Hermione, clutching a copy of the Daily Prophet in its beak.

She took the newspaper, scanned the first few pages, said, "Ha! She hasn't got wind of Crouch!" then joined Blair, Ron and Harry in reading what Sirius had to say on the mysterious events of the night before last.

Blair — 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 and Harry's didn't get into the Goblet of Fire by accident. If someone's trying to attack you, they're on their last chance. You and Harry stay close to Ron and Hermione, 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 and Harry's word you won't stray out-of-bounds again.

Sirius

"Who's he, to lecture us about being out-of-bounds? After all the stuff he did at school!" said Harry in mild indignation. Blair folded up Sirius's letter and put it inside her robes.

"He's worried about you two!" said Hermione sharply. "Just like Moody and Hagrid! So listen to them!"

Blair ran a hand through her hair in frustration. "No one's tried to attack any of us all year. No one's done anything at all-"

"Except put your name in the Goblet of Fire," said Hermione. "And they must've done that for a reason, Blair. Snuffles is right. Maybe they've been biding their time. Maybe this is the task they're going to get you two, though we're still not sure as to why Blair is involved in all this."

"Look," said Harry impatiently, "let's say Sirius is right, and someone stunned Krum to kidnap Crouch. Well, they would've been in the trees near Blair and Krum, wouldn't they?"

Blair nodded along. "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!" said Hermione. "But if you die during a task —"

"They didn't care about attacking Krum, did they?" said Blair. "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."

"Blair, Harry, I don't understand it either," said Hermione desperately. "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. And you make sure you write back to Sirius and promise him you two are not going to go sneaking off alone again."

For the next few days, Blair spent all of her free time either in the library with Harry, Hermione and Ron, looking up hexes, or else in empty classrooms, which they sneaked into to practice. Blair taught Harry how to do the Stunning Spell while she practiced it herself. The trouble was that practicing it involved certain sacrifices on Ron's and Hermione's part.

"Can't we kidnap Mrs. Norris?" Ron suggested on Monday lunchtime as he lay flat on his back in the middle of their Charms classroom, having just been Stunned and reawoken by Harry for the fifth time in a row.

"Let's stun her for a bit. Or you could use Dobby, Blair, I bet he'd do anything to help you. I'm not complaining or anything" — he got gingerly to his feet, rubbing his backside — "but I'm aching all over..."

"Well, you keep missing the cushions, don't you!" said Hermione impatiently, rearranging the pile of cushions they had used for the Banishing Spell, which Flitwick had left in a cabinet. "Just try and fall backward!"

"Once you're Stunned, you can't aim too well, Hermione!" said Ron angrily. "Why don't you take a turn?"

"Well, I think Harry and Blair have got it now, anyway," said Hermione hastily. "And we don't have to worry about Disarming, because they've been able to do that for ages... I think we ought to start on some of these hexes this evening."

She looked down the list they had made in the library. "I like the look of this one," she said, "this Impediment Curse. Should slow down anything that's trying to attack you. We'll start with that one."

The bell rang. They hastily shoved the cushions back into Flitwick's cupboard and slipped out of the classroom.

"See you at dinner!" said Hermione, and she set off for Arithmancy, while Blair, Harry and Ron headed toward North Tower, and Divination. Broad strips of dazzling gold sunlight fell across the corridor from the high windows. The sky outside was so brightly blue it looked as though it had been enameled.

Blair loosened her tie and took off her robes. She stood in her white shirt and v-collar. "Bloody hell, can't she put out that fire?"

As they went down the trapdoor, Blair raised an eyebrow when people started staring at her, and some even started giggling.

Ron snorted beside her. "Hermione won't be happy to hear this." Blair looked at him in confusion as they sat down and Harry opened the window slightly to let the breeze in.

"My dears," said Professor Trelawney, sitting down in her winged armchair in front of the class and peering around at them all with her strangely enlarged eyes.

"We have almost finished our work on planetary divination. Today, however, will be an excellent opportunity to examine the effects of Mars, for he is placed most interestingly at the present time. If you will all look this way, I will dim the lights..." She waved her wand and the lamps went out. The fire was the only source of light now.

Professor Trelawney bent down and lifted, from under her chair, a miniature model of the solar system, contained within a glass dome. It was a beautiful thing; each of the moons glimmered in place around the nine planets and the fiery sun, all of them hanging in thin air beneath the glass.

Blair watched lazily when she heard a thud beside her. She looked to see Harry on the floor, panting and groaning, as he started yelling and clutched at his scar. All attention went towards them as Blair and Ron crouched down beside him. "Harry! Harry!" Blair started tapping his cheek lightly.

Harry opened his eyes and Blair saw tears building up in his eyes.

"You all right?" Ron said.

"Of course he isn't!" said Professor Trelawney, looking thoroughly excited. Her great eyes loomed over Harry, gazing at him. "What was it, Potter? A premonition? An apparition? What did you see?"

"Nothing," Harry said, but Blair knew he was lying.

"You were clutching your scar!" said Professor Trelawney. "You were rolling on the floor, clutching your scar! Come now, Potter, I have experience in these matters!"

Blair scoffed and helped Harry up. "I'll bring him to the Hospital Wing, Professor. He needs someone who can actually help him." Snickers rose from around the room.

Professor Trelawney ignored her. "My dear, you were undoubtedly stimulated by the extraordinary clairvoyant vibrations of my room!" said Professor Trelawney "If you leave now, you may lose the opportunity to see further than you have ever —"

"I don't want to see anything except a headache cure," said Harry. He stood up and leaned on Blair. The class backed away. They all looked unnerved.

"See you later," Blair muttered to Ron, and she picked up her and Harry's bags and headed for the trapdoor, ignoring Professor Trelawney, who was wearing an expression of great frustration, as though she had just been denied a real treat.

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