Sirius wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, "That it does... one moment, a hero, poised to become the Minister of Magic... the next, his son dead, his wife dead, the family name dishonored, and, so I've heard since I escaped, a big drop in popularity. Once the boy had died, people started feeling a bit more sympathetic toward the son and started asking how a nice young lad from a good family had gone so badly astray. The conclusion was that his 'father never' cared much for him."
Lucifer's mind flashed images of his own father, "So, Cornelius Fudge got the top job, and Crouch was shunted sideways into the 'Department of International Magical Cooperation..."
There was a long silence at what he concluded from Sirius's points. Hermione thought about everything she knew too about Crouch, 'It adds up, what Sirius said... but it still feels like something is missing... Crouch's son dies, his wife dies... dammit, I'm not getting anywhere, what am I missing?'
"Moody says Crouch is obsessed with catching Dark Wizards," Harry told another bit of good news, he had found a safe place with the Professor.
"Yeah, I've heard it's become a bit of a mania with him," Sirius nodded, "if you ask me, he still thinks he can bring back his old popularity by catching one more Death Eater."
"Lucifer's done killed a lot of them, not sure how many are currently out of Azkaban for him to track down," Hermione said a bit grimly.
"And he sneaked up here to search Snape's office!" Ron said triumphantly, looking at Hermione, but she was ignoring him.
"Why, Weasely? Why would he do that, but not continue being a judge in Tournament?" Lucifer asked him.
"I agree with Lucifer, it doesn't make sense. It'd be an ideal excuse to make regular visits to Hogwarts and keep an eye on him."
"I wonder why Dumbledore trusts Snape at all?" Hermione asked, but didn't expect an answer.
"You've got me... if it wasn't for a voice in my head that sounded suspiciously like you, Hermione, I would have killed him back when you had to go see Madam Pomfrey."
"I remember that... you were terrifying," Harry said, unable to forget that incident. "Karkaroff seems to trust Snape enough to show him something on his arm, according to Lucifer."
"He showed him something on his arm?" Sirius asked, looking bewildered, but then shrugged, "I've no idea what that's about."
Lucifer was looking right at Sirius, and he wondered why he just lied to them. The only thing that bothered him about it, oddly enough, was that Sirius seemed like he couldn't tell them, even though he wanted to, "He seemed genuinely worried, though, and if he's going to Snape for answers..."
Sirius stared at the cave wall, then made a grimace of frustration, "There's still the fact Dumbledore trusts Snape, and he trusts where a lot of others don't, but I just can't see him letting Snape teach at Hogwarts if he ever worked for Voldemort."
'Something happened, something had to have happened for Dumbledore to hire Snape as teacher and not get rid of him after last year. He got rid of Trelawney... what reason could he have for not getting rid of Snape? Did something happen that brought him to the Light Side if he was indeed one of Voldemort's supporters?' Hermione once again racked her brain for an answer, but without more information, she wasn't going to get one.
"Why are Moody and Crouch so keen on getting into his office then?" Ron asked stubbornly.
"Well, I wouldn't put it past Mad-Eye to have searched every single teacher's office not long after arriving at Hogwarts. He takes his 'Defense Against the Dark Arts' seriously. I'm not sure he trusts anyone at all, and after the things he's seen, it's not surprising... I'll say this for Moody, though, he never killed if he could help it. Always brought people in alive where possible, he would. He was tough, but he never descended to the level of the Death Eaters."
'That's one thing I think I disagree with... killing them works better in the long term for me,' Lucifer thought darkly.
"Crouch, though, he's a different matter. Is he really ill? If he is, why did he make the effort to drag himself to Snape's office? And if not... What's he up to? What was he doing at the World Cup that was so important he didn't turn up in the Top Box? What's he been doing while he should've been judging the Tournament?"
Sirius lapsed into silence, still staring at the cave wall. Buckbeak was ferreting around on the rocky floor, looking for bones he might have overlooked, "You say your brother's Crouch's Personal Assistant? Any chance you could ask him if he's seen the boss lately?"
"I can try," Ron said, though he was doubtful, "better not make it sound like I reckon Crouch is up to anything dodgy, though. Percy loves him."
"And you might try and find out whether they've got any leads on Bertha Jorkins while you're at it," Sirius said, gesturing to the second 'Daily Prophet' copy.
"Bagman told me they hadn't."
"Yes, he's quoted saying as much in the article in there," Sirius nodded to the paper, "blustering on about how bad Bertha's memory is. Well, maybe she's changed since I knew her, but the Bertha I knew wasn't forgetful at all, quite the reverse. She was a bit dim, but she had an excellent memory for gossip. It used to get her into a lot of trouble; she never knew when to keep her mouth shut. I can see her being a bit of a liability at the Ministry of Magic... maybe that's why Bagman didn't bother to look for her for so long..."
"That's also a reason to find her as soon as possible, Harry told me Bertha Jorkins went on holiday in Albania and never came back. Well, we all know Voldemort is hiding there too... they should've tried to 'find' her sooner, she'd be good as dead now," Lucifer said angrily.
Sirius gave an enormous sigh and rubbed his shadowed eyes, "The Ministry always was nothing but fools... what time is it?"
Hermione checked her watch, "It's half past three."
"You'd better get back to school," Sirius said, getting to his feet, "now listen..." he looked particularly hard at Harry, "I don't want you lot sneaking out to see me, all right? Just send notes to me here. I still want to hear about anything odd. But you're not to go leaving Hogwarts without permission, Harry; it would be an ideal opportunity for someone to attack you."
"No one's tried to attack me so far, except a dragon, a couple of grindylows, and Merpeople when I tried to save more than just my hostage," Harry said using his sarcastic foul tongue but Sirius scowled at him, it was eerily behaviour of Lily.
"I don't care... I'll breathe freely again when this tournament's over and that's not until June, and while Lucifer might be the most powerful Wizard since 'Merlin,' he can't be with you all the time. And don't forget, if you're talking about me among yourselves, call me Snuffles, okay?"
He handed Harry the empty napkin and flask and went to tell Buckbeak goodbye, "I'll walk to the edge of the village with you, see if I can scrounge another paper."
He transformed back into the great black dog before they left the cave, and they walked back down the mountainside with him, which Hermione decided was much easier.
Once they got back to the stile, he let each of them pat his head, before turning and setting off at a run around the outskirts of the village.
Harry, Ron, Lucifer, and Hermione made their way back into Hogsmeade and up back to Hogwarts.
"Wonder if Percy knows all that stuff about Crouch?" Ron asked as they walked back up the path to the Castle, "But maybe he doesn't care... it'd probably just make him admire Crouch even more. Yeah, Percy loves rules. He'd just say Crouch was refusing to break them for his own son."
"I don't mean to sound harsh," Hermione started, "but Percy seems like he'd throw any of his family to the Dementors."
"No, I think you're right," Ron agreed with her, "if he thought we were standing in the way of his career... well, he is ambitious, you know?"
They walked up the stone steps into the Entrance Hall, where the delicious smells of dinner wafted toward them from the Great Hall.
"Poor old Snuffles," Ron said, breathing deeply, "he must really love you, Harry... imagine having to live off rats?"
"We all do things we don't want to, for the people we love and care about," Lucifer said as they went up the stairs to change out of their heavy winter clothes.
'And I'd do anything for you, Lucifer, even if it were of no benefit to me,' Hermione thought to herself, staring at the back of him as she walked behind him, 'Anything.'
.......
Hermione's heart gave a wild, unprompted flutter. She smiled, stepping up on her tiptoes to press a quick, firm kiss to his lips, "Anyway, if you go raging off to Dumbledore's office again, I'm going to have to drag you back by your ear."
"I'd like to see you try, Granger."
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