"He really thought he would still have a shot with me!?" Hermione growled angrily.
"Everything I just said and that's the thing that bothers you the most?" Harry asked her.
"I'm sorry, but Viktor Krum's audacity about it infuriates me!" She yelled in the empty Common Room. It was the afternoon of the day Hermione found out her parents were getting a divorce, and finding out that Viktor asked Harry if Hermione still didn't want to go out with him struck a nerve in her that made her temporarily forget about her parents, "Tell him he can shove his question up his arse!"
"I like this side of Hermione," Jake said, causing Hermione's face to heat up, "She takes no shit from anyone."
"Guys, can we get back on topic? About how I found Mr. Crouch wandering the Forest?" Harry asked them.
"It's concerning, Harry, trust me. I'm more aggravated that Snape prevented you from seeing Dumbledore, and I'm mad that I wasn't there... I'd have either forced him aside, or I'd have forced the spiral staircase down so we could talk to the Headmaster," Jake said.
"But you weren't, so there's no point in being angry about it," Hermione said.
Ron was being unusually quiet, "You alright, Ron?" Harry asked him.
"Yeah, I'm just trying to wrap my head around the situation... I think it had to have been Crouch..." Ron said, looking up at them, "that's why he was gone when you and Dumbledore showed up. He'd done a runner."
"No, I don't think so," Harry said, shaking his head, "he seemed really weak, too weak to do anything like running."
"Then I've got nothing..." Ron said, throwing his hands in the air.
"We don't have all the information... I'm sure of that... then again, when have we ever had all the information?" Jake said spitefully.
"It doesn't make anything easier, that's for sure," Hermione said in agreement.
With nothing else to add to the discussion, they all agreed to put it aside for the night and talk about it with fresh minds tomorrow.
Just as day broke the next morning, the four of them hurried up to the Owlery to send Sirius another letter about what happened. They chose to wander out to the misty grounds to talk about it again without chance of any interruption or someone overhearing them. As they walked, Jake looked towards the Beauxbatons Carriage; Fleur hadn't said a word to him since the Second Task's conclusion.
"Just go over it again, Harry..." he had heard Hermione say, "What did Crouch actually say?"
"I've told you, he wasn't making much sense," Harry said, "he said he wanted to warn Dumbledore about something. He also mentioned Bertha Jorkins, I know he did, and he seemed to think her to be dead. He kept saying stuff was his fault... and he mentioned his son."
"Well, that was his fault," Hermione said testily.
"He was out of his mind," Harry said, "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."
'I wonder... What if some of what he said was true about it? What if one of them is still alive?' Jake thought to himself.
"And... remind me what he said about You-Know-Who?" Ron asked tentatively.
"That he's getting stronger... with each passing day," Harry said, a slight worry to his voice.
There was a pause. Ron's face was contorted into something resembling fear, then he said in a falsely confident voice, "But he was out of his mind, like you said, so half of it was probably just raving..."
"He was sanest when trying to talk about Voldemort," Harry said, Ron winced at 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."
"And then that greasy-haired bastard held you up in seeing Dumbledore, and I guarantee you he won't be held accountable for his actions..." Jake said venomously, "he never seems to be held accountable for anything he fucking does."
"We need to see Professor Moody... at Lunch Break. Sounds good?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, sounds fine to me," Jake agreed, but his focus was on the Beauxbatons Carriage in the distance.
Breakfast was to start in five minutes, and the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students would be making their way up to the school soon. He kind of wanted to wait to give Viktor the punch in the face he deserved, but he also wanted to talk to Fleur. He had to talk to her, and put this to rest. When he did talk to Fleur, they would either rekindle whatever they had between them, just become friends and nothing more, or she wouldn't want to speak to him ever again. To be quite honest, he didn't know which he would rather have happen.
He refocused on his friends, only to find that Hermione was the only one still there, "They already gone to Breakfast?"
"Yes," Hermione said quietly.
He said nothing, but he nodded to her and they both walked to the Castle side-by-side.
*******
History of Magic class had gone rarely slow, even to Jake, and he was the least likely to complain about the class. He saw that Harry kept checking Ron's watch, but it obviously wouldn't make the time go any faster.
He wasn't taking notes, as he had taken an entire afternoon and evening back in early February writing brief notes about every Goblin Rebellion and anything else he felt important for Binns to want him to know about. He had yet to fail an exam for the Ghostly Professor, and he wouldn't anytime soon.
Even Hermione hadn't been taking notes like she usually would. Her chin rested in her palm as she stared out of focus at Binns.
When the bell finally rang, the four of them jumped and bolted towards Defense Against the Dark Arts class. They found Moody leaving the room, "Professor Moody?" Harry called over to him.
"Hello, Potter," Moody growled and he looked as tired as they all felt, even Jake was feeling tired where his body hadn't fully recovered yet from where he was stabbed. Moody's Magical eye stared at a group of First-Years as they walked in front of him. He caused them to break into a run and they rounded the corner, where his Magical eye had rolled into the back of his head, watching them as they got far enough away, "Come in here," he motioned them into his empty classroom. He waited for them to enter before he closed the door and limped towards his desk.
"Did you find Mr. Crouch?" Harry asked at once.
"No," Moody said as he sat down with a groan and pulled out his flask, taking a swig.
"Did you use the map?" Harry asked.
"Of course I did. I took a page out of your book, Potter. I summoned it from my office," Moody looked pleased with himself, "but he wasn't anywhere on there."
"So he did Disapparate - ow!" Ron yelled as Jake punched him painfully on the arm.
" You cannot fucking apparate or disapparate from the School Grounds ! How many times do you have to be told that before it gets through your thick fucking skull!?" Jake asked, his anger spiking from Ron's ignorance.
"There are other ways he could've disappeared, isn't that right, Professor Moody?" Hermione asked him.
His Magical eye quivered away from Jake and it came to a rest on Hermione, "You're another one who might think about a career as an Auror," Moody said to Hermione, sitting up in his chair, "Your mind works the right way, Miss Granger."
Hermione flushed pink with pleasure. She had considered a career as an Auror, and now she believed she was right to think that.
"Well, he wasn't invisible," Harry said, "the map shows you on it if you are at all on the school grounds, so he must've left them."
"But under his own steam," Hermione said eagerly, "or because someone made him?"
"Kidnapping a high ranking Ministry Official is risky," Jake said, 'but honestly, I don't think he was kidnapped... I'm pretty sure he was killed... but if that's the case, who on the grounds of Hogwarts would want him dead?'
"The only thing we know for sure is that he's not here," Moody said, yawning widely, causing his scars to stretch, and his lopsided mouth revealed a number of missing teeth. "Now, Dumbledore tells me you four fancy yourselves as investigators, but there is nothing you can do for Crouch. The Ministry'll be looking for him now, Dumbledore's notified them. Potter, you just keep your mind on the Third Task."
"What?" Harry asked, seemingly forgetting the Task even existed, "Oh, yeah..."
"Should be right up your street this one," Moody said with an almost sinister grin, "From what Dumbledore said, you've gotten through things like this before, like getting the Philosopher's Stone and fighting a Basilisk?"
"Well..." Harry said slowly, "if it weren't for my friends, I wouldn't have gotten the Stone, and Jake's the one who took down the Basilisk..."
Moody eyed Jake carefully, almost analytically, "Have you ever thought about getting an eye like mine?" Moody suddenly asked him.
"I've not thought about it, no," Jake answered, "but I've not been affected by my lack of an eye."
"No, I've gathered that much," Moody growled, not taking his magic eye off him. "Constant Vigilance, the four of you, constant vigilance. Potter, if Kidd here helps you prepare for the Third Task, there's no way you can lose it."
*******
The next day was when Sirius had sent his reply, and after Harry read it, he did not look pleased, "Who's he to lecture me about being out-of-bounds?" Harry asked in mild indignation, stuffing the now folded letter into his robes, "after all the stuff he did at school?"
"He's just worried about you, Harry," Hermione said hurriedly, "please, just listen to him?"
"No one's tried to attack me all year," Harry said quickly, "no one's done anything to me at all-"
"Except put your name into the Goblet of Fire," Jake cut him off, "which has posed a risk of death in each Task. I don't know if they've waited until this Task to do it, but they clearly didn't want you alive by the end of it, Snuffles is right."
"Okay, look," Harry said, "let's say he is right, and someone stunned Krum to kidnap Crouch. Well, they would've been in the trees near us, wouldn't they? But they waited until 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 murdered you in the Forest," Hermione answered him, "but if you die during a task-"
"They didn't care about attacking Krum, did they? Why didn't they just polish me off at the same time? They could have made it look like Krum and I had a duel or something."
Jake had been quiet and thinking for a moment, "What if..." he got their attention, "What if Crouch was onto something when he was talking about Voldemort?" He asked.
"What are you on about?" Harry asked.
"This is just speculation with everything I know... but what if they needed Crouch out of the way, to prevent him warning Dumbledore about something important about Voldemort, because in the Third Task... Voldemort is supposed to kill you?" Jake suggested.
"Jake," Hermione said carefully, "how did you possibly come to that conclusion?"
"I-" he stopped himself. 'How did I come to that conclusion? Nothing discussed between us or any of the adults should let me come close to that conclusion...' He was at a loss for words.
"Well... suppose that is true," Hermione said, "Harry, all the more reason we help you prepare for the Third Task, starting tomorrow."
*******
After a week straight of helping Harry prepare, Jake had gotten rather tired of trying to help Harry when he didn't seem to want to help himself. Harry tried, he wouldn't deny that, but after Day Three, Harry seemed to grow bored of trying, and Hermione had already told Harry once before that training to survive the task wasn't supposed to be fun.
Harry had sighed and they went through it for a few more days, but Jake had run his limit with Harry for the time being. He was outside, sitting cross-legged, with his Eye closed, eight rocks floating around him. His face was calm and serene looking, but deep down, he had a growing, burning hatred.
One rock was crushed into dust.
It hadn't happened since that incident in the Entrance Hall, but if he had to put up with Malfoys racist and prejudiced tendencies towards Hermione again, he was going to be shipped to Malfoy Manor piece by piece.
Another rock was crushed into dust.
Parkinson had thought she could get away with being mean to Hermione through a different kind of verbal abuse, but she had been sorely mistaken. Hopefully she had gotten the message after he headbutt her before Care of Magical Creatures.
A third rock crushed into dust.
Skeeter was so far the worst of them all with her article in Witch Weekly about Hermione, making her out to be some sort of horrible person, which was not true, not in the way Jake perceived her anyway. He had warned her that if she was mean to Hermione again, he would kill her, and that's exactly what he planned to do next time he saw Skeeter. He wasn't afraid of the Ministry, he wasn't afraid of Voldemort, and he wasn't afraid of Dumbledore.
Three of the five remaining rocks all turned to dust.
The last two dropped to the ground as his anger was set temporarily aside and he had begun to think. The main thing that concerned him was the knowledge he had when it had never been discussed verbally. He had no idea where it came from, but he would have to be careful in the future if it ever happened again. Unless of course, he wanted to be seen as a lunatic by pretty much everyone, including Hermione, and that was the last thing he wanted.
"Hello, Jake," came a dreamy sounding voice.
He turned to see Luna standing a few feet away from him, "Hello, Luna," he greeted her, turning back to his unstrained position, "you can sit down if you want to."
She accepted his offer and sat down beside him. She didn't say anything readily, though, and just looked at his profile. He felt her gaze on him, but he said nothing to her, nor did he acknowledge her staring at him. "You seem conflicted," she said to him.
"... I definitely feel conflicted..." He said after a moment's pause.
"Is it something I can help with?" She offered him her assistance.
"No... I don't think it's something I can get help with... not even from Hermione..." he trailed off.
"It must be bad if not even your best friend can help you... what does it pertain to?" She asked him, leaning forward to look at his face more directly.
"Something I mocked last year at Hogwarts... but the problem is... I don't know how I would possibly have that ability... Merlin wasn't known to be one..." Jake explained without really explaining anything.
"Wasn't known to be one... what?" Luna asked him.
He sighed, "I dunno... I'm just - speaking nonsense..."
"With you, Jake, it's never nonsense. You are a logical, rational thinker with top marks in every class. You're the most intelligent Wizard at Hogwarts, and your best friend is the most intelligent Witch at Hogwarts," Luna said, making him feel a little better, "there's almost no problem that the both of you can't solve together."
He opened his eye and looked at her, "You really do belong in Ravenclaw, you know that?"
She smiled at him, "I'm glad to hear you say that. Everyone Lovegood has always been in Ravenclaw, and that's unlikely to change in the future when I eventually have children."
"I would say it's probably too early to be talking about stuff like that... but it's a person's future, never the wrong time to want to plan some stuff out," he said, thinking about his own briefly.
"Do you want children?" She asked him.
He said nothing for a moment, "Merlin's Bloodline can't end... but that's not the main reason I want to have kids..."
"Do you have any idea who you want to have them with?" Luna suddenly asked.
Hermione immediately came to mind, "I know who I'd like to have them with... and I'm sure you already know..."
Luna smiled and looked up to the sapphire blue sky, "Hermione, isn't it?" He said nothing, but his lack of an answer was all she needed, "Why do you act like you don't fancy her?"
"I can't... I can't put her through the heartache..." he hung his head low as he spoke.
"What heartache could you possibly put her through?" Luna asked, flabbergasted he would even think that.
"I know what it feels like to love someone... but... I also know what abuse looks like, what it feels like, I experienced it from my adoptive father... I'm afraid of tapping into that abuse and doing that to Hermione..." he said, voicing his fear for the first time.
"Jake, that's not going to happen," Luna said firmly.
"You know that definitively?" He asked, looking at her.
"I know you, Jake. I've seen how you've protected Hermione with a vigor I've never seen from anyone since I basically arrived at Hogwarts two years ago. You defend her honor and her Muggleborn status more fiercely than anyone has ever done for a Muggleborn," Luna said, "I wrote home to daddy about it, and he told me as much. He knows you're a good man, and he said that, from what he could remember, he doesn't recall ever seeing even Dumbledore fight for Muggleborns the way you fight for Hermione."
"I'm going to have to thank him the next time I see him," Jake said, thankful to Luna and her father for making him feel better.
"So are you going to tell Hermione how you feel about her?" Luna asked him.
"Yeah, I will," he said with conviction in his voice, "I will wait until the last day of term though, I don't want her to have one more thing to worry about this year, she has enough to worry about."
"If you think that's best," Luna said, "so what are you going to do about Fleur?"
"Apologize... and hope she doesn't hate me..." he said, standing up as well.
"I don't think she will hate you," Luna said, a smirk playfully appearing on her face, "whenever I catch her saying your name, even though she's speaking in French, it doesn't sound like she's talking rubbish about you from the tone of her voice."
"That's a little comforting, but I know she isn't going to be happy about what we have to talk about..." Jake said as they walked back up to the Castle.
"She won't be. I probably wouldn't be either, but one thing I do know is that love is complicated, and that there are rarely absolutes, because everyone is different," Luna answered him, "the one constant that daddy told me a few years back when my mum passed is that you always talk out your problems."
"He's an intelligent and wise man, and I'm sorry to hear about your mom, Luna..." Jake said, not really knowing what else to say.
"It's okay, it happened quickly... but thank you," she said as they walked into the Entrance Hall. She embraced him, silently thanking him for being her friend; in parallel, he returned the embrace, silently thanking her for being his friend.
They separated a moment later and ascended the Marble Staircase, with Luna going up to Ravenclaw Tower, but Jake broke off on the Third Floor, going to an empty classroom to continue working on his project. He pulled a rock from his pocket, placed it on a desk, tapped it with his wand, and walked back about fifteen feet. He turned quickly with his wand raised, " Avada Kedavra !" The green spell flew through the air towards the rock. He braced his free arm, but he relaxed it when the rock exploded into shards and fragments. He wasn't surprised, but his frustration was immeasurable. If he could Reparo the damaged objects, he'd just use one of the chairs or desks, and he'd probably already be done with his project, but it was never so simple with the Killing Curse. The only thing that was simple with it was, in fact, killing the living.
He cleaned up the rock pieces and left the classroom, he didn't have time to test it more than the one time, as Hermione said she needed to talk to him before Lunch Period. She didn't say what she needed to talk to him about, but he didn't care, as long as he was with Hermione, even in silence, he was happy.
*******
The following day, Harry had talked to them late into the night about something he had just seen in something called a Pensieve, "So it holds memories for you to look at later as you wish?" Jake asked as they all sat near the lit fireplace.
"More or less, yeah," Harry answered.
"And he reckons Voldemort is getting stronger too?" Hermione asked, completely comfortable with saying his name now.
"Yeah..." Harry answered quietly.
"And he trusts Snape?" Ron asked, a shiver going down his spine, despite the warmth the fire was throwing out, "He really trusts Snape, even though he knows he was a Death Eater?"
"Yes," Harry said.
"Explains why he was so desperate to keep me from killing Snape," Jake said grimly, "Snape hasn't been mean to Hermione since that day, so he still lives and breathes... Snape is here for a reason, and it must be a god damn good reason too, for Dumbledore to let Snape slide with all of the shit he's done since he became the Potions Professor. Or at the very least, Dumbledore believes it to be a good reason to not let Snape rot in Azkaban."
Hermione had been thinking for the past couple of minutes with her forehead in her hands, staring down at her knees.
"Pensieve for your thoughts?" Jake asked her.
"Huh? Oh... I could probably use one, honestly... but I was thinking of Rita Skeeter," she answered him.
"How can you be worrying about her now?" Ron asked in utter disbelief.
"I'm not worrying about her, I'm just thinking..." Hermione said to him, "remember what she said to me in the Three Broomsticks? How she said she knew things about Ludo Bagman that'd make my hair curl? This is what she meant," Hermione explained, "She reported his trial, she knew he'd passed information to the Death Eaters. And Winky too, remember... She said Ludo Bagman was a bad wizard, Mr. Crouch would have been furious that he got off, he would have talked about it at home."
"Yeah, but Bagman didn't pass information on purpose, did he?" Harry asked her.
"You ask that like you know that he didn't for an absolute fact," Jake said, leaning back into the couch, "we don't know if he did it on purpose or not, all we know is that he did it, and then he got out of going to Azkaban for it."
Harry merely glared at Jake for contesting him, "And Fudge reckons Madame Maxime attacked Crouch?" Ron asked, turning back to Harry.
"Yeah," Harry said, turning to Ron, "but he's only saying that because Crouch disappeared near the Beauxbatons Carriage."
"It's absurd to think she attacked Crouch. She would have to know there is no way she would make it out of Britain unscathed," Jake said, scoffing at Fudge's idiocy.
"Still, we never thought of her, did we?" Ron asked slowly, "Mind you, she's definitely got giant blood, and she doesn't want to admit it-"
"Of course she doesn't," Hermione said sharply, looking up at Ron, "Look what happened to Hagrid when Skeeter found out about his mother. Look at Fudge, jumping to conclusions about her, just because she's part giant. Who needs that sort of prejudice? I'd probably say I had big bones if I knew that's what I'd get for telling the truth."
Everyone was quiet for a moment, "Harry, how do you feel about the Third Task?" Jake asked him.
"More or less prepared," Harry answered him, "I think one more day of practicing the Impediment Curse and I'll be more confident in being able to cast it and just more confident in the Task in general."
"In that case," Hermione started, getting his attention, "we should go to bed so we can get an early start tomorrow."
They all agreed and went up to bed. Jake was the last one to actually get into bed, and when he did, he downed one of his Sleeping Draught's before he laid down on his side, staring at the closed curtains. His natural night vision had only just started to kick in and he saw the satin gray color staring back at him, 'Luna was right... Luna is right... I need to talk to Fleur and get past whatever she and I have going on... and after this year ends, probably before I leave for Merlin's Tower, I'll tell Hermione how I feel about her... I love her more than any other person alive...' He thought to himself as he closed his eye and fell asleep.