Butterfly Effect ; H. Potter

40. the second task.

The trio wished Harry good luck as he snuck off to the Prefect's bathroom on Thursday night. Putting on his Cloak, he slipped through the portrait hole as Ron opened it. What he was doing, Ron, Hermione, and Antheia weren't sure of but they figured it must've been important.

The next morning, however, Harry revealed to them that he had been working out the clue for his egg. Hermione was very irritated, to say the least.

"You said you'd already worked out that egg clue!" said Hermione indignantly.

"Keep your voice down!' said Harry crossly. "I just need to - sort of fine-tune it, all right?"

He, Antheia, Ron, and Hermione were sitting at the very back of the Charms class with a table to themselves. They were supposed to be practising the opposite of the Summoning Charm today - the Banishing Charm. Owing to the potential for nasty accidents when objects kept flying across the room, Professor Flitwick had given each student a stack of cushions on which to practise, the theory being that these wouldn't hurt anyone if they went off target. It was a good theory, but it wasn't working very well. Neville's aim was so poor that he kept accidentally sending much heavier things flying across the room - Professor Flitwick, for instance.

"Just forget the egg for a minute, all right?" Harry hissed, as Professor Flitwick went whizzing resignedly past them, landing on top of a large cabinet. "I'm trying to tell you about Snape and Moody ..."

This class was ideal cover for a private conversation, as everyone was having far too much fun to pay them any attention. Harry had been recounting his adventures of the previous night in whispered instalments for the last half an hour.

"Snape said Moody's searched his office as well?" Ron whispered, his eyes alight with interest as he Banished a cushion with a sweep of his wand (it soared into the air and knocked Parvati's hat off). "What ... d'you reckon Moody's here to keep an eye on Snape as well as Karkaroff?"

"Well, I dunno if that's what Dumbledore asked him to do, but he's definitely doing it," said Harry, waving his wand without paying much attention, so that his cushion did an odd sort of belly flop off the desk. "Moody said Dumbledore only lets Snape stay here because he's giving him a second chance or something ..."

"What?" said Ron, his eyes widening, his next cushion spinning high into the air, ricocheting off the chandelier, and dropping heavily onto Flitwick's desk. "Harry ... maybe Moody thinks Snape put your name in the Goblet of Fire!"

"Ron, this wouldn't be the first time we thought Snape was out to kill Harry," Antheia said quickly, shaking her head. "If anything he's probably trying to save Harry, again."

"I don't care what Moody says," Hermione said, Banishing a cushion, "Dumbledore's not stupid. He was right to trust Hagrid and Professor Lupin, even though loads of people wouldn't have given them jobs, so why shouldn't he be right about Snape, even if Snape is a bit -"

"- evil," said Ron promptly. "Come on, Hermione, why are all these Dark-wizard-catchers searching his office, then?"

"Why has Mr. Crouch been pretending to be ill?" said Hermione, ignoring Ron. "It's a bit funny, isn't it, that he can't manage to come to the Yule Ball, but he can get up here in the middle of the night when he wants to?"

"You just don't like Crouch because of that elf, Winky," said Ron, sending a cushion soaring into the window.

"You just want to think Snape's up to something," said Hermione, sending her cushion zooming neatly into the box.

"But why would Mr. Crouch just turn up in the middle of the night when he's been 'sick' for months?" said Antheia, not paying any attention to the cushion Neville had just sent over, nearly missing Professor Flitwick's head.