Chương 32: Daphne Under Fire
"He's the head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Percy Weasley works for him and was saying at the Yule Ball that he had been out sick recently. Now I sort of wish that I had been listening to what that brown noser was saying about his boss. I wonder what he is doing in Moody's office." Harry said, the curiosity plainly evident in his voice.
"Years ago he was also head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, so he would have been Professor Moody's boss. That would explain how they know each other, but not why he is in the castle." Daphne added. She sat back and sighed, angry because she knew she was missing something but had no idea what it was.
"Maybe we should just take a step back from this for a while. It's possible that we are all just letting our imaginations run wild and seeing conspiracy theories where there aren't any. He could just be a nice but odd professor trying to help me out in the tournament because I am from the school he teaches at and he likes me." Harry said uncertainly.
"Perhaps, but do you believe that?" Daphne asked, echoing his earlier question.
"No, I don't." Harry answered, frowning. "I will see you guys later, ok? I need to write a letter to Sirius and see what he thinks about all of this. He'll probably just tell me I'm crazy, but I would still feel better if I brought it up." Harry turned towards Daphne and hugged her, whispering "Good night" to her as he did, then stood and walked out of the library still deep in thought.
Harry felt he was close to uncovering some key fact that kept slipping from his grasp. The idea that one of the greatest Auror's in history wanted to hurt him was ridiculous, but there had to be something going on there. Upon reaching the Owlery, Harry took out a piece of parchment and his quill and wrote a quick note to Sirius about his suspicions. For a long time he held the completed letter, unsure of whether or not he wanted to send it at all. Finally he decided that it couldn't hurt anything and tied the letter the leg of one of the Hogwart's owls, much to Hedwig's displeasure.
"Sorry girl, you can't send this one. People would notice you." Harry apologized to the snowy owl who turned her head and hooted at him to show her unhappiness. "Take this to Sirius Black, ok?" Harry told the Hogwarts owl which hooted and flew off towards its destination. He gave Hedwig a few treats and stroked her feathers for a while, hoping to cheer her up, before finally leaving the Owlery and going back to his dorm room to think.
...
The following days Harry patiently waited for a response from Sirius, but it had not yet come. He had no idea where Sirius was currently hiding, so it was entirely possible that it was just taking the owl a long time to reach him. Harry spent a lot of time puzzling over his entry into the Triwizard tournament and Professor Moody's actions since then. No matter how hard he tried though, he could still not understand what was going on. He briefly considered confronting the Professor about it, but quickly decided that until he could be sure that the tough ex-Auror meant him no harm it would be very unwise to do so. As proud as Harry was about his progress in learning new and powerful magic this year, he knew he stood almost no chance of defeating a man who had put some of the most dangerous wizards of the modern era behind bars.
Harry spent much of his free time in the newly discovered Room of Requirement, which he had still not showed to Hermione or Daphne because they spent their time working on their projects. He had found that the room was incredibly powerful, but did have some limitations. For instance, there was an upper limit on how big the room could become. He had once tried asking for Sirius to be brought to the room but that did not work, instead the room was blank and empty. He could, however, get the room to look like almost anything he wanted. Harry spent a lot of time trying to create a perfect training room, though he found he was constantly coming up with new ideas to improve it.
Eventually the holiday came to an end and classes were set to return. The first morning back Harry accidentally overslept, his body clearly not used to waking up early in the morning for classes. Seeing that he could only make it to his first class on time if he skipped breakfast, Harry groaned in disappointment and began the walk towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. The room was already halfway full when he arrived and Professor Moody was writing notes on the chalkboard. Strangely, he noticed several people watching him as if they were waiting to see what he was going to do. Trying to ignore the stares, Harry sat down at his usual spot and waited for class to begin.
"Harry!" he heard Hermione yell as she walked in the door. She rushed over and sat next to him with a worried expression on her face. "I've been looking for you all morning, were you with Daphne? How is she?"
"Hermione, what are you talking about? No, I haven't seen Daphne. She's not here yet, but class hasn't started so she's probably on her way."
"Then you haven't seen it yet, have you?" Hermione asked, a small shocked expression on her face.
"Seen what?" Harry asked, getting a little frustrated.
"Harry, there's a new article by Rita Skeeter in today's Daily Prophet. She went after Daphne this time and said… well, I think it would be better if you read it. That awful woman." Hermione reluctantly handed him a copy of the Daily Prophet turned to the second page, where the article in question was found:
DAPHNE GREENGRASS'S DEADLY THIRST FOR POWER
by Rita Skeeter
Harry Potter may be in even more danger than we thought. Since last weeks article this office has been flooded with letters to the editor demanding that the Ministry of Magic take action to either turn the Boy-Who-Lived back to the light or free him from the nefarious influence of Daphne Greengrass. Several students at Hogwarts have expressed their shock at the unexpected couple and confirmed that the only way the two could have come together is through the use of banned potions or spells. We at the Daily Prophet whole heartedly agree.
The question that must be asked is why? Why has Ms Greengrass taken such blatant action against Mr Potter. Does she and her family plan on using our young hero in some dark and evil ritual? Is it simply a case of a girl's obsession with that which she can not have? Or is it Daphne Greengrass's next step on her long and deadly path towards personal power? I have personally uncovered evidence that this may not be the first time the aspiring Dark Lady has committed unthinkable acts for her own gain.
It is well known that Daphne Greengrass is not only the heiress to her family's fortune but the future head of the Greengrass family. What you may not know is this has not always been the case. The Greengrass line, like many noble pureblood lines, typically passes to the oldest son or if there is no son to the oldest daughter. For the first few years of her life young Daphne was set to inherit everything, but that changed with the birth of her younger brother David Greengrass. One can only imagine the jealousy that must have taken root in the young girl's heart. Tragedy for the Greengrass family struck when young David died in what was at the time deemed an accident when he was only 3 years old.
But, and it truly pains me to have to ask such a question, was it really an accident? Or did a young girl in a fit of jealousy murder her younger brother in order to take back what she believed was rightfully hers? If so, what does that mean for the Boy-Who-Lived? One thing is painfully clear: Harry Potter needs help.
Harry slowly set the paper down. His hands were shaking in anger at the paper and Rita Skeeter, but he also felt incredible sadness for Daphne and her family. In the time it had taken Harry to read the article class had begun. "I never even knew she had a little brother," Harry whispered to Hermione who was seated next to him, "she never brought it up."
"It's probably a very painful memory for her, Harry. I'm not surprised." Hermione answered quietly. Harry nodded and began looking around the class, looking for Daphne but she was not there. With class already started, Harry was trapped. He desperately wanted to go look for her and try and comfort her but knew he would have to wait for class to end. He would probably miss the next one, but he did not really care.
No class had ever passed so slowly for Harry. He found it impossible to listen to Professor Moody talk and when they were assigned a part of the book to read he simply stared at the page for fifteen minutes not reading at all. Harry's initial rage at the article had been overcome by his worry for Daphne. They had known that there would be consequences to their date and ongoing relationship, but he had never expected for her to be attacked in this way. Suddenly, with only five minutes left in the class, an idea struck him. There was something useful he could be doing! Reaching into his bag he pulled out the Marauder's Map and quietly said the phrase to activate it.
The first place he looked was in the Slytherin dorms, then the Great Hall, then the hospital wing. Each time he was disappointed when he found she was not there. Then inspiration struck him and he looked at the third floor classroom they had been using together for so long. Harry breathed a sigh of relief, he had found her. He guessed she must have been sitting down because her dot had not moved much. Glad he knew where to find her Harry began to put the map up when he found something very odd: Barty Crouch was in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom with him. Harry looked around for him but only found Professor Moody talking with a few Ravenclaw students about the assignment. Looking back at the map he was further surprised to see that Moody was supposed to be in his office, not the classroom. As his eyes darted back and forth between the professor and the map a startling realization hit him: the man he was looking at was not Professor Moody but Barty Crouch using glamours or polyjuice potion to make him look like Professor Moody.
Harry's mind reeled trying to fit this new piece into the puzzle. Even with this new information everything that had happened still did not make sense. And what should he do about it? Tell Dumbledore? Harry guessed that was a good start. Suddenly the Moody impersonator's magic eye swiveled in its socket and stared directly at him. Harry belatedly realized that he had been staring at the Professor with his mouth open in shock for the last minute or two and attempted in vain to look like he was interested in his book. The next time Harry looked up 'Moody' was facing him, watching his every move with with a strange grin. Finally, class ended and everyone got up to leave but 'Moody's' eyes never left him.
"Potter!" the false Moody yelled causing Harry to cringe. "Stay after class." Harry's eyes widened in shock at the request. He looked around the room, seeing with disappointment that Hermione and Neville had already left. Thoughts of finding Daphne were slowly being replaced by a need to be anywhere but here. Harry watched with a sense of dread as the other students left the classroom and he suddenly found himself remembering that the next class wouldn't be in the room for another hour. Behind him he heard the soft thump of the door closing and then there was silence.
Everyone else had left. Harry was now stuck in the classroom alone with the man he knew was not Mad Eye Moody.
....
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