Daughter of Mine | Harry Potter

XXIV.

It was daybreak. The group 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 of them were puffy-eyed and pale because they had been talking late into the night about Mr. Crouch. 

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

"I've told you, he wasn't making much sense," said Harry. "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 Harry. "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 You-Know-Who?" said Ron tentatively. 

"I've told you," Harry repeated dully. "He said he's getting stronger."

Lalia's body shook involuntarily as she thought about the insinuations of that one simple statement. 

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. ..."

"He was sanest when he was trying to talk about Voldemort," said Harry, 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."

Lalia glanced at Harry to see the clear annoyance on his face while he looked into the rafters. 

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

"Maybe he didn't want you to get there!" said Ron quickly. 

Lalia couldn't handle the discussion anymore. 

"I've got to go," she rushed out, already stepping towards the stairs. "I'll see you guys after first." 

Lalia rushed down the stairs and back to her dorm away from the discussion that would only remind her that the man with access to her mind was growing more powerful. 

The girl flopped on her bed attempting to control her breathing so she would be able to go to her first class. 

When Lalia finally felt settled enough to head down to her Charms class, she caught sight of something in her doorway. 

"Mom?" she gasped out, having a clear view of the woman who simply turned and stepped out of the doorway and into the hallway. "Mom!" 

Lalia scrambled out of her bed to follow the woman, but when she reached the hallways there was no one there. The girl's eyes quickly scanned the hallway looking for any sight of the woman she saw, who was unmistakably her mother. 

With a glance at the clock, the shaken girl took a deep breath before grabbing her supplies to head to Charms. 

After Charms, Lalia walked towards the History of Magic classroom knowing that's where the trio was. Halfway to the class, she ran into her group of friends. Lalia prepared to tell them about what she had seen, when Harry quickly walked passed her saying, "Going to talk to Professor Moody. Come on." 

They found Moody leaving the Dark Arts classroom. He looked as tired as they felt. They eyelid of his normal eye was drooping, giving his face an even more lopsided appearance than usual.