Dawn Rivera

The Dream

"It comes down to this," says Hermione, rubbing her forehead. "Either Mr Crouch attacked Viktor, or somebody else attacked both of them when Viktor wasn't looking."

"It must've been Crouch," says Ron at once. "That's why he was gone when Harry, Danny and Dumbledore got there. He'd done a runner."

"I don't think so," says Danny, shaking his head. "He seemed really weak - I don't reckon he was up to Disapparating or anything."

"You can't Disapparate in the Hogwarts grounds, haven't we told you enough times?" I say.

"OK...how's this for a theory," says Ron excitedly, "Krum attacked Crouch - no, wait for it - and then Stunned himself!"

"And Mr Crouch evaporated, did he?" says Hermione coldly.

"Oh, yeah..."

It is daybreak. Harry, Danny, Ron, Hermione and I crept out of our dormitories very early, and hurried up to the Owlery together to send a note to Uncle Sirius. Now we are standing looking out at the misty grounds. All five of us are puffy-eyed and pale, because we were talking late into the night about Mr Crouch.

"Just go through it again, Harry and Danny," I say. "What did Mr Crouch actually say?"

"We've told you, he wasn't making much sense," says 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," says Hermione testily.

"He's was out of his mind," says Danny. "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?" says Ron tentatively.

"We've told you," Harry repeats dully. "He said he's getting stronger.

There is a pause.

Then Ron says 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," says Danny, ignoring Ron's wince. "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."

I turn away from the window and stare up into the rafters. Half the many perches are empty; every now and then, another owl will swoop in through one of the windows, returning from its night's hunting with a mouse in its beak.

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

"Maybe he didn't want you to get there!" says Ron quickly. "Maybe - hang on - how fast d'you reckon he could've got down to the Forest? D'you reckon he could've beaten you two and Dumbledore there?"

"Not unless he can turn himself into a bat or something," says Danny.

"Wouldn't put it past him," Ron mutters.

"We need to see Professor Moody," I say. "We need to find out whether he found Mr Crouch."

"If he had the Marauder's Map on him, it would have been easy," says Harry.

"Unless Crouch was already outside the grounds," says Ron, "because it only shows up to the boundaries, doesn't -"

"Shh!" says Hermione suddenly.