Harry Potter and Claire Smith's Adventures: Book Four

Something in the Water

Chapter 22: Something in the Water

It was Tuesday morning when Claire and Harry talked to Hermione and Ron. They were in the Gryffindor common room and Harry had just told them that he'd figured out the egg's clue.

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

"Told you she'd take it lightly." Claire said sarcastically to Harry.

"Keep your voice down!" Harry said crossly to Hermione, while sending a glare towards Claire. "I just need to—sort of fine-tune it, all right?"

Claire rolled her eyes. "You need to do a lot more than just fine-tune it."

"Just forget about the egg for a minute, all right?" Harry hissed. "There's something else that happened last night..."

Harry went on to explain the previous night's encounter, how they discovered Claire's father went into Snape's office again, and Moody had been investigating Snape's office.

"Snape said Moody's searched his office as well?" Ron whispered, his eyes alight with interest. "What d'you reckon Moody's here to keep an eye on Snape as well as Karkaroff?"

"Who knows?" Claire shrugged. "But if that's why Dumbledore hired him, then he's definitely doing his job."

"Moody said Dumbledore's only letting Snape stay here because he's giving him a second chance or something..." Harry said.

"What?" Ron said, his eyes widening. "Harry...maybe Moody thinks Snape put your name in the Goblet of Fire! And maybe since Moody knew Snape wouldn't let him keep searching his office he told Claire's dad to investigate!"

"I don't know about that, Ron," Hermione said doubtfully. "According to Claire's dreams, her father has been doing some awfully sketchy things lately. Besides, remember first year? We thought Snape was trying to kill Harry but it turned out he was saving Harry's life."

"That was four years ago!" Ron said indignantly. "Snape could've changed his mind. He's probably planning to take Harry out before the tasks do!"

"Thanks, Ron," Harry deadpanned.

"I don't care what Moody says," Hermione went on. "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," Ron said promptly. "Come on, Hermione, why would Moody be searching his office, then?"

"You just want to think Snape's up to something." Hermione said. "Dumbledore trusts him and that should be enough."

"It's possible that Dumbledore could've put his trust in the wrong person." Claire said.

"All I want to know is what Snape did with his first chance, if he's on his second one," Harry said grimly.

"Did you hear back from your mother and uncle about the Marauder's Map, Claire?" Hermione asked.

Claire shook her head. "No, I haven't, but whenever we used the map before there were no mistakes. It even managed to spot Pettigrew before we knew he was Ron's rat. I really don't think the map was wrong about my dad."

They shared a moment of silence before Ron spoke up.

"It seems off, doesn't it? Why would your dad be snooping around Snape's office?" Ron questioned. "He doesn't seem like he'd do that."

"Sometimes we think we know the people closest to us, but in reality even they can hide things from you." Claire replied. "It's human nature."

"But your dad's an alien." Ron said.