Harry thought he had mistakenly heard the voice and when Professor Moody took over he did not budge still crawled on the ground in disbelief, and Hermione's horror was not less than him, even, and even more than a few moments ago, when she first considered that Moody would not be so big-minded as to let them off especially, since they were angry at the moment.
As Professor Moody hobbled slowly towards them with his cane, stopping precisely in front of them from a short distance away, Harry knew he should not be holding any hope anymore.
"Professor Moody--"
Harry and Hermione, feeling the cold, started to shiver as the invisibility cloak was no longer protecting them. If they continued to freeze like this, they might have to spend the night at Mme Pomfrey's place. Luckily, Professor Moody took out his wand and pointed it at them, then a warm current suddenly flowed through every part of their body, and the frozen cloak also became dry again.
"Thank you--"
Hermione relaxed her tense shoulders, feeling much more comfortable. Perhaps it was the friendly gesture of Professor Moody that made her feel less anxious.
"It's a nice invisibility cloak, Potter--" Moody chuckled hoarsely, "I bet you've done some great things with it--" Professor Moody seemed to be quite interested in the invisibility cloak, his magical eye moving around and looking at it repeatedly.
Harry would be willing to lend Professor Moody the invisibility cloak for a few days if he could use it to uncover Hermione's status as a warrior, of course, on the condition that he did not lock Hermione and himself up in the isolation chamber tonight.
"Yes, this is what my father left me--"
But for some reason, Harry stammered out so a sentence, he vowed, had nothing to do with his fear that Professor Moody would take away his invisibility cloak.
"Very interesting, very interesting," Professor Moody murmured, his attention entirely absorbed by the invisibility cloak, "This is no ordinary cloak. I can feel the wonderful aura it hides. Oh, I am always particularly sensitive to such auras; it was through my magical eye that I discovered you two little scamps."
Harry stared in awe at Moody's blue eye, so far he had only met two people who could see through the invisibility cloak, they were Professor Dumbledore and Professor Brian. However, tonight he had met the third one.
Professor Moody seemed to realize that he was saying something that was hard to understand, he came back to his senses with a look of alertness, and then he grinned at Hermione and Harry.
"Come on, the two brave little guys, there's no need to stand here and suffer from the cold weather, is there?"
Brave?!
Hermione and Harry looked at each other in surprise; they hadn't expected Professor Moody to give such an assessment of their nocturnal escapades and eavesdropping. Professor Moody ignored their confusion, waved them over, and led them up the marble stairs into the foyer, then turned left into a deserted corridor.
Although the windows in the corridor were still letting in cold winds from the castle, the torches on the walls were still stubbornly burning, providing some warmth that was much better than standing outside just now.
Professor Moody kept a wary eye around, and his magical eye turned quickly, making Hermione feel a bit sick.
"Am I not to make the same mistake that Professor Snape and Professor Karkaroff just made?"
Noticing Hermione's unnatural expression, Professor Moody grinned. But upon hearing this, both Hermione and Harry felt a sense of unease. After all, they had indeed been eavesdropping on the professor's conversation.
"As I said--"
Moody let out another hoarse, dry laugh.
"I must praise you two for your bravery," Professor Moody said, his voice hoarse. "You know, what you just faced - Dumbledore doesn't want me to say this, but the truth is just that. A conspiracy between two extremely dangerous individuals. You two have managed to protect yourselves well. It seems that not everyone takes what I repeatedly emphasize in class as a breeze!"
Harry didn't expect Professor Moody to see things from such a unique perspective, but regardless, he did highly agree with the professor's definition of Professor Snape. Therefore, he smiled awkwardly at Professor Moody.
Moody patted their shoulders roughly and gruffly said,
"All right, let's stop with the small talk. The two of you, I guess you've experienced the conspiracy in full, right? Say it out loud. Who should start? Miss Granger, I think you should start. Miss Miller never stops praising your smart head. I'm sure you won't forget a single word."
"What?"
Hermione exclaimed in surprise. She hadn't expected Professor Moody to be so straightforward and ask her to reveal what she had overheard. While it wasn't strange that Professor Moody knew the content of Professor Snape and Karkaroff's conversation, Hermione still felt a bit... uncomfortable.
"You think I let those two go just now, Miss Granger -"
Professor Moody said gruffly,
"Snape and Karkaroff are both adept at deceit and manipulation, and Dumbledore always seems to see the good in people. Without concrete evidence, they might very well concoct lies to cover their tracks!" Professor Moody said roughly.
Harry's eyes lit up, and his confusion from earlier was finally resolved.
If it were Professor Brian who asked, Hermione would have no hesitation in revealing the information. But Professor Moody... Oh, he was an excellent Defense Against the Dark Arts professor who had recently been teaching them how to resist the Imperius Curse. Many young wizards still admired his willingness to risk being prosecuted to teach them.
However, they had no personal friendship with Professor Moody.
Hermione was hesitating, and then she noticed Harry's eager gaze from the corner of her eye.
"Sirius believes that Professor Moody is trustworthy--"
Hermione understood the message Harry was conveying with his gaze.
"Actually," Hermione took a deep breath and finally made up her mind, addressing Professor Moody, "We didn't actually hear anything about a conspiracy between Professor Snape and the head of Durmstrang. It was actually like this - Professor Snape mentioned that he had something in his office, cough cough. A storage room."
Hermione's face was a bit red, recalling that she had also visited Snape's storage room in secret.
"--on the night that Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrived at Hogwarts, there was a break-in, and the powder from a unicorn horn and the skin of an African tree snake were stolen. Based on your speculation with Professor Brian in the hall after Halloween, Professor Snape suspects it was Professor Karkaroff--"
As Professor Moody had said earlier, Hermione remembered the conversation word for word. She quickly recounted their conversation until Karkarov tried to persuade Snape to help him investigate the first competition project of the Triwizard Tournament, but Snape hadn't had a chance to respond yet.
After saying all that, Hermione and Harry stared at Professor Moody in silence, both eager to hear what an experienced Auror like Professor Moody would say.
To be honest, in Hermione's opinion, Snape hadn't shown any cracks tonight; perhaps the biggest problem was the fact that he had called out the head of Durmstrang. But Professor Moody seemed to disagree. His expression was grave, and his blue magical eye seemed to have anchored itself in its socket, motionless.
"Are you saying that Snape guessed that someone was making a potion, and he has told Dumbledore and Brian about it?"
Hermione first nodded, but then shook her head.
"Karkarov was the one who raised the suspicion, but. Professor Snape didn't give an answer."
Hermione hesitated and said, looking at Professor Moody, "Inexplicably, I feel like Professor Moody is a bit afraid. But as soon as the thought arose, I suppressed it. What could Professor Moody have to be afraid of? Perhaps it's just my illusion."
Harry looked earnestly, hoping that Professor Moody could figure out something that could make Snape suffer.
"Karkarov thinks it's Dumbledore or Brian who sent him to investigate him. Oh, a foolish notion. If they really suspected Karkarov of using Polyjuice, they wouldn't trouble Snape with such a request."
"Whether Snape actually told Dumbledore and Brian that someone was secretly brewing Polyjuice Potion in the castle, if he did, why haven't they done anything about it?"
Moody fell into a long silence, until Harry and Hermione could no longer bear his preoccupied expression and felt the need to remind him. Only then did he come back to his senses.
"Oh, I'm fine, Miss Granger, and Mr. Potter. Thank you."
Professor Moody regained his composure.
"You've provided valuable information, very valuable--Now, quickly go back to your dormitory. I'll be keeping an eye on Snape and Karkaroff."
(Chapter ends)
