Harry Potter 04 - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

how he’d found out about the dragons? Would Moody go to Dumbledore and tell on Hagrid, or just turn Harry into a ferret? Well, it might be easier to get past a dragon if he was a ferret, Harry thought dully, he’d be smaller, much less easy to see from a height of fifty feet …
    He followed Moody into his office. Moody closed the door behind them and turned to look at Harry, his magical eye fixed upon him as well as the normal one.
    ‘That was a very decent thing you just did, Potter,’ Moody said quietly.
    Harry didn’t know what to say; this wasn’t the reaction he had expected at all.
    ‘Sit down,’ said Moody, and Harry sat, looking around.
    He had visited this office under two of its previous occupants. In Professor Lockhart’s day, the walls had been plastered with beaming, winking pictures of Professor Lockhart himself. When Lupin had lived here, you were more likely to come across a specimen of some fascinating new Dark creature he had procured for them to study in class. Now, however, the office was full of a number of exceptionally odd objects that Harry supposed Moody had used in the days when he had been an Auror.
    On his desk stood what looked like a large, cracked, glass spinning top; Harry recognised it at once as a Sneakoscope, because he owned one himself, though it was much smaller than Moody’s. In the corner on a small table stood an object that looked something like an extra-squiggly, golden television aerial. It was humming slightly. What appeared to be a mirror hung opposite Harry on the wall, but it was not reflecting the room. Shadowy figures were moving around inside it, none of them clearly in focus.
    ‘Like my Dark detectors, do you?’ said Moody, who was watching Harry closely.
    ‘What’s that?’ Harry asked, pointing at the squiggly golden aerial.
    ‘Secrecy Sensor. Vibrates when it detects concealment and lies … no use here, of course, too much interference – students in every direction lying about why they haven’t done their homework. Been humming ever since I got here. I had to disable my Sneakoscope because it wouldn’t stop whistling. It’s extra sensitive, picks up stuff about a mile around. Of course, it could be picking up more than kids’ stuff,’ he added in a growl.
    ‘And what’s the mirror for?’
    ‘Oh, that’s my Foe-Glass. See them out there, skulking around? I’m not really in trouble until I see the whites of their eyes. That’s when I open my trunk.’
    He let out a short, harsh laugh, and pointed to the large trunk under the window. It had seven keyholes in a row. Harry wondered what was in there, until Moody’s next question brought him sharply back to earth.
    ‘So … found out about the dragons, have you?’
    Harry hesitated. He’d been afraid of this – but he hadn’t told Cedric, and he certainly wasn’t going to tell Moody, that Hagrid had broken the rules.
    ‘It’s all right,’ said Moody, sitting down and stretching out his wooden leg with a groan. ‘Cheating’s a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and always has been.’
    ‘I didn’t cheat,’ said Harry sharply. ‘It was – a sort of accident that I found out.’
    Moody grinned. ‘I wasn’t accusing you, laddie. I’ve been telling Dumbledore from the start, he can be as high minded as he likes, but you can bet old Karkaroff and Maxime won’t be. They’ll have told their champions everything they can. They want to win. They want to beat Dumbledore. They’d like to prove he’s only human.’
    Moody gave a harsh laugh, and his magical eye swivelled around so fast it made Harry feel queasy to watch it.
    ‘So … got any ideas how you’re going to get past your dragon yet?’ said Moody.
    ‘No,’ said Harry.
    ‘Well, I’m not going to tell you,’ said Moody gruffly. ‘I don’t show favouritism, me. I’m just going to give you some good, general advice. And the first bit is – play to your strengths .’
    ‘I haven’t got any,’ said Harry, before he could stop himself.
    ‘Excuse me,’ growled Moody, ‘you’ve got strengths if I say you’ve got them. Think now. What are you best at?’
    Harry tried to concentrate. What was he best at? Well, that was easy, really –
    ‘Quidditch,’ he said dully, ‘and a fat lot of help –’
    ‘That’s right,’ said Moody, staring at him very hard, his magical eye barely moving at all. ‘You’re a damn good flier, from what I’ve heard.’
    ‘Yeah, but …’ Harry stared at him.