Harry Potter 04 - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

angry, yet there was a finality in his tone that told Harry it was time to go. He stood up, and so did Dumbledore.
    ‘Harry,’ he said, as Harry reached the door. ‘Please do not speak about Neville’s parents to anybody else. He has the right to let people know, when he is ready.’
    ‘Yes, Professor,’ said Harry, turning to go.
    ‘And –’
    Harry looked back.
    Dumbledore was standing over the Pensieve, his face lit from beneath by its silvery spots of light, looking older than ever. He stared at Harry for a moment, and then said, ‘Good luck with the third task.’

 
     
— CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE —
     
The Third Task
    ‘Dumbledore reckons You-Know-Who’s getting stronger again as well?’ Ron whispered.
    Everything Harry had seen in the Pensieve, nearly everything Dumbledore had told and shown him afterwards, he had now shared with Ron and Hermione – and, of course, with Sirius, to whom Harry had sent an owl the moment he had left Dumbledore’s office. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat up late in the common room once again that night, talking it all over until Harry’s mind was reeling, until he understood what Dumbledore had meant about a head becoming so full of thoughts that it would have been a relief to siphon them off.
    Ron stared into the common-room fire. Harry thought he saw Ron shiver slightly, even though the evening was warm.
    ‘And he trusts Snape?’ Ron said. ‘He really trusts Snape, even though he knows he was a Death Eater?’
    ‘Yes,’ said Harry.
    Hermione had not spoken for ten minutes. She was sitting with her forehead in her hands, staring at her knees. Harry thought she, too, looked as though she could have done with a Pensieve.
    ‘Rita Skeeter,’ she muttered finally.
    ‘How can you be worrying about her now?’ said Ron, indisbelief.
    ‘I’m not worrying about her,’ Hermione said to her knees. ‘I’m just thinking … remember what she said to me in the Three Broomsticks? “I know things about Ludo Bagman that would make your hair curl.” This is what she meant, isn’t it? She reported his trial, she knew he’d passed information to the Death Eaters. And Winky, too, remember … “Mr Bagman is a bad wizard.” Mr Crouch would have been furious he got off, he would have talked about it at home.’
    ‘Yeah, but Bagman didn’t pass information on purpose, did he?’
    Hermione shrugged.
    ‘And Fudge reckons Madame Maxime attacked Crouch?’ Ron said, turning back to Harry.
    ‘Yeah,’ said Harry, ‘but he’s only saying that because Crouch disappeared near the Beauxbatons carriage.’
    ‘We never thought of her, did we?’ said Ron, slowly. ‘Mind you, she’s definitely got giant blood, and she doesn’t want to admit it –’
    ‘Of course she doesn’t,’ said Hermione sharply, looking up. ‘Look what happened to Hagrid when Rita found out about his mother. Look at Fudge, jumping to conclusions about her, just because she’s part giant. Who needs that sort of prejudice? I’d probably say I had big bones if I knew that’s what I’d get for telling the truth.’
    Hermione looked at her watch.
    ‘We haven’t done any practising!’ she said, looking shocked. ‘We were going to do the Impediment Jinx! We’ll have to really get down to it tomorrow! Come on, Harry, you need to get some sleep.’
    Harry and Ron went slowly upstairs to their dormitory. As Harry pulled on his pyjamas, he looked over at Neville’s bed. True to his word to Dumbledore, he had not told Ron and Hermione about Neville’s parents. As Harry took off his glasses and climbed into his four-poster, he imagined how it must feel to have parents still living, but unable to recognise you. He often got sympathy from strangers for being an orphan, but as he listened to Neville’s snores, he thought that Neville deserved it more than he did. Lying in the darkness, Harry felt a rush of anger and hate towards the people who had tortured Mr and Mrs Longbottom … he remembered the jeers of the crowd as Crouch’s son and his companions had been dragged from the court by the Dementors … he understood how they had felt … then he remembered the milk-white face of the screaming boy, and realised with a jolt that he had died a year later …
    It was Voldemort, Harry thought, staring up at the canopy of his bed in the darkness, it all came back to Voldemort … he was the one who had torn these families apart, who had ruined all these lives …
    *
    Ron and Hermione were supposed to be