Old Acquaintances

At around noon the following day, Oleandra left the castle and went down to Hogsmeade by herself. Despite Daphne's warnings, Oleandra was quite curious to know what Harry had witnessed, and she also wanted to know who wanted to meet with her. She had an inkling of their identity, but she wouldn't have bet too many Galleons on it.

After wandering around the village for a bit, her wallet had grown depressingly empty, so she headed towards the rendezvous point, while munching on a candied apple. There, she found the Gryffindor trio, as well as one big, black, dog, which she recognized as Sirius Black.

"I guessed as much," Oleandra said, and the dog barked once in reply.

Last year, Oleandra and Daphne had helped save both Professor Lupin and Black from an unjust execution. Still, they were supposed to be hiding out from the law in the southern hemisphere; what could possibly be so important that they'd both risk capture to return?

At any rate, Black, who was still in dog form, led them away from the village and deep into the Scottish countryside. After a long walk, they finally arrived at the foot of a mountain, which they then began to ascend. At first, Oleandra used Cloak to fly a part of the way up, but she then realized that she could use the exercise.

While Oleandra had never quite stopped stamina training, she didn't often get the opportunity to train her body at Hogwarts, and the constant feasting certainly did not help anyone stay in shape; as evidenced by how hard Harry, Ron and Hermione were huffing and puffing in exhaustion during their ascent.

That's not to say that any of them were fat; but they certainly weren't world-class athletes.

"The eternal issue with Wizardkind," Viviane remarked. "Of the lot of them, half don't have brains, and of those who do have one and use it, none use their muscles."

"Easy for you to say," Oleandra murmured to her. "You're not the one who has to climb this mountain."

Oleandra followed the black dog closely, and after a thirty-minute climb (which consisted mostly of waiting for the other three to catch up), they finally reached a fissure in a crag, which Black promptly slipped into. Following him, Oleandra found herself in a dimly lit cave.

"Professor Lupin!" Oleandra exclaimed, before bowing slightly to the Hippogriff attached to a rock. "And Buckbeak!"

"I'm not a teacher any more, I'm afraid," said Remus Lupin with a slight smile. "Just call me Remus, or Lupin."

It felt quite weird referring to a former teacher by his first name, so Oleandra decided to just call him Lupin from now on.

"And call me Sirius," said Sirius Black, who had just shifted back to his human form. "I don't really like my family name; brings up bad memories."

Even though he was still looking very thin, Sirius looked much healthier than the last time she had seen him; all emaciated, and with a crazed expression on his face. As for Lupin, he looked exactly as he always did, and he was still dressed in shabby robes.

Harry, Ron and Hermione finally made it through the hole in the wall, and the two fugitives began feasting on the chicken legs and the bread that the three Gryffindors had brought for them. When they were finally full, Harry asked them the million Galleon question:

"What're you doing here, Sirius?" he said.

"And what am I doing here?" Oleandra added. "Not that I'm not happy to be here; Profes— I mean, Lupin was my favourite teacher when he taught at Hogwarts last year."

Sirius gave Lupin a sidelong look, which he responded to by nodding once.

"Right," said Sirius, wiping the crumbs from his shirt. "Oleandra, if it's not too much to ask, I wanted you to keep an eye on Harry— As much as I'd like to be able to do my job as Harry's godfather, I can't be with him as much as you can—"

"Hang on," Harry interrupted, seeing where the conversation was headed. "I don't need any protecting— I can take care of myself; I've made it this far, haven't I? And besides, we're still competing against each other in the Triwizard Tournament."

Oleandra supposed that Harry had figured out how to get past his dragon for the first task by himself, but she now knew for a fact that Neville had saved him during the second by procuring Gillyweed for him. He wasn't above asking for help if he truly was desperate, but something told him that his ego wouldn't survive having a Slytherin girl of the same age babysit him.

"What's got you all nervous?" Oleandra asked Sirius and Lupin. "Why are you so worried about Harry all of a sudden, to the extent you'd risk coming back here?"

"Nothing concrete," said Lupin, closing his eyes tiredly for a moment. "Whispers. Rumours. Coincidences. They all link together somehow; we need only connect the dots to figure out the big picture."

"There's no such thing as a coincidence, in my experience," said Sirius sombrely. "Bertha Jerkin's disappearance in Albania; the events at the World Cup; Harry's selection as fourth champion; the poisoning attempt; and now Crouch's mystery illness…"

Cuttings from the Daily Prophet had been glued to the cavern walls using Sticking Charms, each one describing the event that Sirius had just enumerated. Lupin's work, no doubt. No offence to Sirius, but Oleandra doubted that the man had enough order in his life to make an investigation wall with red strings connecting the various clippings.

"Might just be coincidences," said Ron, eyeing the wall with interest. "My brother's Crouch's personal assistant, and he says it's just overwork."

"Unlikely," Sirius scoffed. "The man loves his work more than life itself."

"He did look ill, last time I saw him up close," said Harry slowly. "The night my name came out of the goblet…"

"I agree," said Oleandra. "He was nothing like that when I met him at the World Cup; I thought he would never stop bothering me, but it's like he completely forgot I existed the next time I saw him."