Yeah, How Could It Be Him?

"Come on, Hermione, those house-elves don't need to rest, they just want to work all day!" Ron scoffed.

Hermione scowled at him and was about to retort when Ivan suddenly stood up, threw his knife and fork aside, and ran out of the room.

"Ivan? Where are you going?" Hermione shouted, but Ivan did not stop to explain, disappearing down the hallway.

Hermione hesitated for a moment, then, having guessed where Ivan was going, dropped her cutlery and ran after him.

"Are they not going to eat?" Ron asked curiously as Ivan and Hermione left the table.

"How should I know?" Harry was equally baffled, having no idea what was going on.

… .

As soon as they left the foyer, Ivan checked the Marauder's Map.

Wisps of black ink gradually appeared on the parchment, outlining the floor plan of the castle and its names.

Yvonne saw the name moving at once.

Alastor Moody!

Ivan frowned for a moment, then put the map away.

When he looked up again, he found himself in the basement of the castle, in front of a wide stone corridor lit by torches. The thick stone walls were decorated with pictures of food.

Yvonne hurried over to a painting of a large fruit platter and reached out to gently scratch the large green pear. The pear wiggled and giggled, then transformed into a large green doorknob.

Ivan grabbed her and was about to push her away when he heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Hermione.

"Hermione, why are you following us?" Yvonne was baffled.

"To help, of course!" Hermione declared. "I know these house-elves well, and have dealt with them many times!"

Ivan nodded reluctantly. Since he was already here, he couldn't very well try to get rid of him, so he grabbed the door handle and pushed the door open.

It was a high room, as large as the Great Hall above, with gleaming copper pots and pans stacked against the stone walls, and a large brick fireplace at the far end of the room.

The most striking of these were the four long wooden tables, which were arranged in exactly the same way as the tables in the Great Hall above.

From time to time, Yvonne could see small house-elves bustling about, placing plates of beautifully made food on the table, and then disappearing moments later, apparently summoned there by the students.

"Every house-elf is very hard-working. They work non-stop every day and are almost infallible, but they don't do well at all," Hermione said sadly.

Yvonne didn't reply. In fact, the house-elves at Hogwarts were doing quite well compared to the rest of their kind.

The attentive house-elves did not miss their arrival, and the nearest of them immediately dropped what they were doing and gathered around Ivan, completely ignoring Hermione.

House-elves shunned this place because of the "evil" theories it spread.

"How may I help you, Mr. Harls?" the leading house-elf asked eagerly.

Yvonne crouched down, keeping her eyes as level as possible, and asked gently, "I've come to ask you something. I hear Professor Moody often asks you to prepare supper at night. Is that correct?"

"Yes! Mr Moody told us he needed to investigate suspicious people in the castle and was usually kept busy until late at night, so he needed an extra supper and we were happy to help!" the house-elf exclaimed proudly.

Ivan nodded, not caring if it was clean or not, and sat on the floor deep in thought.

The house-elves gathered quietly around Ivan, and Hermione dared not interrupt his thoughts.

After a while, Ivan seemed to regain his composure and looked at the house-elves again. "Have you ever cleaned Professor Moody's office? I went there once and, well, how should I put it…it was a mess!"

"Mr Moody will never let us into his office. He says there are dangerous collectibles there, all of them deadly," the house-elf replied in dismay.

"Is that so?" Yvonne said, slowly getting to her feet and dusting herself off. "I've got a sudden craving for supper, so if you'd be so kind as to prepare it for me, just do as Professor Moody says!"

The house-elves happily got to work.

… .

More than ten minutes later, Ivan pushed the door open and left the kitchen, escorted by the house-elves.

In contrast, Ivan's plate was half full of steak, a selection of hot dogs, a few mousse cakes and a small dessert.

"Want some, Hermione?" Ivan asked as he cut off a piece of the dog and ate it.

Hermione shook her head, she was in no mood to eat after what Ivan had told her. "Are you suspecting Professor Moody?"

"But…how is that possible?" Hermione was incredulous. Moody was a legendary Auror who had been a great help to them during the first half of the school year. He was the best Defence Against the Dark Arts professor she had ever seen!

"Yes, how could that be…" Ivan nodded in agreement, popping a piece of mousse cake into his mouth.

Hermione bit her lip sullenly, her brown eyes fixed on Ivan's. She could hear the patronizing tone in his voice.

Ivan scratched his head. He didn't want Hermione to get involved in this sort of thing, but he couldn't hide it now, so he pointed at his plate and said,

"Do you think Professor Moody has a big appetite? Three meals a day, lots of dessert after meals, and then he comes into the kitchen at night for supper…"

Hermione looked at the plate in Ivan's hand and saw what he meant. There was enough supper for both of them.

"So you think it's possible that Professor Moody had to feed someone else! Why else would he eat in the Great Hall and the kitchen? He'd have to go around with a plate, and he wouldn't be in such a hurry every time, would he?" Yvonne ventured a guess.