The awkward silence that ensued made Kit wonder if that had been the right thing to bring up.

"He... he's your father's godson?" said Sirius, furrowing his eyebrows as if struggling to see it. "Well... it would make sense why Alana and Barty knew each other... and I did think he was a contestant in her arranged marriage thing... but I didn't know Crouch and your father got along that well."

"Me neither," said Kit. "Some information has to be missing in between the lines— something that would let it all make sense."

"It's suspicious," mused Sirius as Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked between him and Kit eagerly, as if not wanting to miss an important detail. "Crouch wouldn't have respected your father if he knew about his servitude to Voldemort. How did he end up becoming his son's godfather? And why did he specifically leave him the job?"

"Maybe my father did something— played a hand in what happened to Barty Crouch Jr.," suggested Kit. "My father... well, he helped Karkaroff and my godfather get off easily. I don't know how. I didn't think my father's influence was that strong. Everyone knows he got them off, and yet he and Lucius are still highly respected. Honestly, I'm sure most people are aware of the fact that my father was a follower of the Dark Lord. Crouch's reputation got destroyed after what happened to his son, right? What if he thought my father was helping, but then something came about and that's why Crouch has gone mad trying to figure things out? Because I'm sure my father could have easily gotten Barty Crouch Jr. off. He didn't help Rabastan, and he was Alana's husband. I suppose that may be because Rabastan might have had something to do with her disappearance, but still..."

"Maybe Crouch and Moody are working together," noted Ron, fiddling with his fingers. "Moody and Crouch both seem so keen on getting into Snape's office."

The mention of Moody almost sent Kit into a small panic. She felt her chest tighten, but she ignored the uncomfortable sensation, not wanting to miss any more of this important conversation now that it was getting fishy. She allowed her body to tense, and tried to keep her expressions neutral. She hoped no one was paying attention.

Sirius seemed to notice Kit's abrupt posture and mood change, but he didn't speak on it. "Well," he started slowly, "I wouldn't put it past Mad-Eye to have searched every single teacher's office when he got to Hogwarts. He takes his Defense Against the Dark Arts seriously, Moody. I'm not sure he trusts anyone at all, and after the things he's seen, it's not surprising. I'll say this for Moody, though, he never killed if he could help it. Always brought people in alive where possible. He was tough, but he never descended to the level of the Death Eaters. Crouch, though... he's a different matter... is he really ill? If he is, why did he make the effort to drag himself up to Snape's office? And if he's not... what's he up to? What was he doing at the World Cup that was so important he didn't turn up in the Top Box? What's he been doing while he should have been judging the tournament? And everything with his son...."

He lapsed into silence, staring at the wall while Buckbeak ferreted around for bones he may have overlooked. Finally, Sirius gave a gruff sigh and looked over at Ron. "You said your brother is Crouch's personal assistant? Any chance you could ask him if he's seen Crouch at all lately?"

"I can try," said Ron doubtfully. "Better not make it sound like I reckon Crouch is up to anything dodgy, though. Percy loves Crouch."

"And you might try and find out whether they've got any leads on Bertha Jorkins while you're at it," said Sirius. Kit didn't recall who Bertha Jorkins was, as she hadn't been paying attention, and at the moment wasn't really in the mood for asking about it. She was glad that their conversation about Moody had been brief.

"Bagman told me they hadn't," said Harry in response to Sirius.

"Yes, he's quoted in the article in there," said Sirius. "Blustering on about how bad Bertha's memory is. Well, maybe she's changed since I knew her, but the Bertha I knew wasn't forgetful at all— quite the reverse. She was a bit dim, but she had an excellent memory for gossip. It used to get her into a lot of trouble; she never knew when to keep her mouth shut. I can see her being a bit of a liability at the Ministry of Magic... maybe that's why Bagman didn't bother to look for her for so long..."

Sirius heaved an enormous sigh and rubbed his shadowed eyes. "What's the time?"

"It's half past three," said Hermione.

"You'd better get back to school," Sirius said, getting to his feet. "Now listen..." He looked particularly hard at Harry. "I don't want you lot sneaking out of school to see me, all right? Just send notes to me here. I still want to hear about anything odd. But you're not to go leaving Hogwarts without permission; it would be an ideal opportunity for someone to attack you."

"No one's tried to attack me so far, except a dragon and a couple of grindylows," Harry said, but Sirius scowled at him.

"I don't care... I'll breathe freely again when this tournament's over, and that's not until June. And don't forget, if you're talking about me among yourselves, call me Snuffles, okay?" He then stopped. "Right— I'll walk down to the edge of the village with you in a bit. Kit, can you stay behind? I have a couple of questions that you might be a bit uncomfortable sharing answers to."

Kit remained seated as the others exited the cave and waited respectfully outside. Sirius crouched down across from her, narrowing his eyes.

"Um, yes?" she asked nervously. She hoped he couldn't read her mind. She knew she couldn't trust Draco to stay quiet with the truth, but she could trust Sirius even less. He might land himself back in Azkaban if she told him, because he'd actually go and commit murder.

"What's wrong?" he asked gently. "I know that look. I used to see it in the mirror. Something in the conversation made you feel uncomfortable, right? So spill. What's been going on? You know you can always write me letters if you need to talk about anything."

Kit hesitated. She was definitely not considering telling him the full truth. But what partial truth could she say? Or what lie would substitute it?

"The conversation got me thinking about the holidays," she said. Not true, but she went with it.

"Did your parents do something to you?" His brows furrowed in concern, but his eyes darkened, almost as if he already knew it was something very bad.

Kit decided perhaps she could share a separate thing that had been ailing her. "My parents... they used the Cruciatus Curse on me."

Sirius's jaw twitched. Kit found the gesture familiar. Draco's jaw twitched in almost the exact same way when he was angry.

"They did what?" It came out as a deadly whisper.

"It was for a stupid reason," she murmured. "Draco was trying to get them to stop hurting me because he saw the scars on my back."

Sirius swore loudly, which made Kit wince a bit. He covered his face with his hands. "Why— why the fuck is the Ministry okay with this? Years ago, they rejected a bill that would be able to track every registered wand that performed an Unforgivable, to punish anyone who dared use it. I hate this idiotic system! If it weren't for them— hell, Hermione would have her justice for house elves, you and I would have never been abused, people like Snape wouldn't be here bullying children, Malfoy and your father wouldn't be allowed to have the power that they do, Alana wouldn't have disappeared..."

Kit noticed that the second he spoke her sister's name, he looked more distraught than before. She supposed they hadn't just 'snogged a few times.' When she'd jokingly told Sirius he might have been her brother-in-law... she had suspected they might have had a thing but this...

"Sirius, you and my sister weren't just friends, were you?" she asked quietly. "It wasn't just a few snogs."

He winced. "It's hard for me to think back on those times, Kit. I like just pretending that we didn't have anything too special so that I don't miss her so much. But... she was my best friend. I told you how she'd pretend to visit Regulus so she could see me. She knew Remus was a werewolf and she, brilliant as she was, helped us become animagi. She nursed me after a particularly bad round... of the Cruciatus Curse from my mother.

"Your sister, she was a natural healer. The way her hands moved, how she spoke... I fell hard for her, Kit. The first time we snogged was part of a game, but after that... well, it was always secret, because she was scared Rabastan would find out and tell her parents. Next thing I knew, she was apologizing and crying saying that she had to cut it off because their arranged marriage had been announced. She said she was really sorry, that she had tried to have it cancelled because she was of age, but Rabastan was too pleased to have her to himself that he didn't agree. I wanted to be mad at him, but the bloke was in his right mind. Only a fool would leave a woman like that. And besides, he had already been her friend, so it was a bonus. When she disappeared... it was incredibly painful. I wish things had been different."

Listening to him, Kit got a pretty good idea of what they had had. A young love shattered by an arranged marriage that ended in the disappearance of one and imprisonment of the other. Now, Sirius was here and Alana was nowhere to be found. Kit saw the sad look in his eyes, and took his hand.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you, Kit," he whispered. "I'm sorry all of this is happening. I wish your parents and mine never abused me. I wish your sister was here." He breathed in deeply. "Maybe... if I can get pardoned... I can take custody of both you and Harry. You'd be safe living with me."

Kit felt a sense of joy building up in her chest. Live with Sirius? That would be incredible. "If we can... then I will definitely take you up on that."

He beamed down at her and ruffled her hair. "Owl me if anything, okay?"

"I will," promised Kit.

He then transformed back into a great black dog before leading her out of the cave, and down the mountainside with the others. They each took turns patting him on the head when they reached the edge of the village, and when they'd finished, he turned and ran back to the cave. Kit followed the others back towards Hogwarts.

"Wonder if Percy knows all that stuff about Crouch?" Ron wondered. "But maybe he doesn't care... It'd probably just make him admire Crouch even more. Yeah, Percy loves rules. He'd just say Crouch was refusing to break them for his own son."

"Percy would never throw any of his family to the dementors," said Hermione severely.

"I don't know," said Ron. "If he thought we were standing in the way of his career... Percy's really ambitious, you know..." he breathed in deeply. "Poor old Snuffles. He must really like you. Harry... Imagine having to live off rats..."

_

After seeing Sirius, Kit found herself gathering food all the time, constantly sending it to him. Sometimes, she'd include small uplifting messages, but she had not yet hinted at anything else to be wrong. She was considering Sirius to be like her family even though she technically wasn't related to him at all. Come to think of it, if her memories were correct, then the one who was actually related to Sirius was Draco, and more distantly, Ron.

"I want to meet him one day," said Blaise one evening that Kit had gotten to sit down and actually try to complete an assignment. "He seems like a nice guy."

"He's excellent!" said Kit. "Anyway, how are you and Hermione?"

Blaise turned a bit pink. "Well, we're doing okay. I haven't told her about any of my confusing feelings yet. But we do hang out a bit more; she was asking me to help her with more research for S.P.E.W. and all that." Kit noticed the S.P.E.W. badge was still gleaming on his robes. She, Harry, and Ron didn't wear theirs— it was only Hermione and Blaise at this point. "I suppose she's still really into Viktor Krum though... I see them chatting ever so often."

"Ah, when he leaves she'll only keep him as a friend! She won't try to do a long-distance relationship, trust me. For now, don't tell her anything. Keep solidifying your friendship. That's the best foundation."

Blaise had been about to answer, but Draco quite unceremoniously flopped onto him from behind the couch, making Kit spill ink on the cushions.

"You prat!" hissed Blaise, having been knocked aside by Draco.

"Didn't see you there, Blaise," said Draco casually. He had been trying to be funny or something follow his almost-a-forehead-kiss flop in the Hospital Wing. Every time he was around Kit, he'd do something unbelievably clumsy or just plain silly. While she found it funny, it was strange. She supposed, granted how his parents raised him, he didn't have the best coping mechanisms for anything just yet.

"You saw me, you're not blind," hissed Blaise as Draco situated himself comfortably between him and Kit while she cleaned the ink stain.

"I never said I was blind," countered Draco, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. "You two are still doing homework? Couldn't be me."

Blaise and Kit shared a weird look. "Maybe we should tackle him to get him to stop being weird," suggested Kit with a cheeky grin. Draco almost immediately sat up and crossed his arms over his abdomen, as if to deflect an attack.

Kit looked over at him, finding herself blushing as she scooted a bit closer to him. "So, Quidditch," she proposed. "Next season. Should I still try out for Chaser?"

"You're downright lousy at any other position," said Blaise immediately. "So yes, stay at Chaser."

"Eh," said Draco, shrugging a bit. "You could try and beat Chang for the title of Seeker."

"But there's hardly any action with that!"

"Okay, then how about Keeper?"

"Oh, no," teased Blaise, kicking at Kit from over Draco's legs. "Kit wouldn't fare well with balls flying in her face."

"I'd be spectacular," she said, rolling her eyes as she threw a cushion at him. Draco didn't seem to like this, and changed the conversation.

"I heard they're closing off the Quidditch pitch for the third task," announced Draco. "What do you reckon it is?"

"A dueling arena," said Kit without hesitation. "They'll make these obstacles for them to duel and the last one standing wins. Everyone against everyone."

"That's a death hazard," noted Blaise. "I think that was a task once before— which is why the Tournament got cancelled for so long."

Draco smirked. "Blaise, you're a party pooper. Maybe Kit Kat wants everyone to fight to the death."

"Not if her precious Cedric is in danger of being hurt," teased Blaise.

Kit flushed. "I don't fancy him anymore, Blaise, so I'm not going to be at the edge of my seat or anything."

"Who do you fancy then?" said Blaise cleverly, as if he knew something she didn't— which in fact, he did.

Kit didn't answer, and instead folded her assignment neatly into her bag. "I think I'm going to head back for the night."

"I'll walk you," said Draco immediately, standing up. "Let me just go get my wand, wait for me." He bounded down the stairs to his dormitory.

Blaise wiggled his eyebrows at Kit. "You two are getting along very well, hmm? It's a nice turn."

Unbeknownst to Kit, Blaise was the mastermind behind it all. He was still coaching Draco on how to try and talk to her, how to view situations that went against what he was taught as a child. Draco had become quite attentive when Blaise was explaining his own point of views and how it tied in with what Kit believed.

"It is," she said a bit shyly. "It's nice to talk to him again. He's been quite tolerable, and I don't feel scared when I'm around him."

"Good," said Blaise. "As long as he's being nice, things will hopefully be fine, right?"

Kit nodded, looking up as Draco came up, his wand in hand. "Let's go."

"Goodnight, Blaise," chirped Kit as she followed Draco out the door. She was surprised to see Draco smiling as he led the way for her.

"What's got you so happy?" she inquired suspiciously.

"I'm just glad you let me walk you to your Common Room," said Draco in response, grinning as she caught up to him and matched his pace. His hand brushed hers, which she took as intentional. She led her fingers slide against his, and carefully grasped his hand. She practically felt his heartbeat speed up through his hand, and when she gazed at him through her peripheral vision, he was smiling a bit bigger.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "You've been a big help after everything. I really appreciate it."

"Anytime, Kit Kat," he said, beginning to swing their arms happily.

They made their way up several staircases and down several hallways. It seemed Draco was taking the long way, probably to prolong his time with Kit, which she found flattering.

"Oh look, there's Harry!" said Kit, letting go of Draco's hand as she trotted up to him. The raven haired boy had an entire ham in his hands, and he seemed to be heading to the Owlery.

"Is that for—?" Kit began. Harry nodded, looking back skeptically at Draco, who awkwardly shuffled behind Kit, his hands now in his pockets.

"I hope Pig can manage," Harry said as he kept walking. "It's really heavy..."

This was true. Once they reached the Owlery and called Pigwidgeon down, Kit realized the tiny owl was smaller than the ham. She giggled awkwardly as she cradled Pigwidgeon in her arms and hugged him. "You teeny little thing, you're going to need help carrying this."

"Who's that for, Kit Kat?" asked Draco from the doorway, not looking at Harry.

"A friend of ours who is in need," she said simply.

Draco scratched the back of his head. Blaise's words were ringing in his head, and he seemed to decide on something. He whistled, and Brutus flew down from his perch, landing on Draco's outstretched arms. "Brutus, be good, and help the little one with that... um... ham."

Harry turned around looking more confused than Kit had ever seen him before. Kit led go of Pigwidgeon as Brutus flew over and got his claws on the wrapping of the ham. Pigwidgeon flew over and grasped another end. It was rather awkward to watch as the two owls took off carrying the package between them, but it seemed they were working well. They soared out into the night sky toward Hogsmeade and eventually, the cave where Sirius resided.

"Er— thank you," said Harry, looking almost suspiciously at Draco.

"Um... you're welcome," said Draco, stepping out and moving aside for Harry to pass. Harry nodded to Kit and went back to his Common Room.

"Sorry that you felt obligated to follow," said Kit, taking Draco's hand gently in her own again. "But that was impressive. You were civil to him."

"I'm doing my best," Draco said with a slight smile. He looked proud of himself.

"Well, your best is exceptionally good," Kit praised as they began to walk to the Ravenclaw Common Room. She remembered the first time he'd walked her to her dorm all those months ago. From the Owlery to her dormitory. It made her blush. She was appreciating how hard Draco was trying, and it made her heart swell.

Once they arrived to the door, the cool eagle voice asked, "What has an eye, but cannot see?"

Kit was still processing the question when Draco answered: "A needle."

"Good response," the eagle told him before opening the door