Thick Smoke

The morning of the second task came faster than Eliza expected. She woke up to something licking her cheek and even half asleep she recognized it to be Furvus. 

"What?" She mumbled groggily and then noticed something that looked a lot like a letter next to her hand. "What's this?" 

Be there at Hogsmeade with Harry- Dad.

That was all. Eliza frowned and looked down at Furvus before taking a good look around. No one was there which only meant they were all watching the second task. 

Eliza dressed quickly and followed Furvus down the marble stairs to the Entrance Hall. The castle was deserted except the house elves. She saw the elf that took a liking to Furvus and stopped right in front of him.

"Ah, miss! You wants to go look after Harry Potter! They is at the lake, miss!" He said and blinked those immense green eyes of his. 

Eliza nodded and left the castle. When she got to the lake she only saw Seamus and Neville looking expectantly at the lake.

“They dived in.” Neville explained, seeing how she was terribly confused. “There is one person for each contestant and they have to free them while being underwater,” He continued, Eliza nodding along with wide eyes. “I hope Harry won’t drown and die.” He mumbled to himself.

“Be a little more positive, will you?” She mumbled, fidgeting nervously while waiting for Harry’s head to get out of the water.

He didn’t die, of course, and even took second place granted to saving Fleur’s little sister besides Ron. 

Everyone was screaming in delight except the Slytherins and Durmstrang's Headmaster. Karkaroff was glaring at Harry before he turned his head and saw her. His eyes widened before he turned around and disappeared. 

Now that she was back in the Common Room, she couldn’t cease her curiosity about some tiny detail.

"Harry, what happens at our next Hogsmeade break?" She asked like she was talking about the weather. 

Ron and Hermione glanced at each other before they looked at Harry. He was finally gaining some color in his cheeks after the stress of the second task.

"Dad told me."

Right. The trio almost forgot that Eliza was Sirius' daughter for a moment. She was bound to be involved even if she didn't want to. Besides, everyone knew she was good at keeping secrets.

With that in mind, Harry told her everything at breakfast the next day. 

"There's something I don't get. Why is Snape so out of character around Moody. Dumbledore kept him in Hogwarts so he must trust him." 

Eliza was genuinely curious and confused. Harry didn't know either and only said something about second chances. Well, that wasn't enough for her. 



Eliza turned her head to the door she was hiding behind, whimpering in fear and unknown. Suddenly, the door opened and Bellatrix entered first followed by Lucius Malfoy. As soon as Eliza followed the others she noticed that Lizzy wasn’t in the room; it was empty and the broom was gone.

“She’s not here? How can she not be here? We checked!” Bellatrix exclaimed, turning in circles, her eyes wandering everywhere. 

She jumped on the bed before looking under it but nothing was there. Suddenly, the mad woman turned towards the only place a child could hide: the dresser. With a wicked smile and growing excitement, she opened the double doors.

"A Ha!”

The excitement died when she only found clothes and a broom that wasn’t magical. Bellatrix grabbed the clothes from the hangers and threw them all out, emptying the compartments but nothing.

“Where is she, Lucius? You were the one in charge of the information!” She screamed, getting too close to his face for comfort.

Unlike her, Malfoy was calmly pacing around. It didn’t seem like the child left yet she wasn’t there either.

“She’s not here my Lord.” Bellatrix continued, getting softer and bowing her head like a loyal dog in front of his owner. 

Voldemort seemed angry before he disapparated. The others followed him silently.

The last one to leave was Malfoy. He walked towards the dresser and looked down at it. Now that it was silent, he could hear elaborate breathing from what was a secret compartment under the floor. Lizzy was young and sensing that most strangers were gone, she raised the lid only a tiny bit but enough for Malfoy to notice the bright and scared green eyes.

Eliza watched surprised as Lucius narrowed his eyes at Lizzy before following his colleagues, not a word said about the young child hiding in the dresser.

She was there. She had always been there, right in front of them  and Voldemort could had taken her if Malfoy had betrayed Ophelia.

But he didn’t.



That was the question that seemed to bother Eliza for the rest of the following week. 

Malfoy was a Death Eater and he probably gleamed with happiness and joy when Lily and James Potter died.

“So strange,” She trailed.

Lucius’ character just became an enigma.

“Hmm~”

Eliza was actually turning towards the dungeons once again when Harry appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her aside.

“Tomorrow we meet Sirius.” He stated, his eyes boring into hers with a certain glint of anxiety.

And they definitely took a lot of food for the meeting. It was insane how much chocolate pudding she had in her pockets while Harry's backpack had chicken and other delicious food. 

They found the big black dog somewhere at the edge of the village and had to go up the mountain towards a cave.

Sirius walked further into the darkness of the cave before coming back changed into his human form. He smiled widely at them before getting even happier at the sight of food. 

"You look thinner than this summer." Eliza scolded him. 

"Yeah well I've been eating rats ever since I arrived here." He responded in the same smartass way.

Suddenly, the conversation became serious. Sirius knew a lot about Barty Crouch and his power hungry personality. From the whole lot of information exchanged, Eliza kept silent and listened. 

"There's something bugging me. A lot of people seem to fuss around Harry and they're all suspicious. What makes you think he should trust the ones who don't seem suspicious?" 

"That doesn't make any sense, Liz. Why would someone who doesn't look or act suspicious be suspicious? See, it doesn't have any sense!" Ron exclaimed but Eliza was staring at her father.

Sirius sighed and leaned towards her, "Had something odd happened to you? Your owl doesn't send any letters and I've had to use Furvus here and there." 

At the mention of the kitten,her eyes darkened, "About that-" 

But Sirius blinked innocently at her before turning to Harry and urging them to leave. Eliza glared at the black dog for the whole way back and wasn't particularly keen on patting him as a goodbye. 



“Lately many odd things happened." Eliza mumbled during Potions. She was alone at her table after Blaise was forced to move after Neville's potion exploded. 

"Molley, I don't care what happens in your life. Do us a favor and concentrate. We don't need another explosion." Snape snarled, his eyes moving to Neville for a second.

Eliza scoffed louder than she was intending to, drawing Snape's attention again. 

"10 point from Gryffindor." He said, sounding very pleased. 

"I wish mom's diary had some dirt on you, professor ass-whack." She mumbled while hiding her face behind the cauldron. 

He didn't hear her. Besides, Snape wasn't one of the not suspicious suspicious people she had in mind. Especially not after taking another 10 points from Gryffindor. 

One particular night in March was weirder than ever before. Speaking about Crouch and Bagman seemed to have an effect of Eliza. She went to sleep that night and had such a weird dream.

It was cold and mist was flying around her. Eliza was in what looked like the Forbidden Forest and she wasn't alone. 

"You're not fit for this mission, Lucius." The voice of a stranger begun. 

Lucius Malfoy was standing in front of that stranger, facing the spot Eliza was in. She frowned and walked closer. Her green eyes surveyed the clearing but no one was there except the blond and the skinny guy. 

"She was my responsibility. No one knows her better than I do." Lucius hissed back.

The skinny stranger clicked his tongue, "Are you letting personal feelings interfere with our work, Lucius? Don't forget that Ophelia abandoned you for Sirius Black. She has his baby." 

Lucius Malfoy looked ready to kill but didn't move an inch. 

"I will not discuss my former businesses with you, Crouch." 

Eliza's eyes widened and walked closer to the two. She was one step behind the stranger when he spun around and hissed, "Not this time, you traitor." 

Eliza woke up with a loud scream. That face, that conversation and the term he used...traitor. 

Fortunately no one woke up when she screamed. Lavender moved only to roll on her other side. Eliza searched for Furvus and found him staring at her with worry. He crawled up into her bed and purred lowly before curling up next to her.