The door to Moody's office clicked shut behind him.
The sound was like a lock, locking away the name Harry had just signed, along with the heaviness in his heart.
Even the air in the corridor seemed freer than the air in the office, yet Harry felt he could hardly breathe.
Dumbledore, Madame Maxime, Karkaroff, and Professor Douglas had merely watched them sign the agreement in silence, then left separately without another word.
That silence carried more weight than any stern warning.
"Harry, are you all right?"
Ron's voice was full of concern. He had been waiting anxiously outside the door.
Hermione said nothing, but her gaze was more penetrating than Ron's question. It stayed fixed on Harry's face, trying to read something in the smallest changes in his expression.
"I... I'm fine."
Harry shook his head and forced a smile.
"It's just... the responsibility feels heavy."
"Responsibility?"
Ron frowned.
"What responsibility? What exactly did he tell you?"
Harry opened his mouth. The explanation rose to his lips, only to be forced back by an invisible power.
The golden light on the Highest Confidentiality Agreement still seemed to flicker before his eyes.
"I can't say, Ron." Harry's voice was a little dry. "It's a confidentiality agreement. Ministry of Magic level."
"Ministry of Magic level?" Ron exclaimed. "Just for a school observer team? Has he gone mad?"
"He hasn't gone mad."
Hermione's voice was unusually calm, so calm that it sent a slight chill through them.
She pulled Harry and Ron over to a secluded windowsill and made sure no one was around.
"Harry, don't you understand yet? He isn't selecting observers. He's putting together a private team completely cut off from the outside world!"
Hermione spoke rapidly, her words firing out like bullets.
"He deliberately used those high-sounding excuses to