Chapter 10
Crouch Jr had felt the portkey go off and quickly made his way back to the school. He missed the three champions appear by the maze entrance, and he missed Bagman protesting that they must have been cheating to all touch the cup at the same time. After the tournament was over, Julian sought out Barty and had him forcibly tell him where the real Moody was. After the gruff ex-Auror was recovered from his trunk and taken to Madam Pomfrey, Crouch Jr had a close and personal encounter with an enraged Elemental. His last thought was where had this young man been hiding all that anger.
The trio immediately sought out their representatives and explained what had happened and what Julian said. Albus had seen Crouch Jr head off and figured the man had wanted Julian to touch the tampered cup. Well, it would at least get rid of the annoying pest. Since Julian had arrived, Severus was second guessing everything Albus told him, and that wasn't good.
'I will of course investigate these allegations and look into Mr Heartright's disappearance. Now I'm sure you are all tired from the maze, why don't you head off to Madam Pomfrey' Albus said.
The three gave him suspicious looks, but did as told and headed with their friends to see the nurse. Albus frowned at their backs. Why were they questioning him?! He was the Great Albus Dumbledore!
'I assume you have an idea as to where Julian is?' asked a voice.
Albus growled to himself. He did not need Severus whining at him.
'I see no reason to worry about him Severus, he is more than capable of looking after himself' he replied serenely.
The potion master crossed his arms.
'Meaning you don't know where he is'.
Albus bit his tongue to stop him barking out a reply. Where was the blinding acceptance he was used to?! Deciding not to answer, he led the other judges back to the castle. Or at least he tried to, but Bagman had made a hurried excuse about Goblins and money and left, Madam Maxine had went to check on her champion, and Igor had vanished entirely. Instead, Albus headed to his office for a good old grumble.
OOO
'The cup was tampered with?! By who?!' Hermione exclaimed.
'We don't know. Julian did not say' Fleur answered.
'If he's putting himself in danger just to satisfy a curiosity he's going to get a right telling off!' Hermione growled.
'Get in line' came a reply and they turned to find Professor Snape.
'You don't know where he's gone either Professor?' Harry asked.
'No, but when he returns he'll be sorry he left' the man muttered.
'You don't need to worry. Julian knows what he's doing. Just like when he took that soul piece out your head Harry' Luna said.
'How did you…?!' Harry started.
'Soul piece?' came a dangerously low growl.
Gulping Harry turned to Professor Snape.
'Um…yes… Julian called it a horcrux from Voldemort. He got rid of it though' he stammered.
'And how, pray tell, did he do that?' the man asked lowly.
Harry realise he may have just blurted out something he shouldn't have, and tried to fix it. So did Hermione.
'He just used magic sir'.
He didn't do anything wrong'.
Professor Snape sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
'I know about his stash of syringes. I was asking to find out who else knew, and why he did not see fit to tell me about this'.
'You know? Oh' Hermione sighed in relief.
The rest of the group were giving them strange looks. Bill though had a thoughtful expression.
'Excuse me Professor, but this stash wouldn't be the cause of the group of traumatised Slytherins when we were in third year, would it?' he asked.
Charlie suddenly looked enlightened, while the rest still looked confused.
'Certainly not, that incident was nothing more than a lesson on why you shouldn't enrage an Elemental' Severus replied.
Both Weasley's expressions fell, then they shuddered.
'Fair enough, just another reminder never to have him angry at us. So…you're not going to tell us about this "stash" then?' Charlie said.
Snape nodded.
'Indeed. It is not my place to tell you what that brat gets up to in his free time'.
'Understood Sir. We were just curious about exactly what happened that day. We figured it might have been his powers but at that point we didn't think he was strong enough to pull that kind of trauma off. Rumours had spread through the entire school about what exactly happened to those Slytherins, the students were coming up with some odd ideas' Bill spoke.
'I assume you and your brother added your own ideas to that mix?' Professor Snape asked, looking amused.
Both of the elder Weasley brothers blushed slightly. Bill cleared his throat.
'You had to admit it was hard to see how a small shy third year could really take down a group of seventh years, elements or not'.
'Don't let Julian hear you calling him small, you know how touchy he is about his height' Severus reminded him.
Charlie shuddered while Bill just paled and retracted that part of his statement, glancing round to make sure Julian wasn't within hearing range.
The group chuckled, silently making a note never to mention Julian's height, ever.
'Um…exactly what did happen?' Harry dared to ask.
The Weasley boys went to answer but Severus got in first.
'An incident of bullying that went too far. One lesson you must learn about Julian Heartright Potter, he does not tolerate abuse of a child, in any way'.
'Kinda felt sorry for the Slytherins though' Charlie piped up.
'Yeah, they were in the hospital wing for a week. Couldn't even look at Julian without trembling afterwards' Bill added with a slight smirk.
'Well they may have been traumatised but there wasn't a single scratch on them, so I can say for certainty that Mr Heartright did not harm them' Madam Pomfrey spoke up with a smile.
She finished checking the champions and the group started heading back to the castle. A yell from a lingering spectator caught their attention. Julian had just appeared.