Yo! So, you may have noticed I've listed/tagged a pairing-Barty/Harry, but it still also says 'preslash'. I've finally decided for sure that if there will be a pairing at all, it will be this one, and while Harry is young, it will merely be hinted towards, hence the preslash. If this fic extends past fourth year (which I'm not sure of yet because I'm shit at planning fics out), then the pairing can become an actual pairing, but since I have no idea how long this fic will be yet, it's going to stay preslash with Barty/Harry for the time being, with them becoming friends first. And if you're not down with that, (insert wrestling joke here). ...I'm tired. Guys, I haven't slept decently in like, three days. Seriously. I've gotten eight hours of sleep in total over the past seventy whatever hours. Kill me now.

Also, I have no idea why I got a sudden random surge of faves and follows for this fic at once a few days ago, despite it not having been updated in like, four months, but uh...thank you to all readers so far?

Harry waited until nightfall. After curfew he slipped out of bed, making sure he had the Marauders' Map and his Invisibility Cloak on him, and then quietly left Gyffindor Tower. Silently, eyes on the map, hidden beneath the cloak, he cautiously made his way through the castle towards Moody's rooms.

Moody wasn't moving much again, but Crouch-the one he didn't know, was pacing again quickly, as if he were agitated. The other Crouch, the one Harry did know, seemed to be asleep in one of the many guest rooms.

When he finally reached the correct room, he cleared and stashed the map in his pocket and pulled off his cloak, shoving that away too before knocking on the door. It was a bold move. An idiotic one as well. There were so many ways for this to end badly. He was fully aware of that, but he did it anyway. ...He probably wasn't going to tell Hermione about this though. She was going to kill him.

At first nothing happened. Harry just knocked again. And again. And again. And then he tried to open the door. Nothing again. It was locked. He frowned, annoyed. Crouch clearly wasn't planning on opening the door any time soon, but Harry wasn't going to allow that. He had questions and he wanted answers. Now.

"Open," he hissed out in Parseltongue. He heard the lock click, and blinked in surprise. He actually hadn't expected that to work, only having tried it out on a hunch. But now wasn't the moment to question that. He opened the door and stepped into Moody's rooms, shutting the door behind him and turning to look around.

It was dark in here, he noticed, the only light coming from the lit hearth. There was no one in sight. Harry cocked his head. Unless Crouch had escaped into "Moody's" office, he had to be in here somewhere. But where?

Cautiously, Harry moved further into the room, peering around curiously, wondering why exactly he hadn't pulled his wand out yet. The rooms seemed like they were really plain, but if there was someone here pretending to be Moody, that really wasn't surprising. With how paranoid Moody was, Harry doubted anyone ever actually tried to come in here. Either way, this was getting kind of weird.

"How did you get in here?"

Harry froze. The voice had sounded from directly behind him, close enough that he was actually surprised he hadn't heard the man come up so close to him. But even more, that voice didn't belong to either Moody or that stickler Mr Crouch. Was this the person behind the reason of there being two people named Bartemius Crouch on the Marauders' Map?

"Answer me!"

"...Being a Parselmouth really is a very useful skill, you know."

"Parselmouth? ...You spoke in Parseltongue to get inside these rooms?"

"Yep. Sure did."

The man, whoever he was, made a soft sound of surprise, though he didn't say anything more for a long, tense moment. Feeling that the man was busy thinking, Harry decided to try and take a peak at the stranger's face, and began shifting around. He barely even moved though before a rather large hand clamped down on his shoulder somewhat harshly, stopping him immediately.

"Keep still. Do not move."

Harry obeyed, getting the feeling that listening for the moment was the best thing to do for his health and safety right now. But not moving didn't mean not speaking. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Why do you care to know?"

"Why shouldn't I?" he countered. "You're not Moody, and you're not Crouch, but here you are, under Crouch's name, impersonating Moody and possibly, even likely, keeping him hostage. I think all of that is enough of a reason for wanting to know who you are."

The man chuckled softly, the hand on Harry's shoulder tightening almost painfully. "You know more than you should, Potter. Why do you think I should let you leave this room now?"

Harry wasn't at all intimidated, and couldn't help but role his eyes. "Oh please, Harry Potter going missing during the TriWizard Tournament will be the biggest news until Voldemort comes back. Everyone's going to notice that I'm gone-pretty much immediately too, seeing as I'm kind of in the spotlight thanks to this whole daft tournament. Getting rid of me won't benefit you in any way, and I think you're smart enough to know that too."

Though the teen didn't know it, he was exactly right. The stranger knew exactly what he was talking about-had already been thinking of it all himself. He had never intended to actually do anything to Harry, especially since he had no desire to draw any attention to himself just yet. All he had been attempting to accomplish was scare Potter off, though it didn't seem like that was going to work.

"No, Potter, I am not Alastor Moody. Neither am I the Bartemius Crouch that you speak of. I will tell you that much." He released his shoulder, slinking back into the shadows before Harry could turn around to see his face. "Get out, Potter, before you're caught out of bed."

Deciding not to try his luck, Harry quickly used this chance to leave the rooms, hearing the door shut and lock behind him. But that was fine. He wasn't sure if the man had done it on purpose or not, but his last few words there had already given Harry something new to look into.

The man had said he wasn't Moody, which Harry really did believe without question. But it was the second denial there that had piqued Harry's interest. He had said that he wasn't the Crouch that Harry was 'speaking of'. All that made Harry think was that there was another Bartemius Crouch out there that he hadn't been speaking of.

But was it really that simple?

That's it for now. Next chapter will be the Yule Ball. Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!