Chapter Ten: Spring
Despite the fact that the Triwizard Tournament's second task had concluded, with Harry having a distinctive lead, he could not afford to let up on his training. The third task, which at this point was unknown, was likely to be the more difficult task. They had very little to go on with what the Tournament was, other than Bagman was going to tell all four champions what it was going to be, about a month or so before it happened. Until then all Harry could do was practice any spell he could learn for the Tournament. He was facing the mostly great unknown for the time being.
Recently, they had been focusing on silent spell casting. Ginny and Harry both managed to light their wands and levitate without speaking, along with partially completing a full body bind. Neville and Luna had managed the lighting, but levitating was a slow process for them. Luna had managed to levitate it for a few seconds, but her concentration had broken and Neville had lifted it an inch. They could only work on this a couple of hours, as other spells needed to be focused on.
Right now, the quartet was enjoying a rare day off without spells. It was Hogsmeade weekend and they mad their way towards the edge of the village, after a couple of hours of shopping. Right now, Luna, Neville, and Ginny followed Harry a few steps behind, so they could meet Sirius. They would have gotten there a little sooner, but Hermione and Ron were following them around. A bit of evasive and unconventional maneuvering through the city had caused them to ditch both of them. Using the Invisibility Cloak had helped out a little bit too. Right now, they were on the edge of a tall steep rocky hill with a cave on the top, where a black dog was sitting wagging his tail when he saw Harry approaching.
"Hello, Sirius, good to see you again," said Harry but Sirius had just noticed the three people standing next to Harry. He whined, his head looking from side to side. "Don't worry, Sirius, I trust each and every one of them."
There was a pause for a second before Sirius barked happily and lead them up the hill. It was much easier for Sirius to climb up, but Luna, Neville, Ginny, and Harry managed to respectively keep up the pace as they reached higher towards their destination. As they reached the top, Harry waved his wand to check for monitoring spells. Once he had discovered some placed on strategic parts of the cave, Harry removed his wand from his sleeve.
"Obsurdesco," muttered Harry as low he could speak, from as far away from the cave as he could master, pointing his wand towards the walls of the cave. Everyone looked at him but he waved them inside the cave, as it was safe to speak.
Once they were inside, Sirius had turned into a man, looking a bit worn and tired.
"What was the deal with the sound masking spell, Harry?" asked Sirius. "More importantly, where did you learn the sound masking spell? That spell is N.E.W.T. level."
"So I've heard," said Harry dryly. "As for where I learned it, Restricted Section of the library is your friend. Secondly, as to why I've used it, I found three sound monitoring charms placed on the cave. Obviously someone wanted to keep tabs on what's gong on in here."
"But Dumbledore assured me that the cave was perfectly safe," responded Sirius but Harry just looked at him. "He was the one who suggested it to me."
"That explains a lot, but I'll get to that in a minute," said Harry before he turned to Luna, Neville, and Ginny. "This is Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, and my girlfriend Ginny Weasley."
"You Potters and your redheads," muttered Sirius underneath his breath, shaking his head before he snapped his eyes up and looked rather serious. "Pleased to meet all of you."
"Harry, you never told me your godfather was Stubby Boardman," interjected Luna in a surprised voice as she looked at Sirius.
"Stubby Boardman?" questioned Harry in a confused voice.
"Lead singer for the Hob-goblins, they broke up thirteen years ago, right before Sirius went to Azkaban oddly enough," said Ginny. "Makes you think, doesn't it?"
"One time, we do it one time, and it's a legend throughout the entire Wizarding World," said Sirius as Harry, Neville, Luna, and Ginny looked at him. "James had the bright idea that we pose as the Hob-goblins to get free drinks one night, this was before he was married to Lily obviously, otherwise she would have killed him. Well needless to say it worked, until at least we had a few too many drinks and went into the Muggle World. Let's just say the less said about our night in Muggle jail the better, I never knew there were so many people with the name Bubba. The press had a field day with this and it was a rare moment of amusement in the terror caused by Voldemort. I guess it became even more exaggerated over the years."
"Ah, glad it could be explained, you were Stubby Boardman for one day," said Luna triumphantly. "Daddy will be pleased, that one of his stories was actually accurate, that one pops up a couple of times a year in the Quibbler."
"Well happy to have helped," said Sirius not quite sure exactly what else to see before he abruptly turned to Harry. "Now Harry, I noticed something when you've talked about Dumbledore. It's like you don't trust him and I was curious why you don't."
"Long story short, Dumbledore's had a hand in manipulating my entire life since I came to Hogwarts, in fact ever since I was born," said Harry as he looked at Sirius, who nodded slowly. "Starting with that stupid Prophecy, do you know it Sirius?"
"I know of it, it was the reason that this entire mess with the Secret Keeper started in the first place," answered Sirius with a nod, as he looked at them all.
"Well, I found out about the Prophecy," said Harry and Sirius looked surprised. "Mum left me a letter in her vault that mentioned it. Here's the letter."
Harry handed Sirius the letter who look it. Reading through, Sirius's eyes widened at several places, also looking very amused at others, as he read the letter, after a couple of moments, Sirius handed the letter back to Harry, before he took a deep breath.
"The Prophecy, if it's accurate means that only you or Voldemort can kill the other," summarized Sirius. "I've never been one for Divination, but that's how I've read it."
"You and I are on the same wavelength Sirius, not that I want to test out the theory by recklessly putting my life in danger," said Harry.
"That is if the prophecy is true," cautioned Sirius. "It could be relating to a different dark lord, it doesn't specific the seventh month of what year, any number of variables could make it seem like it related to you and Voldemort, but what if it was something different."
"Yes, but the part about being marked as an equal, Harry has the scar, so that could be considered marking," offered Neville who was glad that Voldemort did not interpret him as the threat. It could have just easily been him as the Boy-Who-Lived instead of Harry and he was not sure he could have handled it. In fact, if it was anyone else other than Harry, Neville believed they might just have cracked under the pressure a long time ago.
"True, and the fact Voldemort believes the prophecy to be genuine makes it unlikely that I can just disregard it," said Harry as he put his hand on his head. "All I can do now is learn everything I can, as quickly as I can. At least enough to hold my own, until I'm ready to face Voldemort. Not going to be easy, as he does have over fifty years of magical knowledge over me, including magical information that is rare."
"Right, I agree, it's smart that you're doing that Harry, but something Lily said in the letter really interested me," said Sirius. "It's almost like she's encouraging you to…well overthrow the Ministry and rebuild the Wizarding World."
"Yes, that's actually what I got from that as well," said Harry.
"That explains more than you could ever think Harry," responded Sirius with an amused look. "Lily always got upset when James talked about how you were going to be a great Quidditch Player, saying that there is no way your going to take any Bludgers to the head and ruin your brain before you achieve full potential. She was always not that comfortable around Dumbledore, but she put up with him for James's sake. She did mention one time, about a week before they were killed, that Voldemort would not have come to power if someone had done something sooner and Dumbledore waited too long to do anything."
"I can see where she was coming from, there hard to be signs that Voldemort were there, but Dumbledore might have been afraid to take a more heavy handed approach with him," said Ginny. "The problem with Dumbledore is he always toes a certain line, he values his reputation too much and doesn't want to rock anything too much."
"Not to mention he doesn't want blood on his hands, at least directly," replied Harry. "He wanted to make me into a martyr to face off against Voldemort and would have gotten away with it, had I not wised up. Now, if I face Voldemort, both of my eyes are open and I'll beat him, but it will be on my own terms."
"And the fact that Lily said that Dumbledore was in the switch confused me, because I don't remember him knowing," answered Sirius with a frown.
"Unless he modified your memory," suggested Luna and the others looked up at each other, before nodding.
"That sounds like something Dumbledore would do, come to think of it," said Sirius with a bit of bitterness in his voice. "He didn't do anything to get me a trial, the Ministry thought his word was good enough, not that it would have mattered to Crouch anyway, he was at worst them. It's lucky I caught him on a goody day. Otherwise, he might had the Dementors kiss me right away."
Sirius shuddered and he was not the only one, but Harry remembered something that he wanted Sirius's opinion on.
"Sirius, I've been using the Map lately a lot and it looks like Crouch has been sneaking around the school, he's been in Snape's office at least twice and ingredients have been missing," said Harry and Sirius paused, before responding.
"Considering Crouch has been absent from the Ministry for at least three months, that's odd," commented Sirius with a frown. "Especially the fact that Crouch never gets ill. Never, when his wife died, he made sure to arrange the funeral on a day that he was off, and now, he's missed three straight months. I'd like to say that overwork has finally gotten to him and he's snapped, but up until he disappeared, there were no warning signs at what happened. He just stopped going to work one day."
"Accordingly to Percy, he's sending instructions, but that can be faked," said Ginny. "Still it doesn't explain why he's sneaking around Hogwarts."
"No it doesn't," agreed Harry. "Unless Crouch was put under the Imperius Curse and then attacked Moody, before using the Polyjuice Potion, which is the theory we've come up with. The fact that Moody, who may actually be Crouch, keeps helping me and the ingredients missing from Snape's office really add to this. In addition to the vision I had where Voldemort told Wormtail to arrange for Crouch to not go to the Ministry, because his presence there was a liability, really just adds even more questions but I'm pretty sure this is the most plausible explanation."
"Yes, I suppose there's a chance, but there's so much that can go wrong with that," said Sirius. "If Crouch breaks the curse, if he's Moody, it could lead to some seriously complications. I think there is much more to this than we're seeing. Voldemort's obviously pulling the strings and no matter who put your name in the hat is working with him, whether it's willingly or not, well I don't think so. Maybe Karkaroff is in on this as well."
"No, I don't think so, Harry and I overheard a conversation between him and Snape on Christmas," said Ginny. "Karkaroff seemed very worried about something and from what they were saying, it was about Voldemort. It didn't seem too staged as well."
"Well, Ginny, Karkaroff's a good actor, he got himself out of Azkaban and all those people in, made a lot of people think he had a change of heart," remarked Sirius.
"Be that as it may no one is that good, not even Karkaroff," argued Harry. "Possible yes, but I don't know, it just seems like he's being genuine and afraid of Voldemort returning. I don't think he's in on this, it just doesn't make sense."
"Pieces of the puzzle are missing, we have a good amount of it, but nothing to tie everything together," said Luna. "Crouch, Moody, Voldemort, Polyjuice Potion and the Tournament all go together somehow, but how? If we can figure out what exactly ties this all together, then we know what's right or wrong."
"Good solid evidence is what we need, but how," said Ginny. "After all these thefts, I don't think Snape will let anyone near his private stores. Dumbledore won't do anything, Harry's already said the Ministry has offered to investigate, but it was shut down. All the evidence from there is lost."
"Looks like unless we luckily stumble into something, everything is lost," said Harry. "Sirius?"
"Yes, I think so Harry, the Marauder's Map is your best bet, but I can see why you don't want the Ministry to know about that, they're think it's dangerous and confiscate it," said Sirius. "As I told Remus when I stopped by on my way here, the best bet is to keep your head up and train hard for the Tournament. Your mother said it best, learned everything you can."
"I am, don't worry Sirius, we've been studying as much as we can, both for this Tournament and whatever happens later," said Harry. "How is Lupin by the way?"
"He says he's well, but unemployment has hit him hard, and the lack of the Wolfbane Potion, well after having it for an entire year, it makes the transformations more painful after being taken off of it," answered Sirius darkly. "I didn't know about it, until I managed to get it out of him, otherwise I would have had it made for him."
"That's not a good idea Sirius, considering the Ministry is out for you, but maybe there's something I can do," cautioned Harry as Sirius looked at him to protest, but a stern look had stopped him. "With all the gold I've have, I can afford to have a world class Potions master make the potion and get it to Remus once a month."
"Let me know if there is anything that I can do to help," offered Sirius.
"I'll take care of it, Sirius, until we get Wormtail, you might be cleared of the betrayal charge, but until we get him, they still think you killed him and all of those Muggles, regardless of who the Secret Keeper is," said Harry. "So lay low and once I get past this Tournament, I'll be able to worry about Wormtail."
"Right Harry, don't worry about me, just get through the Tournament," said Sirius as they moved towards the edge of the cave, it was getting late and they needed to get back. Not to mention the fact that the sound blocking charms would fade, leaving the monitoring spells wide open in a matter of moments. "I think I'll breathe easier when this tournament is done and over with."
"I think we all will, Sirius," answered Harry, as they made their way from the cave and back down into the village, so they could go back into the school.
-
The following Friday, in the Great Hall, Harry had just completed a hurried breakfast. He had walked forward, something had tasted a bit off about the pumpkin juice. Ginny was talking to Luna as he moved out into the Great Hall. Neville was right behind Harry but Hermione had swerved right in front of him.
"HARRY!" called Hermione as she moved towards Harry and Harry was taken aback, but he stopped.
"May I help you?" asked Harry coolly.
"Actually, Harry, I'm here to help you," said Hermione brightly as she stepped closer to Harry. Any second right now, it would be taken effect and Harry would be saved from Ginny. It might put him in a slightly mindless state but it was for his own good.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Harry as he about gagged on how strong Hermione's perfume was. It was odd that she was coming up to him on this very morning and when the pumpkin juice had a peculiar taste.
"Harry…" started Ginny as she rushed up to the scene before her eyes locked onto Hermione. "What are you doing here?"
"Actually, I was just talking to Harry, I think he's about to see the error in his ways," responded Hermione as she edged closer to Harry. Harry leaned forward, looking into her eyes, she had almost had him, but his will was too strong. He was able to gather exactly what Hermione did and how she did it. In fact, her mind was so easily organized it was easy to see what exactly Hermione did.
"Hermione, I've wanted to tell you this for a very long time," said Harry in a dreamy voice and Hermione looked smug as she looked at Ginny, who just leaned forward. "Hermione…did you really think a love potion would have any effect on me when I could throw off the Imperius Curse?"
"Love Potion!" shouted Ginny angrily, as she spun towards Hermione, who backed off. She remembered what happened the last time Ginny's rage was directed at her. Her jaw ached in the memory of it. Ginny moved forward, as she pulled out her wand and aimed it towards Hermione. Just when she thought Hermione could not go any lower, she had surprised her.
"What is the meaning of this?" demanded Professor Snape as he stepped into the hallway, followed by Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore.
"Why don't you ask Granger?" asked Ginny. "She can tell you how she's been brewing up love potions."
"Love potions?" demanded McGonagall as she looked at Hermione, who was sweating, under pressure. "Is that true, Miss Granger?"
Hermione looked nervous and seemed to be physically unable to answer any questions.
"There's only one way to find out, I shall retrieve Mr. Potter's cup from the Gryffindor Table and check it for foreign substances," said Snape before he paused, sniffing the air. "Although that diluted love potion that she put into her perfume might be a good enough indication to give her away."
"Miss Granger, you are to come with us to my office," said Dumbledore in a commanding tone and Hermione nodded, it was obvious that she had made a judgment of error. "Miss Weasley, Mr. Potter, I would suggest you get to class, don't worry about this, we'll settle it out."
"Of course, Professor," said Harry as Ginny nodded right beside his side, as she held Harry's hand, as Hermione was lead off, sobbing slightly, at the fact that the plan she had worked on for two months. Everyone was wrong, she was supposed to be with Harry, Harry was supposed to turn to her when he was in trouble. When he needed help, Hermione was supposed to be there for Harry, not Ginny. Now, because of Ginny's corrupting influence, Harry was lost to her forever. Where could she have gone wrong?
"So you can throw off the effects of the love potion?" asked Ginny. "Did you know you could do that?"
"No not until today, but it really does make sense if I can throw off the Imperius, a love potion, even one brewed by Hermione, could be no problem," responded Harry as he looked into Ginny's eyes. "Besides I have the most beautiful girl in the world anyway, why would I be swayed by a love potion?"
"Good point, Harry," said Ginny with a laugh, before they kissed briefly before they had to break apart. "We'll finish this after class."
"Agreed," said Harry with a grin but he vowed to find a charm to check his drinks and food for foreign substances in the future. It was quite lucky that it was only a love potion, instead of something a bit more deadly. It would not happen again and it had just reminded Harry of what potential dangers had lurked out there. Still, he had the thoughts of spending some quality time with Ginny after class and he could really care less what would happen to Hermione.
-
Hermione sat in Dumbledore's office, a scared look on her face, as Snape had just completed the test of the remaining pumpkin juice. Dumbledore and McGonagall awaited the result of Snape's test.
"It may be a surprise that one of our precious Gryffindors would indulge in such a heinous act, but in fact, Miss Granger did use love potion as Mr. Potter accused, I am more curious as to why Mr. Potter managed to be immune to the effects," stated Snape as he turned to Dumbledore, with a nod, as if waiting for a theory.
"The reason that Mr. Potter managed to avoid the effects of the love potion is not important right now, Severus," said Dumbledore, as he looked at Hermione behind his spectacles, who looked at Dumbledore with a terrified expression on her face. "Why did you do it, Miss Granger?"
"Harry needs me!" shouted Hermione finding her voice.
"He seems to be getting on fine without you," said Snape swiftly as he looked at Hermione, an unsympathetic look on his face, despite the fact she seemed really upset. "I do not care to hear of your teen angst, Miss Granger, but is quite obvious that ever since Mr. Potter has cut his ties from you and Mr. Weasley, his performance in my class has raised significantly. It's obvious that you need Potter, as making Weasley feel inferior is like kicking a coma patient in the head…"
"Severus," warned Dumbledore, as his eyes twinkled briefly, before they turned onto Hermione. "Why did you do it, Miss Granger?"
"Ginny doesn't really know Harry, we were supposed to be together since my first year, but she had to get in the way," said Hermione in a frustrated voice. "Harry's confused about everything, because of his upbringing, he doesn't know what love really is, I was supposed to show him…"
"No, what you would have gotten had you succeeded was a puppet, Miss Granger," said McGonagall sternly. "Perhaps if you truthfully knew Mr. Potter, you would know he would not appreciate that much."
"He'll learn to live with it," said Hermione, without thinking what she was saying and Dumbledore looked at Hermione, without any humor in his eyes. Hermione awaited the word of the Headmaster.
"No matter what your intentions were, the fact that using love potions are forbidden at Hogwarts," said Dumbledore. "Under normal circumstances, you would be expelled, but considering the potion was not successful in working, I can only opt for a less severe punishment and you should count yourself lucky Miss Granger that your wand was not snapped."
Hermione sat, as she waited what punishment Dumbledore would give her. This was all Ginny's fault, if she had not taken Harry from her, this would not have happened at all. Her entire life was falling apart.
"Miss Granger, you very nearly had one of the Gryffindor prefect spots locked in, but in light of your actions today, I have no choice but to ban you from ever becoming prefect or Head Girl in this school," said Dumbledore and Hermione's eyes were filled with absolute horror, but Dumbledore was far from finished in giving out her punishment. "To further impress upon you the seriousness of what you have done, you will have detention every night for the rest of this year with Professor Snape. Furthermore, your time in the library will be limited to two hours a night."
"Professor, please, only two hours, I don't think I can…" stated Hermione in a horrified voice but Snape had interrupted her.
"Miss Granger, I can assure you that students have gotten adequate grades in the past without living in the library, I'm sure you can do the same," said Snape dry, unsympathetic voice as Hermione glared at him angrily. "You should be thanking the Headmaster on a bended knee, by all rights, you should be expelled."
Hermione sat there, wondering where everything had gone wrong. Her entire world had shattered right around her. It was bad enough that Harry had surpassed her in half of the classes and now she would lose precious time in the library thanks to Ginny. She remained sitting there, in one morning, she had lost everything. Her dream was to become prefect and later Head Girl, but now, that was lost. It might have been almost worth it had she had Harry but Ginny had taken that away from her. Hermione nearly regretted shunning Harry after his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire, but she remembered that it was for Harry's own good. Now, all she had was Ron, and even their friendship was strained to the barest minimum. All Ron and her did was fight, even more than they ever had when Harry was with them. She had never hated anyone in her life more than she had hated Ginny Weasley, this was all her fault.
"Miss Granger, I believe you have Professor Flitwick for your next period," said Dumbledore as he broke the silence and Hermione responded by nodding numbly. "Very well, Professor McGonagall will escort you to that class and explain to Professor Flitwick why you are late. You are dismissed."
"Yes, Professor," said Hermione as she turned, cringing at the disappointed look McGonagall had given her had really cut deeply. Without talking or even acknowledge her presence, McGonagall walked forward, as Hermione followed her, knowing full well that the rumors of what she tried to do would spread throughout the school by now and would have been blown out of proportion as well.
-
In the middle of May, Harry made his way out to the Quidditch Field, where Ludo Bagman had wanted to meet the champions to tell them what was going on for the third task. Luna, Neville, and Ginny waited for Harry underneath the Invisibility Cloak at the edge of the field, as the other three champions stood, patiently, acknowledging Harry with the briefest of nods as Bagman stood at the edge of the field, projecting his usual overblown cartoon character image. Harry paused, his eyes widened as he stepped back, the Quidditch Field had been grown with very tall hedges, hedges that even Hagrid would have trouble seeing over.
"The champions are all here!" shouted Bagman gleefully as he looked at the four champions. "Now, as you can see, we've made some modifications for the Quidditch field, so can any of you guess what we have in mind for the third and final task?"
"Maze," said Krum simply, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Right-o, it's a maze!" shouted Bagman in an excited voice, as if he just became Minister of Magic. "The final task is straight forward, whoever gets through the maze first and gets the Triwizard Cup in the center the maze. Obvious, Mr. Potter will start, because he's in the lead, then Mr. Krum, Mr. Diggory, and Miss Delacour, in this final task in the Triwizard Tournament."
"We simply have to get through ze maze," said Fleur skeptically.
"Well there will be obstacles of course and Hagrid will be applying a number of creatures that you'll have to go through," said Bagman with a smile. "Oh, and thanks to the oversight that came to light during the First Task, the Triwizard Cup will be charmed against being summoned. But it should be a grand old time, shouldn't it?"
Harry sighed, fighting against any beast that Hagrid was fond of would not be a picnic. There was no trick that would give Harry an easy way to win this task, but he was confident that he would be able to win thanks to the training he had been doing for the past seven months.
"I believe that's all you need to know, we'll leave now, so you will be able to get a good night's sleep so you can start preparing for the final task tomorrow," said Bagman, as they made their way up to the castle. Bagman, Krum, Fleur, and Cedric all walked up, leaving Harry to walk over, to Luna, Neville, and Ginny.
"Maze, that was a bit better than we could have hoped for," said Luna.
"Yeah, should be no problem Harry, I mean you are in the lead," added Neville.
"I think you're do good Harry, but this is the final task and the best chance for someone to hurt you , the last chance too," said Ginny, as she held the cloak for Harry to get underneath it but a thump echoed from past the gates. The quartet paused and another thump, before a malnourished form of a human being stumbled forward, staggering, before it dropped to the ground. Quickly, the group took a few steps, before Luna and Ginny reached forward to roll the man over, so they could see his face.
"Crouch!" gasped Neville in a shocked voice, as they all backed off, as Crouch twitched, before he sat up, and leaned against the tree, a vapid, lifeless look etched in his eyes.
"Harry Potter…Dumbledore…warn them…Dark Lord…stronger…Dark Lord…returning…Pettigrew…my son…fake Moody…warn them…too late…third task," slurred Crouch. "Not going to happen…grave mistake…doomed us all…return…Voldemort…return…Pettigrew…Dark Lord…not dead…alive."
"Mr. Crouch calm down, you're not making any sense," said Harry as he looked at the babbling man, who looked from side to side wildly.
"Must warn Harry Potter…blood ritual…resurrection….dummy cup," said Crouch as his eyes moved back and forth.
"What's this?" asked a voice, as a clunking of a leg moved forward and Neville, Luna, Harry, and Ginny turned to see, Mad-Eye Moody, walking forward. "Crouch!"
Moody surveyed Crouch, who was humming under his breath, obviously rather mad.
"You four get up to the school, it's obvious that Crouch is mad and possibly dangerous, but I should be able to handle anything he might do," ordered Moody roughly and they backed off.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" shouted Crouch, as Moody approached him, he sounded coherent for the briefest second. "No…not you…Dumbledore…away…no…leave."
"Take it easy, old man, I'm going to give you something to relieve your misery," muttered Moody as he removed a vial of potion from the pocket of his robe.
Under the Cloak, Ginny looked at the Marauder's Map, eyes widened.
"Uh, Harry," hissed Ginny, and Harry turned to see Bartemius Crouch standing right in front of Bartemius Crouch.
"Okay, can anyone explain this to me?" asked Harry and the others looked as baffled as he did as they watched Moody approach Crouch. "Stunning spells at the ready, aim for the Crouch posing as Moody. "
"STUPEFY!" shouted the four in unison as four spells whizzed through the air. They slammed against "Moody", knocking him to the ground. His magic eye had popped out, spinning on the ground as it came to a spun and a vial of potion in his hand shattered. It burned through the grass, leaving a miniature smoking black hole into the ground.
"Ginny and I will stay here, you two get Dumbledore, despite everything else, he might want to know about his Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher being a Polyjuice double," said Harry to Neville and Luna who nodded, before they made their way up to the school. Harry and Ginny stood next to each other, wands steady, just in case the faux Moody had an accomplice.
-
At a Ministry of Magic interrogation room, the imposter Mad-Eye Moody was chained to a chair, with Fudge, Amelia Bones, and Dumbledore standing around him, as his features began to turn back to normal.
"Crouch was taken to St. Mungos," commented Fudge, as he waited for the imposter Moody to turn back to normal. "His brain has been damaged permanently from overexposure to the Imperius Curse, the poor devil. He's been giving medication to stabilize him, so he doesn't shout incoherent nonsense and disturb the other patients."
At that instant, Moody had turned to normal and the three faces grew in shock.
"Bartemius Crouch Junior!" shouted Fudge in surprise. "But how…"
"The truth potion will take effect now, so we'll know," said Madam Bones evenly.
"How did you fake your own death?" asked Dumbledore.
"I'm the Minister here, Dumbledore, I'll lead this interrogation," said Fudge shortly as he cleared his throat before he turned to the younger Crouch. "How did you fake your own death?"
"It was my mother's idea, she loved me, even through my father could never be bothered with me, but she was too weak to oppose him, so I was forced to find my real family with the Death Eaters," said Crouch in a blank voice. "Be that as it may, she persuaded my father to smuggle me out, used Polyjuice Potion to switch us, she died under my appearance and I lived as a mindless zombie, under the Imperius Curse. My father refused to let me breath, the house elf Winky was my only link to the outside world. Until one day, no one knew of my existence."
"Who learned of your existence?" asked Fudge.
"Bertha Jorkins, a Ministry worker in my father's department, she came by with paperwork but she overheard a conversation between myself and Winky, she guessed who it was and confronted my father, obviously intended blackmail. Nosy busy body, she met a bloody end, thankfully," said Crouch with a chuckle. "Naturally, father wiped her memory, a little too well as she was never the same. There was only one time everything was close to being ruined. It was during the Quidditch Cup final. I sat in the seats and the cheering of the crowd, the noise, the fact my father's attention was elsewhere perhaps, it had lifted the Curse from me and I was free. I grabbed the wand from the pocket of Harry Potter and planned my escape."
"But, you sent the Dark Mark up into the skies," prodded Bones.
"I did, to send a message to that trash that dare dress in the clothes of my master, the Dark Lord," said Crouch. "They are nothing but parasites, the real followers were imprisoned or died in the name of serving the Dark Lord. It was an error in judgment sending that Dark Mark. I was nearly caught but my father played dumb. Winky took the fall, someone had to and it sure wasn't going to be my father. I thought for sure my father was going to kill me right then and there. I mean, I was already dead, so why did it matter? Then, he showed up."
"Who is he?" demanded Fudge.
"The Dark Lord," answered Crouch with a bit of glee in his voice. "In the arms of his servant Wormtail."
"Rubbish, You-Know-Who is dead," interjected Fudge, as he waved his wand and put Crouch in a mild sleep. "I can see what has happened, this man was obviously damaged from overexposure to the Imperius Curse and was working on the orders of someone who he believed to be You-Know-Who. Actually, he was a delusion crafted by an unstable mind."
"Can we be for certain?" asked Bones skeptically. "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named disappeared after that night, but there was no mind found."
"The magical backlash destroyed it, the Unspeakables studied it in great detail, the official Ministry of Magic word is that he's dead" said Fudge stubbornly.
"The thing is, even the greatest studies can be mistaken, Voldemort could still be out there in some form," responded Dumbledore.
"Dumbledore, you're not in the best standing after what we've learned today, you allowed a delusional crack pot teach at your school for a year, without even noticing," said Fudge. "I may excuse you slightly because you did hire Moody and the difference would be miniscule, but Moody should not have been hired in the first place. I fear you're losing your grip on your ability to properly run the school."
"I assure you, my grip on Hogwarts is as strong as ever Cornelius, it was an unfortunate oversight on my part, it will not happen again," said Dumbledore calmly.
"It had best not, I will give you one final chance, Albus," said Fudge. "If you slip up again, the Ministry will be making changes in Hogwarts and those changes will not involve you."
"Awaken Crouch, please, Minister," said Madam Bones, quickly before things really blew up between Fudge and Dumbledore, fearing that it would distract them from the matter at hand. "I have a few more questions that I need to ask, other than the supposed delusion of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."
"Of course, Amelia," said Fudge as he did what she had asked.
"What happened to the real Alastor Moody?" asked Madam Bones.
"He's alive, kept in his trunk, put under the Imperius Curse to help me maintain the charade," said Crouch. "The keys are in the right drawer of his desk, they will open the trunk."
"Did you put Harry Potter in the Triwizard Tournament?" asked Madam Bones.
"Yes, I did, but he's doing much better than I expected, the foolish boy is going to play into the hands of the Dark Lord and finally meet his doom," responded Crouch as Fudge rolled his eyes at further talk of the Dark Lord.
"Enough, I believe we know everything we need to know," answered Fudge, who intended to tell Harry everything once they had their next meeting, because he was certain that Dumbledore would not. "Amelia, sign the order, Bartemius Crouch Junior will receive the Dementor's Kiss effective immediately. He's a danger to himself and others and must be dealt with."
"Right Minister," said Bones in a resigned voice as Dumbledore looked unhappy. Fudge was being very short sighted; he would have liked to question Crouch more about what Voldemort was up to, so he could modify his plans for Harry accordingly. But, the Minister's mind was already made up, as two Aurors were called in, as they escorted the younger Crouch out, where he would receive the kiss immediately.
-
Wormtail walked forward nervously, facing an arm chair. A great snake slithered on the floor and looked at Wormtail like it would prefer to eat him for dinner.
"What is it Wormtail?" asked a cold hiss from the arm chair. Wormtail shivered but he stood up straight to address the source of the voice.
"My Lord, it's Crouch, he is to receive the Dementor's Kiss, it may have already happened" said Wormtail slowly, as he closed his eyes, to brace for impact. "My Lord?"
"I heard you, Wormtail," said the voice softly. "One month before my grand resurrection, Crouch gets himself caught, by four mere children. I have heard the details over the Wireless, it is for the best that he does not remain alive to further muddle my plans but one thing is for certain. It will not end like this, I have worked too long. An entire year's work will not be wasted because of one moment of stupidity."
"What are we going to do now, my Lord?" asked Wormtail. "Crouch is done, soulless. You have no followers that you can count on that knows of your existence."
"Be that may, I do have you, Wormtail, no matter how depressing that may sound," hissed the voice, before giving a cold high laugh that caused Wormtail to shudder. "You will conclude Crouch's mission Wormtail, I don't care how, as long as the end result is as we planned."
"Of course, my Lord, I'll do it, you can count on me," said Wormtail nervously as prepared to leave the room.
"And Wormtail?" prompted the voice, and Wormtail turned to listen closely. "Fail and it will be your head."