CHAPTER 11:
AFTERMATH
If there was one good thing about being the ruler of an entire complex filled with monsters (and frankly, this was one perk amongst many), there were many ways of working off frustration. Harry wasn't in the mood for sex with any of his lovers, so, the next day (a Sunday, thankfully), he and Hermione used their rings, as did Narberal and Aura, to transport back to the Tomb of Nazarick, whereupon Harry had Aura summon up some non-sentient monsters for him to kill, mostly elementals. As he did so, he found the lucid parts of his mind working overtime.
Despite Harry's protests, Crouch claimed that an unbreakable magical contract was in place. And Harry knew, despite his protests, that few in Gryffindor, never mind the rest of the school, believed that he didn't put his name into the Goblet of Fire. Most of Gryffindor was ecstatic, but Ron had thrown a minor but telling hissy fit. And Harry knew that the time had come to break off his friendship with Ron. If Ron, his supposed best friend, wasn't going to believe him out of something like petty jealousy, even when Harry offered to take Veritaserum, then it was clear that Harry didn't want Ron as a friend.
Even as he and Hermione, along with Narberal (Aura going via the Waystone she had in the Forbidden Forest) headed back to the Chamber of Secrets, Harry saw the sneers of anger and contempt on many in the school, especially the Hufflepuffs. He could understand it: he had stolen their fire. But when he protested he hadn't done it, well, they didn't believe him. And why should they? Justin Finch-Fletchley, a Hufflepuff, had proved instrumental in tarnishing Harry's reputation when he turned out to be a Parselmouth back in his second year. Why would they believe him now?
True, they were teenagers…children…but as Harry knew, adult humans weren't much better. Look at how Snape held onto a grudge well into his thirties, against the child of the man he had one against originally. Or Petunia Dursley, taking out her jealousy at not having magic on her nephew, condoning and even willingly participating in Vernon's abuse of Harry.
And Dumbledore could have tried more to get him out. But no, Dumbledore wanted to use him as bait to flush out the real culprit…and that was a generous explanation. Harry personally felt that the old fart was testing Harry, seeing how well-honed his weapon was, and trying to isolate him further. And McGonagall, despite being there, didn't do much to help him, because she was beholden to the old goat.
No. This was a sign. A sign that Harry needed to have so that he could break off ties with the wizards. And then prepare to rule over them from the shadows. But first, he needed to survive this thrice-damned Tournament. Oh, he had every confidence that he could, especially thanks to Shalltear and Solution's intel gathering from Bagman (who, incidentally, looked astonished and ecstatic that Harry was in), but even so, this was going to be a chore.
So, how to deal with a dragon? Crouch had stated that Harry, and the other Champions, needed to face the First Task with only their wands. What spells could he use? He had something of a repertoire, and frankly, he wasn't sure whether he should either complete the Task, or kill the dragon outright. And should he go all out, or should he conceal his full abilities? Decisions, decisions.
Well, whatever he did, he wanted to send a message to his enemies. Don't fuck with me.
With a final roar of fury, he annihilated the elemental he had been fighting. There was a smattering of applause from the seated audience, but he wasn't in the mood for it. Most of his underlings who were close to him knew that he wasn't in the mood for compliments and fawning.
"Are you feeling better, Harry?" Aura asked, having managed to shake off her habit of calling Harry 'my lord'.
"A little. I'm now just livid than homicidal," Harry snarked. Less angrily, he said, "Thank you, Aura for summoning those monsters. I feel better."
"I'm glad to be of service, Harry. What else do you wish of me?"
"Get your brother. I'm calling a meeting of the Floor Guardians and the Pleiades…"
In the throne room, where the Floor Guardians and the Pleiades assembled, along with Sirius and Remus, Harry stood at the foot of his throne, Albedo, Hermione and Shalltear by his side. "Given last night's events, we have to assume someone may have entered me into the Tri-Wizard Tournament. And while I shouldn't have to ask, has any one of you entered my name?"
The gathered Guardians all shook their head. Even the unctuous Demiurge looked angry, not at the accusation, but at Harry being entered. "Right, so the million Galleon questions are who did it, and why?"
"My lord, if I may?" Demiurge said. "There are two possible reasons for them doing this, perhaps others. The first is that it is a kind of crude assassination by proxy. As safe as the Tournament is meant to be now, the First Task does pit you against a dragon, a creature even a fully-fledged wizard would be hard-pressed to combat. And if you refuse to participate, you forfeit your magic. The second may be an attempt to discern your skills by a party that may suspect you being our ruler. Of course, there may be other possibilities, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind. It also may be a crude attempt at another kind of assassination: namely character assassination. By having you enter the Tournament, they can claim that you have cheated your way into it, thus tarnishing your reputation."
"Moody stated that a powerful wizard was needed to cast a Confundus on the Goblet, and they'd need to be an adult to bypass the Age Line," Harry mused. "Moody…Hermione, you said there was something strange about him."
"Yes, I did. Something familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Not about him, but something on his person," Hermione said. "I could all but smell something on him."
"I DON'T UNDERSTAND," Cocytus boomed. "IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING HIM AS A CULPRIT, WHY WOULD HE STATE THE VERY METHOD HE USED TO ENTER YOU INTO THIS TOURNAMENT?"
"A double bluff," Demiurge said. "Remember, Mad-Eye Moody is an infamous Auror, and both his investigative skills and paranoia are well-known. Stating what he did would not be out of character…assuming it is him. Remember, wizards can use Polyjuice Potion, and there are also the Metamorphmagi, shapeshifting wizards who are descendants of Doppelganger hybrids…"
"That's it!" Hermione snapped her fingers. "Polyjuice! That smell…very faint, but there! I didn't realise it, but I was smelling Polyjuice Potion! I didn't recognise it at first because the last time I smelled it was two years ago! Harry, Moody has a flask on him at all times. He's noted for his paranoia, drinking only from that hipflask, but…"
"He's drinking Polyjuice," Harry realised. "Son of a bitch! Are you sure?"
"I can't be absolutely certain, but it's our best lead. In the Prophet, there was a report that Moody woke up his Muggle neighbours after a recent disturbance, shortly before coming to Hogwarts."
"It'd be a rare wizard who can get the drop on Mad-Eye," Sirius mused. Then, he snapped his fingers. "Got it! The Marauder's Map!"
"The Marauder's Map?" Harry asked.
"We should be able to tell who the impostor is, even while they're under the influence of Polyjuice," Sirius said.
Harry fished around in his robes, before fishing it out. Unfolding it, he tapped it with his wand, and murmured, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
The map sprang to life, and Harry frowned when he peered at the DADA classroom. "It says Alastor Moody here…but he's with Barty Crouch. Wouldn't Crouch be at the Ministry? Just give me a moment, I need to contact Pandora's Actor." Which he could do, with the Ainz Ooal Gown ring.
After a moment, the hammy tones of Pandora's Actor echoed in his mind. Ah, Lord Harry! What does my most illustrious leader require of me?
Pandora's Actor, I need to know something. Are you in the Ministry of Magic right now?
But of course I am, my lord! I was actually investigating the Department of International Magical Cooperation after hearing of your entry into the Tri-Wizard Tournament!
Harry nodded, pleased that the hammy doppelganger had taken the initiative. Good. I need to know, is Barty Crouch Senior there?
Well, he appears to be, I just delivered files to him from that most dreadful Batrachian Bitch Dolores Umbridge mere seconds before you rang! Why do you ask?
And he doesn't seem…odd?
Well, he looks rather stressed, to be perfectly frank. Actually, my lord, he has looked this way for some time, rather distracted-looking. Most believe he is working himself down to the very bone, but given the frightful attitude he has to his underlings, it may be karma!
All right, Pandora's Actor. Thanks. Harry cut the connection off, and looked at the others. "Pandora's Actor says that Crouch is at the Ministry."
"But the Map says that he is at Hogwarts!" Sirius protested, before his eyes widened. He looked at Remus, who caught on, and walked over to Harry, taking the map from him, and beginning to poke it with his wand.
"What are you doing?" Hermione asked.
"The map is meant to pinpoint people, but I think I know what Padfoot gave me that look for. It doesn't give suffixes to names like senior or junior," Remus said. "I can fix that."
Albedo frowned. "And the point is…?"
"The Barty Crouch we've met is Barty Crouch Senior," Sirius explained. "He had a son, Barty Crouch Junior, who died in Azkaban…or so we thought. If my hunch is right…"
Albedo's eyes widened. "You think it is Barty Crouch Junior who is present at Hogwarts?"
"We don't think," Remus said grimly, finishing with the map, and showing the name, now Barty Crouch Junior, on it. "We know."
Harry frowned. "Barty Crouch Junior…he was captured along with the Lestranges. He protested his innocence in being a Death Eater, but from Bellatrix's memories, he was, while a little reluctant, still a participant in torturing Neville Longbottom's parents. Still a fanatical Death Eater, though Bellatrix thought him a wannabe. But he supposedly died in prison, how did he get out?"
"We can figure that out later," Albedo said, her expression grim. "The question is what to do about him. Do we capture him and send him to Neuronist or Demiurge for interrogation? Do you do so yourself, Harry? Do we try to kill him, or sway his loyalty to us?"
"If I may?" Demiurge said. On Harry's nod, the demon said, "We cannot be sure that Barty is working on Voldemort's instructions. If he dies or disappears suddenly, Voldemort may realise someone is onto his plans. Therefore, I would suggest that sending either Shalltear to hypnotise him, or else using the Imperius may work. But as he tried to deny his connection with Voldemort during his trial, he may be working for Voldemort out of fear. The right words placed in his ear may bring his loyalty to you, and thus we will have a mole in the ranks of the Death Eaters. It's a risky proposition, obviously, but the rewards could be most potent. And if necessary, well, I have an idea on how to replace him without suspicion."
"Sending Shalltear may be a problem with that eye of his," Harry said. "He also had all those dark magic detection things, so sending one of us may be a problem. I could lure him to Shalltear on a pretext. Are there any antidotes to the Polyjuice Potion?"
"Too laborious," Hermione said. "Remember when I became part-cat in our second year? I was lucky Pomfrey didn't find out I was a Gorgon. The procedures she used took a long time. Days. The best way to do it is just to wait them out."
"All right. We have a plan, then. We lure Barty Crouch somewhere on a pretext," Harry said, before suddenly snapping his fingers. "Oh, wait! I can get Dobby to fetch him here. Then, we can have him return Barty once we're done, hopefully with no-one the wiser. All right. Everyone, prepare for restraint protocols. Shalltear, Demiurge, ready your mind-control abilities." The unctuous demon had the ability to lace his voice with an aura that strongly suggested listeners heed what he said. "Albedo, Cocytus, Sebas, prepare to restrain him physically. Hermione, Sirius, Remus, Mare, get ready to use magic. Pleiades, Aura, on standby. We shouldn't need all of you to restrain and interrogate one wizard, but better to overprepare than not…"
Mere minutes later, Dobby popped in with Moody, whom the House Elf had already restrained. And it seemed that the faux-DADA teacher had needed to drink more of the potion before long, as within a few minutes, the grizzled features of Mad-Eye Moody melted away to reveal the sandy blonde hair framing the deranged, haggard features of a young man, prematurely aged by a stay in Azkaban.
As Barty woke up to find himself surrounded by a circle of monsters and wizards, Harry could tell, by the startled and surprised look on his face, that he hadn't been expecting this. Especially to see the nemesis of his lord and master holding an elaborate staff, and looking down at him with a look that screamed of authority…and of how fucked he was.
"Barty Crouch Junior…" Harry began. "It's about time we've had a little talk…"
CHAPTER 11 ANNOTATIONS:
Well, well, well. Barty has been exposed. But will he be a willing or unwilling pawn of Ainz Ooal Gown? Or will he suffer for his role in trying to deliver Harry to his master? Well, let's wait and see in the next chapter…
Oh, and now, this fic is the top Harry Potter/Overlord crossover! Well, in terms of favourites. It's still (barely) edged out by dEBB987's The Master of Death in Nazarick (which I wholeheartedly recommend, anyway) in terms of follows as of posting this. It's also made the Top 10 in terms of favourites and alerts in Overlord crossovers overall! Thanks for your support!
Speaking of Overlord, I have recently begun playing the game of the same name. I can see why people enjoy it: it's basically Pikmin meets Discworld (and Rhianna Pratchett, the daughter of the late, great Terry Pratchett, wrote for the games), thus combining two of my favourite things. I may even do a crossover with the Overlord video games one day, though whether it's with the Potterverse, or with some other franchise like Naruto, I don't know.
Now for some shameless plugging. This will probably be the last chapter for this story (and probably any story) I post until the upcoming Christmas update in mid-December. Aside from the next chapter of Yield to the Darkness, my other Overlord story, Xenagogy for Belligerent AIs and Dungeon Denizens (a crossover with Red vs Blue with a post-Season 6 Alpha Church taking the place of Momonga) will be updated.
And as of writing, besides another sample chapter for The Cauldron, there will be updates to a number of stories, including my Nasuverse stories Gorgon and Thanatos and Light the Blue Touch Paper and Run Like Hell, my Yu-Gi-Oh! crossover Ignis Aurum Probat, my new RWBY crossover Neopolitan and the Goblet of Fire, my Final Fantasy XII crossover Ghost of Dalmasca…and, at long last, the long-awaited eleventh chapter of my OTHER Final Fantasy XII crossover Nitimur in Vetitum. That's right folks, even after over a year without an update, it's still alive! And I'm also definitely posting the first three chapters of my Darkstalkers crossover, Never Tear Us Apart. Whether I get any new chapters ready before then for other fics…well, that's still up in the air, but watch my profile for details.
Review-answering time! Guest (regarding defining Solution and Entoma as cannibals): True, but the popular conception is the anthropophagic meaning. To whit, to serve man…on a platter. Therefore, Solution and Entoma will still be classed as cannibals. Yes, it's technically incorrect, but most readers will know what I mean.
DocSlendy: Yes. Ron's more unflattering traits will be brought to the fore here, insomuch as I can do so without bashing him outright (and by that, I mean turning him into the greedy envious bastard many writers do him as), but here, in this story, he's going to be an antagonist rather than a villain. Dumbledore is another matter. And while my analysis of his character was somewhat true, I did overlook some of his better qualities. But Ron as a character is boring to me. I don't like writing him, so he usually ends up in the background of many of my stories.
No numbered annotations this time.