"Congratulations, Potter."
Harry turned to Barty Crouch and nodded.
"Fine achievement. Well done, boy."
"See you at Hagrid's, Harry!" Ron called.
Mr. Crouch took Harry aside and launched into a speech. "I'm sorry we haven't spoken. After all, your story is one I've heard so many times. And quite remarkable, isn't it? Tragic of course, to lose one's family; never whole again, are we? Still, life goes on, and here we stand. I'm sure your parents would be very proud of you today, Potter."
"Bartemius!" Harry whirled around to see Professor Moody walking towards them.
"Not trying to lure Potter into one of the Ministry's summer internships, are we? The last boy who went into the Department of Mysteries never came out!"
After saying that, Moody did what Draco had dubbed the tongue-slip thing. Harry didn't know this or notice this. But Mr. Crouch did. He had seen that before. He walked closer to Moody and examined him before walking away.
"And they say I'm mad," Moody said before he, too, left.
What Harry didn't know was that Mr. Crouch had realized that Mad-Eye Moody was currently being impersonated.
Later that day, as Harry was walking through the woods with Hagrid, Ron, and Hermione, he noticed a pair of shoes sticking out from behind a tree. When he stepped towards the tree, his scar began to hurt. To his shock, the shoes belonged to a dead Mr. Crouch.
Potter looked both ways before leaving Dumbledore's office. Draco quickly ducked into a side hallway to avoid being seen by Potter. The minute the other boy had passed, Draco hurried to the gargoyle.
"Great. I don't even know the password."
He thought for a moment before saying, "Chocolate frogs."
Nothing.
"Acid Pops. Toffee Eclairs. Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. Licorice Snaps. Cockroach Clusters."
The gargoyle finally responded. When Draco walked into Dumbledore's office, he collided with a cabinet. Suddenly there was a large noise and a big shift. The cabinet doors opened and out came a pedestal with a dish on it. The dish was swirling with some sort of liquid.
Draco, who had done so much research in his four years of secret rebellion in the Necessity Room, didn't know what it was. He leaned forward to get a better look and the next thing he knew, he was falling through the air.
Surprisingly, he landed in a seat, unharmed.
Draco looked around. He was in a courtroom of sorts. He turned to his left.
"Professor?"Draco said. But someone else did too. A younger version of Dumbledore turned to face him. He extended his arm right through Draco and the person who'd acknowledged Dumbledore before shook back.
In the middle of the room, there was a cage, and none other than Igor Karkaroff sat in it.
"Igor Karkaroff," a voice announced. Draco turned to see a younger Barty Crouch. "You have been brought from Azkaban at your own request to present evidence to this counsel. Should your testimony prove consequential, Counsel may be prepared to order your immediate release. Until such time, you remain in the eyes of the Ministry a convicted Death Eater. Do you accept these terms?"
"I do, sir," came the desperate reply.
"And what do you wish to present?"
"I have names, sir. There was a Rosier, Evan Rosier."
The man next to Crouch shuffled through some files and handed Crouch a piece of parchment.
Crouch said, "Mr. Rosier is dead."
"Dead?"
"Yeah, he took a piece of me with him though, didn't he?"
Draco spun around to see Professor Moody joking with Dumbledore about his missing eye.
"I didn't know," Karkaroff was saying.
Crouch said, "If that is all the witness has to offer-"
"No, no, no! There was Rookwood. He was a spy."
Crouch frowned. "Augustus Rookwood? Of the Department of Mysteries?"
"Yeah, yeah, the same. He passed information to You-Know-Who from inside the Ministry itself."
"Very well, Counsel will deliberate. In the meantime, you will be returned to Azkaban."
"No! Wait! Wait, please, please! I have more. What about Snape, Severus Snape?"
Draco's fist clenched. This guy would do anything, wouldn't he? Next to him, Dumbledore rose and spoke. "As the counsel is very much aware I have given evidence on this matter. Severus Snape was indeed a Death Eater, and prior to Lord Voldemort's downfall turned spy for us at great personal risk. Today, he's no more a Death Eater than I am."
"It's a lie! Severus Snape remains faithful to the Dark Lord."
This caused a great uproar.
"Silence!" Crouch ordered. "Unless the witness possesses any genuine name of consequence, this session is now concluded."
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no," Karkaroff said in a calm and taunting voice. "I heard about one more."
"What's that?"
"The name..."
"Yes?"
"I know for a fact this person took part in the capture, and by means of the Cruciatus Curse, torture, of the auror Frank Longbottom and his wife!"
"The name! Give me the wretched name!"
"Barty Crouch!"
Everyone turned around and gasped.
"...Junior," Karkaroff finished.
Draco saw a man that somewhat resembled Crouch make a run for it, but Moody was quicker than him. He took out his wand and hit the criminal with a spell. A bunch of people in security uniforms tackled and picked up the wrestling criminal while Barty Crouch Senior gaped in shock.
"Get your filthy hands off me, you pathetic little men!" Crouch Jr. said to the men that were holding him. He was now in front of Crouch Sr.
"Hello, father," he mocked.
"You are no son of mine," came the reply.
"Argh! Gah!" Crouch Jr. was dragged away, and throughout this whole time, Draco had seen him do the tongue-slip thing.
Draco was suddenly pulled out of the Pensieve.
"Curiosity's not a sin, as I said to Mr. Potter a few minutes ago, but you should exercise caution. It's a Pensieve. Very useful if, like me, you find your mind a wee bit stretched. It allows me to see what small things I've already seen. You see, Draco, I've searched and searched for something, some small detail, something I might have overlooked, something that would explain why these terrible things have happened. Every time I get close to an answer, it slips away. It's maddening."
He sat down on the floor.
"Sir, Mr. Crouch's son, what exactly happened to him?"
"He was sent to Azkaban. Destroyed Barty to do it, but he had no choice. The evidence was overwhelming. When I saw Mr. Potter, he had arrived because he'd discovered Barty's body."
Draco frowned. "His body?"
"Mr. Crouch has been killed. Harry came to me but I already knew about it by then. He, like you, saw the memory. He told me that he'd seen Barty's son in a dream."
"With Voldemort, Wormtail, the unknown man, and Frank the Muggle?" Draco said, immediately catching on.
Dumbledore looked at him and said, "Why, yes. Exactly. How did you know about it?"
"Sirius told me."
"Draco, I'm going to tell you something that you cannot tell a soul."
"Yes, sir."
"When Potter told me about his dream, I told him to ignore it. After all, it's just a dream. But I don't think it is. I do recall Sirius telling me about you reading the Muggle newspaper and learning about the incident. The question is, how would Barty's son be there?"
"I don't know about that, but he's here at Hogwarts."
Dumbledore stood up and sternly said, "Do not say such things."
"He's got to be! There's this thing I saw him do in the memory. He slipped out his tongue and licked his lower lip corner. Normal? I thought so. But he kept doing it. Now, maybe he had a condition or something, but I don't think Professor Moody has the same one."
"What do you mean?"
"In the trial, Moody was normal. But during school, I've seen him do the tongue-slip thing multiple times. Everytime he does, he drinks from that little flask he carries around. Don't tell me you think it's not suspicious? I think he's got Polyjuice Potion in his flask."
"These accusations are dangerous. Do you really believe that I can get him arrested by just marching into his office?"
"No, of course not-"
"-not to mention the fact that the real Barty Crouch is in prison."
"Professor, at least look into this."
Dumbledore sighed. "There is not much I can do. But I'll keep my eye on him."
Draco nodded and left the office. So if there was nothing Dumbledore could do, there was nothing Draco could do either.