Harry was stressing big time. The third task was in two and a half weeks. He had been training whenever he got the chance but he still felt unprepared, despite what his guardians told him. Remus and Sirius told him repeatedly that he was ready but Harry couldn't help but wonder if something was going to happen, something he wasn't prepare for.
"You can't be more prepared than you are, pup," Remus told him multiple times.
His classes were getting busy as exams were quickly approaching. Just because he wasn't taking exams, it doesn't mean the professors weren't also loading him with work. He rarely had time to visit Remus and Sirius, let alone train. He was always stuck in the Gryffindor common room working on homework.
Harry rubbed his eyes tiredly. He was sitting in front of the fire with Ron and Hermione and they were all working on piles of homework. He wasn't sure what time it was but knew it must be late as the common room was relatively empty. Harry stared down at his Potions essay on the Polyjuice Potion. It was a simple essay for him and his friends but he was having a hard time concentrating, having been working on homework for two and a half hours.
"This is ridiculous," Ron said angrily, throwing down his quill. "I thought it was fifth year that we get loads of homework."
"This is preparing us for next year," Hermione said, flipping through her Ancient Runes book.
"It's still ridiculous," Ron muttered, picking up his quill again to try and have another go at his Care of Magical Creatures essay.
"Harry, you're not done your Potions essay yet?" Hermione said. "Even Ron's done that one."
Harry looked up and glared at her. "Thank you for pointing that out, Hermione. It helps me so much," he said with immense sarcasm.
"Sorry, Harry," Hermione said quietly.
Harry shook his head and closed all his books, shoving everything in his bag. "I have to go. I need to talk to Dumbledore about something."
"Dumbledore?" Ron repeated. "What's going on? Is everything okay?"
Harry sighed and suppressed his irritation. He should have known they would react like this. Talking to Dumbledore usually meant something was going on. "Everything's fine. I just need to ask him something," and before they could question him further, Harry left the common room. Alone in the corridor, Harry leaned against the stone wall trying to calm himself down.
"Harry Potter!" a high, squeaky voice said, making Harry open his eyes and look around the corridor. At first he didn't see anyone but then he felt a tug at his pant leg and he looked down to see a familiar pair of bat-like ears and tennis ball eyes.
"Dobby?" Harry said shocked at the sight of the house elf he had set free in his second year from enslavement of the Malfoys.
"Yes, sir. Dobby has been wanting to talk to Harry Potter all year, sir, but Dobby is busy working in the kitchens and helping keep an eye on Harry Potter for Harry Potter's dog and wolf," Dobby said smiling widely at Harry who knelt down so he was eye level with the house elf.
"What did you say?" Harry frowned.
At Harry's question, Dobby's eyes grew bigger. "Dobby was not supposed to say anything. Dobby is bad. Dobby must punish himself," and he threw himself towards the stone wall, about to beat his head on it but Harry grabbed him by the old filthy pillowcase wrapped around his tiny body and pulled him back.
"Dobby, do not hurt yourself," Harry ordered and Dobby obeyed, but still had the look of wanting to throw himself against the wall. "What did you mean by you've been keeping an eye on me for my dog and wolf? Did Remus and Sirius ask you to watch me?"
"Dobby cannot say, sir. Dobby swore not to," Dobby said.
"Dobby, tell me now. You won't get in trouble. I won't be angry and neither will Remus or Sirius," Harry said.
"Harry Potter's dog and wolf were worried, sir. When Harry Potter's name came out of the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter's dog and wolf wanted to keep an eye on Harry Potter, sir. Harry Potter's dog and wolf asked Dobby to watch Harry Potter, sir. Harry Potter's dog and wolf wanted to keep Harry Potter safe, sir," Dobby told him and made to run into the wall but Harry held him back.
"Do not punish yourself, Dobby," Harry ordered. "I think I may have to talk to Remus and Sirius about this."
"Dobby's sorry, sir. Dobby did not mean to cause problems, sir. Dobby wanted to help, sir. Dobby only wanted Harry Potter to be safe. Harry Potter's dog and wolf care deeply about Harry Potter and Dobby was more than happy to help keep Harry Potter safe," Dobby apologized.
"Dobby, it's all right. You did nothing wrong. You're not in trouble," Harry said and Dobby smiled widely at him. Harry rose and was about to leave when he got an idea. "Dobby, do you think you could do something for me?"
"Anything, sir," Dobby said excitedly.
"Follow Professor Moody. There's something strange about him. I don't know what it is but I want to find out. Follow him and tell me if he does anything strange. Can you do that, Dobby?" Harry said.
"Yes, sir! Of course, sir! Dobby is happy to help, sir!" and the house elf disappeared with a loud crack. Harry shook his head slightly at Dobby's devotion to him and travelled the familiar path to Marauder's Quarters instead of going to see Dumbledore like he had planned. He revealed the doors and entered the Quarters. It was dark except for the glow of the fireplace, illuminating the dark shapes of Remus and Sirius sitting on the sofa, apparently deep in conversation. They hadn't noticed Harry's presence and he decided to keep quiet to see what was going on that was making them look so serious.
"I'm worried about this last task, Moony," Sirius said quietly, taking a sip from the mug in his hands.
"What's got you worried?" Remus asked.
"I feel like something's going to happen. This whole year has been full of surprises, none of them good. I mean, Moody teaching Defence? What was Dumbledore thinking? Not to mention Moody has been acting weird all year," Sirius said.
"That's not what you said when Moody taught Harry's class about the Unforgivables. You were about to murder him," Remus said.
"I doubt Dumbledore authorized actually performing the Unforgivable Curses in the classroom of fourteen year old students. Sixteen maybe, but not fourteen," Sirius said and Harry say Remus nod in agreement.
"Everything should be fine," Remus said. "Dumbledore assured us he's taking all the precautions known to wizard kind. There won't be anything in the maze that the champions can't fight. He's checking the Cup to make sure there are no curses or anything on it before Moody puts it in the maze. I'm sure everything will go fine," he explained.
"Yeah, I mean I've fought a dragon and grindylows. How could it get any worse?" Harry said, deciding to make his presence known.
Remus and Sirius spun around, stunned looks on their faces. "How long have you been there?" Sirius asked.
"Long enough to know you're both worried about the third task," Harry said as he sat in one of the recliners.
"How can we not be? The first two tasks have already been so dangerous," Sirius said.
"I'll be fine. You two have even said I can't be more prepared than I already am," Harry pointed out.
"He's got us there, Padfoot," Remus grinned and Sirius scowled, making Harry laugh but then he lost his smile quickly as he remembered why he was there in the first place. "What's wrong, pup?" Remus asked, taking notice of the change in Harry's behaviour.
"I was going to go talk to Dumbledore about not being able to tell when I'm overcharging but Dobby came up to me in the hall," Harry said and he didn't fail to notice his guardians tense slightly. "He said he's been busy this year what with working in the kitchens and watching me for you two."
For the longest time, the three simply stared at each other as Harry began to feel his anger rise and Remus and Sirius tried to figure out what to do. "Harry, we..." Remus said, braving the first attempt at reasoning with their charge.
"You don't trust me!" Harry shouted and his guardians winced.
"Of course we trust you, Harry, it's just..." Sirius said.
"If you trust me, why has Dobby been watching me on your orders?" Harry shouted again and jumped to his feet. "What did you think I was going to do? Go out after hours? Wander the grounds or the Forbidden Forest?"
"Harry," Remus said calmly, getting to his feet slowly. "We asked Dobby to watch you because after your name came out of the Goblet of Fire, we knew someone was trying to hurt you."
"We can't always be with you so we felt better to know that someone was looking after you when we couldn't," Sirius added.
Harry looked at them, tears in his eyes. "You don't trust me," he said but it wasn't as forceful anymore. It was quiet and wavering.
"Harry, we trust you more than anything, kiddo. It's everyone else we don't trust," Sirius said softly.
"Dobby can't very well follow everyone in the school. Following you was a way to keep you safe," Remus said. Harry's eyes flickered between both his guardians as a couple tears fell from his eyes. Shame filled him up as he thought about what they were saying. He had accused those who loved him and who he loved so much of not trusting him when they had done so much for him.
"It's okay, kiddo. We understand that it would make you angry to find out we've been having you followed. I think it would anger most people," Sirius said with a smile.
"I'm sorry," Harry said quietly and found himself being pulled to Remus' chest.
"You have nothing to apologize for, pup," Remus whispered and kissed the top of Harry's head. He turned Harry over to Sirius who cupped his godson's face and kissed his forehead. Harry sat down beside his godfather who held him close.
"But I do," Harry said. "I shouldn't have gotten so mad. I shouldn't have said you didn't trust me. You've done so much for me and I immediately believed you didn't trust me."
Remus sighed and took Harry's hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb as Sirius put his fingers through the boy's hair. "Listen to me, Harry. You had every right to be angry. It's hard for you to know when to trust someone and we are so proud of how far you've progressed since last year, but it doesn't mean those cautious feelings you had don't still exist. We don't know how long it will take to make those feelings go away, if they ever do. Sometimes not trusting is a good thing especially with everything that has happened this year. Being cautious about whom you trust can be both a blessing and curse, much like lycanthropy or anything else. You know who you can or cannot trust, pup, and that may very well keep you alive."
Over the next week and a half, Harry spent every free minute he had training. Even during meals and classes, he could be heard quietly muttering to himself about spells or techniques or bits of advice his guardians had given him. Many were annoyed by Harry's lack of attentiveness, Ron and Hermione among the list. Harry, himself, was slightly annoyed as well for he hadn't heard anything from Dobby since the night he had set the house elf the task of following one Professor Moody.
There were three days until the final task and it seemed Harry was no longer aware of anything around him. He was sitting at Gryffindor table with Ron and Hermione, eating breakfast and muttering as his friends glared holes into his head.
"This is ridiculous, Harry!" both Ron and Hermione shouted, each slamming a fist on the table. Many neighbouring Gryffindors jumped and looked down the table, searching for the commotion. However, Harry continued to stare at his plate and mutter.
"Harry!" Ron yelled but Harry appeared not to have heard. Ron groaned and threw his hands into the air in frustration.
"Harry Potter, sir!" a high voice said and Harry's head snapped up. He spun around and saw Dobby looking up at him with a large smile. "Dobby has news, sir. Dobby saw Pro—"
"Not here, Dobby," Harry said quietly. "Come with me," he grabbed his bag and ran out of the Great Hall with Dobby behind him, ignoring the stares of the students he passed. He turned into a deserted corridor and turned to the elf. "Tell me."
"Dobby saw Professor Moody, sir. Dobby followed him, sir," Dobby said and he seemed to be shaking with excitement.
"And? What did he do?" Harry urged.
"Dobby saw Professor Moody go into Professor Snape's private stores, sir. Professor Moody took ingredients, sir," Dobby said.
"Ingredients? What ingredients?" Harry asked.
"Dobby does not know, sir. Dobby did not see," Dobby said sounding slightly regretful.
"Are you sure you didn't see?" Harry asked but his spirits dropped when Dobby shook his head. Why would Professor Moody be taking ingredients from Snape? "When did Moody take the ingredients?"
"Two nights ago, sir. He went near midnight," Dobby said.
"Which means he was sneaking the ingredients. He didn't ask for them," Harry said more to himself than to the house elf. He turned his attention back to Dobby. "Try to find out what ingredients Moody took. Go into his office if you have to but be careful. He's observant and he has that magical eye. Just do what you can to discover what he took."
"Yes, sir. Right away, sir," Dobby bowed and then disappeared.
Harry stayed where he was for a time, thinking over the strange mystery. He couldn't understand why Moody would take ingredients from Snape. What ingredients had he taken? After thinking about the Defence professor for a couple more minutes, Harry decided to move onto his next mystery: the fact that he couldn't sense when he was overcharging. Sighing, Harry headed up the Grand Staircase to visit the headmaster. He didn't know if Dumbledore would be able to help but he figured he should at least ask.
Arriving at the gargoyle, Harry said, "Acid pops," and watched the gargoyle jump aside to reveal the moving spiral staircase. He let them bring him up to the door where he knocked and waited for acknowledgement. He frowned when no one answered and knocked again only to find that the door creaked open a crack.
Harry pushed the door open a bit more and poked his head inside. The office was dark except for the small flickering light emitting from a candle on the professor's desk. "Professor?" he called pushing the door open further, allowing the rest of him to enter the office. A familiar soft trill made Harry look to his left and see Fawkes the phoenix sitting on his perch, watching Harry. He had always had a connection to the magical bird and could almost sense that the phoenix was waiting for him to discover something. Giving the bird a curious look, Harry walked up to the desk and saw a familiar stone basin. He gazed at the Pensieve with increasing curiosity and watched as a picture filled the surface. It was a picture of a young man who looked very familiar to Harry. He was so intent on recognizing the man that he didn't realize he had lowered himself so low to the surface that his nose touched the water.
He found himself falling through darkness and then he was sitting in a dark circular room full of people. He gazed around, taking in the dark walls and the flickering candles that didn't do much lighting but cast eerie shadows on the walls instead. In the very middle of the room was a chair with chains on the arms and legs and was surrounded by a cage. Harry frowned at the chair.
"Professor, glad you could make it," a voice said and Harry looked to his right to see a young wizard who held out his hand to shake hands with someone.
"I wasn't given much of a choice," Harry looked to the left and saw a much younger Albus Dumbledore just as he shook the other wizard's hand. Dumbledore's hair was not as long as it was at present, nor was it white. Instead it just reached his shoulder and was a dull grey colour.
"Quiet! Everyone, quiet! This trial is coming to order!" a second familiar voice called and Harry looked down into the bottom row and saw Barty Crouch sitting behind a desk with three other wizards. "Igor Karkaroff has requested this trial in order to give information about the reign of He Who Must Not Be Named and his followers as Karkaroff himself is a convicted Death Eater."
Harry watched with the rest of the courtroom as Igor Karkaroff seemed to appear out of the floor inside the cage and was bound in the chair as the chains came to life and wrapped themselves around his wrists and ankles. Karkaroff didn't look much different than he did currently except that he was pale, sweating, and had the same look in his eyes that Sirius had had when he had escaped Azkaban. The same haunted look that Harry only saw return to his godfather's eyes when he believed Harry to be in mortal danger.
"What information do you have, Karkaroff?" Crouch asked harshly and his tone made Harry wonder if he had only allowed this trial because Karkaroff wouldn't stop asking.
"Names. I have names of other Death Eaters," Karkaroff said in a hoarse voice that was difficult to hear.
"Yes?" Crouch said, sounding almost a little bored.
"Rosier, sir. Evan Rosier," Karkaroff said and Harry found himself forcing himself to remember the names that Karkaroff was going to give.
"He is dead, Karkaroff. Surely you knew that," Crouch said and from the look on Karkaroff's face, Harry could easily tell he had had no idea his fellow Death Eater had lost his life.
"What about Macnair?" Karkaroff said.
"Imprisoned," Crouch said. "If that is all, you will now be returned to Azkaban."
"No, wait!" Karkaroff said in a louder voice. "What about Rookwood? He is one as well."
"Augustus Rookwood?" Crouch repeated, telling Harry he hadn't known this person was a Death Eater.
"Yes, yes. The one and same," Karkaroff nodded. "Also, Severus Snape."
The name caught Harry's attention and he pushed it to the top of his mental list. Snape was a Death Eater? "Excuse that comment, Mr. Crouch, for Severus Snape once was a Death Eater but recently turned and is now a spy for us. He was recognized as a Death Eater once but he is no longer one," Dumbledore said loudly.
"We will analyze the information you have given us and you will be returned to Azkaban," Crouch said beginning to gather his papers.
"No, no! I have more!" Karkaroff shouted.
"Get on with it!" Crouch said angrily.
"There is another. One no one ever suspected," Karkaroff said quietly. Harry watched him curiously.
"Who?" Crouch asked and Harry could tell Karkaroff had piqued his interest as well.
"One that helped in the torture of the Longbottoms," Karkaroff said and Harry frowned. Longbottom? Was there any connection to Neville Longbottom?
"Yes, yes. Who is it?" Crouch urged.
"Strange that no one noticed but that was the genius behind it," Karkaroff whispered and Harry leaned forward to hear.
"Tell me the name!" Crouch shouted angrily.
"Barty Crouch!" Karkaroff yelled back and Harry felt the air go out of the room as everyone gasped. "Junior."
Everything happened in a flash. Many had gotten to their feet including the young man Harry had seen on the surface of the Pensieve. The man tried to run from the room but Dumbledore jumped to his feet and cast a spell at him, making him fall to the floor. Harry got to his feet as well and watched as a couple wizards grabbed the young man and dragged him to his feet and to face Crouch. Harry gazed at the man who had dark brown hair, a thin and pale face, and his tongue kept darting out like a snake's.
"You are not my son," Crouch said to the man. "To Azkaban," he said, still staring into the eyes of his son as the wizards holding him dragged him from the room.
The scene dissolved and Harry was flying up through the dark and soon found himself standing in Dumbledore's dark office again.