Chapter 34:
Alicia was slammed into the ground, Harry's hand still tight in hers as she felt the tears pouring like waterfalls down her cheeks. She lay with her eyes closed sobbing as she felt the cool grass below her. Her fear had caught up to her, the adrenaline was gone and all she felt was cold and fear, despite now being out of danger. Even if they were in the maze, it was not nearly as dangerous or life threatening as the graveyard.
Alicia didn't bother moving, she could hear sounds come to her ears as she cried, making sure she concentrated on Harry's hand in hers, her only comfort currently. She knew it had worked and she knew someone would come to them, they didn't need to move. Voices, footsteps and screams sounded all around them, but neither Alicia or Harry moved.
"Harry! Harry!" Alicia recognised Albus Dumbledore's voice as Harry was moved from her grip. She sat up and opened her eyes reaching for him in fright, as though it was the only thing that made sense, that could protect her.
She saw Dumbledore had turned Harry over who had been lying face down in the grass, and she leaned forwards to cry into his shoulder, not wanting to see everyone around them.
"Alicia! What were you doing in the maze?!" Dumbledore asked
"I never entered the maze!" Alicia gasped and sobbed as she shook her headed on Harry's shoulder.
"I just want… don't make…" she couldn't get a sentence out and she clung to Harry's back as Harry held to Cedric. He grabbed Dumbledore's wrist.
"He's back," Harry whispered. "He's back. Voldemort."
"What's going on? What's happened?"
The face of Cornelius Fudge appeared; it looked white, appalled.
"My God — Diggory!" it whispered. "Dumbledore — he's dead!" The words were repeated, the shadowy figures pressing in on them, gasped it to those around them… and then others shouted it — screeched it — into the night —
"He's dead!"
"He's dead!"
"Cedric Diggory! Dead!"
Alicia didn't want to hear the words.
"Harry, let go of him," he heard Fudge's voice say, she guessed he hadn't because Dumbledore then spoke.
"Harry, you can't help him now. It's over. Let go."
"He wanted me to bring him back," Harry muttered — it seemed important to explain this. "He wanted me to bring him back to his parents…"
"He didn't want to be left behind." Alicia sobbed and she moved her head from Harry's back and loosened her grip only slightly as she looked at Dumbledore.
"He's back Professor… he… he…" but her tears began to spill over again
"That's right, Harry… It's alright Alicia, just let go now…"
Dumbledore bent down, and extended a hand to Alicia, she looked at it and then at his face to which he gave her a reassuring look. She took it and then she was helped to her feet, she staggered slightly before, with extraordinary strength for a man so old and thin, he raised Harry from the ground and set him on his feet beside her. Harry swayed and Alicia wrapped her arm around Harry's waist, putting her head on his shoulder to support him and comfort herself. Harry placed an arm around her shoulders.
The crowd around them jostled, fighting to get closer, pressing darkly in on them — "What's happened?" "What's wrong with him?" "Diggory's dead!"
"He'll need to go to the hospital wing!" Fudge was saying loudly. "He's ill, he's injured — Dumbledore, Diggory's parents, they're here, they're in the stands…"
"I'll take Harry, Dumbledore, I'll take him —"
"No, I would prefer —"
"Dumbledore, Amos Diggory's running… he's coming over… Don't you think you should tell him — before he sees — ?"
"Harry, stay here —"
Girls were screaming, sobbing hysterically… The scene flickered oddly around Alicia as she turned numb from all the noise around her. It was unfocused, it was chaos and all she was aware of was the tears still slipping down her face.
She didn't understand, why did this turn so bad? How could something so bad have occurred? She put her head in her hands as the scenes flicked through her head, Wormtail screaming, the pain from the curses, her scar burning, the throbbing in her neck a current reminder. Voldemort emerging from the cauldron. The bright light beam. Her parents.
"Alicia!" Alicia looked up and saw Dumbledore before her as he put his hands on her shoulders.
"Where's Harry?" Alicia looked around to find he'd gone. How could he have left! How could he have left her?
And then Alicia remembered.
"Professor!" she breathed and grabbed his arms "Moody! Mad-Eye Moody!" she breathed "He's not Moody!" Dumbledore looked at her "He — he gave me a piece of p-parchment that was a portkey and took — took me to a graveyard!" she was hysterical. Harry had come back alive and there was still Crouch within the school, who else would take him away in such a peril time! "Professor, Mad — Mad-Eye Moody is Crouch — Crouch's Son! He's Crouch Junior! He's been taking p-polyjuice potion! Stealing from — from Snape!" she looked around and more tears fell. "He put H-Harry's name in the cup! He — he helped Harry through the trials! He — he — he bewitched the cup into the portray! He killed — killed his father!" she explained and she turned around. "Crouch somehow got his son out of Azkaban!"
"Alicia come with me." Dumbledore took her wrist "Professor McGonagall! Professor Snape!" he bellowed and he began to drag Alicia away.
"Alicia are you sure?" Dumbledore asked as the two other teachers hurried behind them, McGonagall white faced.
"Crouch m-muttered about his s-son and how it was h-his fault! I saw him in my d-dream, he was alive, I l-learned tonight Bertha Jenkins was indeed killed, a-as well as that muggle, Frank. Crouch attacked M-Moody within his home… the false alarm with some d-dustbins wasn't false! He's been taking the polyjuice p-potion! He was stealing from Snape's office! He's the o-only knew t-teacher close to Harry and V-Voldemort said his most faithful servant was at Hogwarts." Alicia stuttered through her tears as they ran through the castle. "M-Moody's been g-giving me a bad feeling all y-year. I didn't t-trust him and I wasn't s-sure why!"
"I figured o-out Moody was an i-imposter just b-before he — he handed me the portkey." she breathed as they panted, climbing the stairs and headed for Moody's office. "I knew Crouch was the one to blame from your pensieve."
"Mrs Evans, what happened tonight?" McGonagall asked her
"V-Voldemort's back! He took blood from H-Harry and Wormtail's hand and d-dirt from his father's grave and c-combined them in a c-cauldron. He came back! He's human again!" Alicia said hurriedly, trying to get as much info out of herself despite the terrible images that came with them. "Moody g-gave me a parchment that t-transported me to a graveyard n-near Voldemort's father's h-house and I found H-Harry and Cedric and then he… Wormtail he…" she closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to get rid of the images, hoping they'd fade away and it would have all been a bad nightmare, that it was the night before the third task, where everything had been going okay.
They reached the door of Moody's office and Alicia could hear Harry's voice from the other side of the door.
"You're mad," Harry said "you're mad!"
"Mad, am I?" said Moody, his voice rising uncontrollably. "We'll see! We'll see who's mad, now that the Dark Lord has returned, with me at his side! He is back, Harry Potter, you did not conquer him — and now — I conquer you!"
Dumbledore had his wand drawn and he pointed it to the door as his face was covered in enragement fury. Alicia had never seen him so angry, the twinkle in his eye was gone and the benign smile was wiped clear. There was cold fury in every line of his face. Power radiated from the old headmaster as though he was giving off burning heat.
"Stupefy!" he shouted. There was a blinding flash of red light, and with a great splintering and crashing, the door of Moody's office was blasted apart —
Alicia saw inside as Crouch was thrown off his feet and onto the office door. Harry sat with his back to them before he turned around.
"Harry!" she had been so wrapped in her thoughts she'd never noticed Moody drag him away from her and she was terrified by that, the thought they'd just escaped Lord Voldemort and she couldn't even hold on to him long enough to keep him out of danger for a few minutes.
Alicia ran in, jumping over the unconscious Moody and pulled Harry into a hug, letting out a sigh of relief.
Dumbledore stepped into the office, placed a foot underneath Moody's unconscious body, and kicked him over onto his back, so that his face was visible. Snape followed him, looking into the Foe-Glass, where his own face was still visible, glaring into the room. Professor McGonagall went straight to Harry.
"Come along, Potter," she whispered. The thin line of her mouth was twitching as though she was about to cry. "Come along… hospital wing… Miss Evans you as well…"
"No," said Dumbledore sharply.
"Dumbledore, he ought to — look at him — he's been through enough tonight —"
"He will stay, Minerva. They both will, because they need to understand," said Dumbledore curtly. "Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery. He needs to know who has put him through the ordeal he has suffered tonight, and why."
"Moody," Harry said. He was still in a state of complete disbelief. "How can it have been Moody?"
"He's not Moody." Alicia said "He's Crouch's son." Harry looked at her shocked, then confused
"This is not Alastor Moody," said Dumbledore quietly. "You have never known Alastor Moody. The real Moody would not have removed you from my sight after what happened tonight. The moment he took you, the moment Alicia explained her theory, I knew — and I followed."
Dumbledore bent down over Moody's limp form and put a hand inside his robes. He pulled out Moody's hip flask and a set of keys on a ring. Then he turned to Professors McGonagall and Snape.
"Severus, please fetch me the strongest Truth Potion you possess, and then go down to the kitchens and bring up the house-elf called Winky. Minerva, kindly go down to Hagrid's house, where you will find a large black dog sitting in the pumpkin patch. Take the dog up to my office, tell him I will be with him shortly, then come back here."
If either Snape or McGonagall found these instructions peculiar, they hid their confusion. Both turned at once and left the office. Dumbledore walked over to the trunk with seven locks, fitted the first key in the lock, and opened it. It contained a mass of spellbooks. Dumbledore closed the trunk, placed a second key in the second lock, and opened the trunk again. The spellbooks had vanished; this time it contained an assortment of broken Sneakoscopes, some parchment and quills, and what looked like a silvery Invisibility Cloak. Harry and Alicia watched, astounded, as Dumbledore placed the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth keys in their respective locks, reopening the trunk, and each time revealing different contents. Then he placed the seventh key in the lock, threw open the lid, and Harry let out a cry of amazement while Alicia's eyes widened.
They were looking down into a kind of pit, an underground room, and lying on the floor some ten feet below, apparently fast asleep, thin and starved in appearance, was the real Mad-Eye Moody. His wooden leg was gone, the socket that should have held the magical eye looked empty beneath its lid, and chunks of his grizzled hair were missing.
Dumbledore climbed into the trunk, lowered himself, and fell lightly onto the floor beside the sleeping Moody. He bent over him.
"Stunned — controlled by the Imperius Curse — very weak," he said. "Of course, they would have needed to keep him alive. Harry, throw down the imposter's cloak — he's freezing. Madam Pomfrey will need to see him, but he seems in no immediate danger."
Harry did as he was told; Dumbledore covered Moody in the cloak, tucked it around him, and clambered out of the trunk again. Then he picked up the hip flask that stood upon the desk, unscrewed it, and turned it over. A thick glutinous liquid splattered onto the office floor.
"You were right Alicia, Polyjuice Potion, Harry," said Dumbledore. "You see the simplicity of it, and the brilliance. For Moody never does drink except from his hip flask, he's well known for it. The imposter needed, of course, to keep the real Moody close by, so that he could continue making the potion. You see his hair…" Dumbledore looked down on the Moody in the trunk. "The imposter has been cutting it off all year, see where it is uneven? But I think, in the excitement of tonight, our fake Moody might have forgotten to take it as frequently as he should have done… on the hour… every hour… We shall see."
Dumbledore pulled out the chair at the desk and sat down upon it, his eyes fixed upon the unconscious Moody on the floor. Harry and Alicia stared at him too. Minutes passed in silence…
Then, before their eyes, the face of the man on the floor began to change. The scars were disappearing, the skin was becoming smooth; the mangled nose became whole and started to shrink. The long mane of grizzled grey hair was withdrawing into the scalp and turning the colour of straw. Suddenly, with a loud clunk, the wooden leg fell away as a normal leg regrew in its place; next moment, the magical eyeball had popped out of the man's face as a real eye replaced it; it rolled away across the floor and continued to swivel in every direction.
The man lying before them, pale-skinned, slightly freckled, with a mop of fair hair. Alicia had been spot on again, the man in Dumbledore's Pensieve, being led away from court by the dementors, trying to convince Mr. Crouch that he was innocent… but he was lined around the eyes now and looked much older…
There were hurried footsteps outside in the corridor. Snape had returned with Winky at his heels. Professor McGonagall was right behind them.
"Crouch!" Snape said, stopping dead in the doorway. "Barty Crouch!"
"Good heavens," said Professor McGonagall, stopping dead and staring down at the man on the floor.
Filthy, disheveled, Winky peered around Snape's legs. Her mouth opened wide and she let out a piercing shriek.
"Master Barty, Master Barty, what is you doing here?"
She flung herself forward onto the young man's chest.
"You is killed him! You is killed him! You is killed Master's son!"
"He is simply Stunned, Winky," said Dumbledore. "Step aside, please. Severus, you have the potion?"
Snape handed Dumbledore a small glass bottle of completely clear liquid: Veritaserum. A very powerful truth potion. Dumbledore got up, bent over the man on the floor, and pulled him into a sitting position against the wall beneath the Foe-Glass, in which the reflections of Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall were still glaring down upon them all. Winky remained on her knees, trembling, her hands over her face. Dumbledore forced the man's mouth open and poured three drops inside it. Then he pointed his wand at the man's chest and said, "Rennervate."
Crouch's son opened his eyes. His face was slack, his gaze unfocused. Dumbledore knelt before him, so that their faces were level.
"Can you hear me?" Dumbledore asked quietly. The man's eyelids flickered.
"Yes," he muttered.
"I would like you to tell us," said Dumbledore softly, "how you came to be here. How did you escape from Azkaban?"
"They buried a substitute with polyjuice potion." Alicia muttered, everyone glanced at her as she watched Crouch, waiting for a confirmation.
Crouch took a deep, shuddering breath, then began to speak in a flat, expressionless voice.
"My mother saved me. She knew she was dying. She persuaded my father to rescue me as a last favour to her. He loved her as he had never loved me. He agreed. They came to visit me. They gave me a draft of Polyjuice Potion containing one of my mother's hairs. She took a draft of Polyjuice Potion containing one of my hairs. We took on each other's appearance."
Winky was shaking her head, trembling.
"Say no more, Master Barty, say no more, you is getting your father into trouble!"
But Crouch took another deep breath and continued in the same flat voice.
"The dementors are blind. They sensed one healthy, one dying person entering Azkaban. They sensed one healthy, one dying person leaving it. My father smuggled me out, disguised as my mother, in case any prisoners were watching through their doors.
"My mother died a short while afterward in Azkaban. She was careful to drink Polyjuice Potion until the end. She was buried under my name and bearing my appearance. Everyone believed her to be me."
The man's eyelids flickered.
"And what did your father do with you, when he had got you home?" said Dumbledore quietly.
"Staged my mother's death. A quiet, private funeral. That grave is empty. The house-elf nursed me back to health. Then I had to be concealed. I had to be controlled. My father had to use a number of spells to subdue me. When I had recovered my strength, I thought only of finding my master… of returning to his service."
"How did your father subdue you?" said Dumbledore.
"The Imperius Curse," Crouch said. "I was under my father's control. I was forced to wear an Invisibility Cloak day and night. I was always with the house-elf. She was my keeper and caretaker. She pitied me. She persuaded my father to give me occasional treats. Rewards for my good behaviour."
"Master Barty, Master Barty," sobbed Winky through her hands. "You isn't ought to tell them, we is getting in trouble…"
"Did anybody ever discover that you were still alive?" said Dumbledore softly. "Did anyone know except your father and the house-elf ?"
"Yes," said Crouch, his eyelids flickering again. "A witch in my father's office. Bertha Jorkins. She came to the house with papers for my father's signature. He was not at home. Winky showed her inside and returned to the kitchen, to me. But Bertha Jorkins heard Winky talking to me. She came to investigate. She heard enough to guess who was hiding under the Invisibility Cloak. My father arrived home. She confronted him. He put a very powerful Memory Charm on her to make her forget what she'd found out. Too powerful. He said it damaged her memory permanently."
"Why is she coming to nose into my master's private business?" sobbed Winky. "Why isn't she leaving us be?"
"Tell me about the Quidditch World Cup," said Dumbledore.
"Winky talked my father into it," said Crouch, still in the same monotonous voice. "She spent months persuading him. I had not left the house for years. I had loved Quidditch. Let him go, she said. He will be in his Invisibility Cloak. He can watch. Let him smell fresh air for once. She said my mother would have wanted it. She told my father that my mother had died to give me freedom. She had not saved me for a life of imprisonment. He agreed in the end.
"It was carefully planned. My father led me and Winky up to the Top Box early in the day. Winky was to say that she was saving a seat for my father. I was to sit there, invisible. When everyone had left the box, we would emerge. Winky would appear to be alone. Nobody would ever know.
"But Winky didn't know that I was growing stronger. I was starting to fight my father's Imperius Curse. There were times when I was almost myself again. There were brief periods when I seemed outside his control. It happened, there, in the Top Box. It was like waking from a deep sleep. I found myself out in public, in the middle of the match, and I saw, in front of me, a wand sticking out of a boy's pocket. I had not been allowed a wand since before Azkaban. I stole it. Winky didn't know. Winky is frightened of heights. She had her face hidden."
"Master Barty, you bad boy!" whispered Winky, tears trickling between her fingers.
"So you took the wand," said Dumbledore, "and what did you do with it?"
"We went back to the tent," said Crouch. "Then we heard them. We heard the Death Eaters. The ones who had never been to Azkaban. The ones who had never suffered for my master. They had turned their backs on him. They were not enslaved, as I was. They were free to seek him, but they did not. They were merely making sport of Muggles. The sound of their voices awoke me. My mind was clearer than it had been in years. I was angry. I had the wand. I wanted to attack them for their disloyalty to my master. My father had left the tent; he had gone to free the Muggles. Winky was afraid to see me so angry. She used her own brand of magic to bind me to her. She pulled me from the tent, pulled me into the forest, away from the Death Eaters. I tried to hold her back. I wanted to return to the campsite. I wanted to show those Death Eaters what loyalty to the Dark Lord meant, and to punish them for their lack of it. I used the stolen wand to cast the Dark Mark into the sky."
Alicia suddenly remembered Winky running through the forest, as though something was holding her back, pulling her in the other direction. Crouch had been near them even then!
"Ministry wizards arrived. They shot Stunning Spells everywhere. One of the spells came through the trees where Winky and I stood. The bond connecting us was broken. We were both Stunned.
"When Winky was discovered, my father knew I must be nearby. He searched the bushes where she had been found and felt me lying there. He waited until the other Ministry members had left the forest. He put me back under the Imperius Curse and took me home. He dismissed Winky. She had failed him. She had let me acquire a wand. She had almost let me escape."
Winky let out a wail of despair.
"Now it was just Father and I, alone in the house. And then… and then…" Crouch's head rolled on his neck, and an insane grin spread across his face. "My master came for me.
"He arrived at our house late one night in the arms of his servant Wormtail. My master had found out that I was still alive. He had captured Bertha Jorkins in Albania. He had tortured her. She told him a great deal. She told him about the Triwizard Tournament. She told him the old Auror, Moody, was going to teach at Hogwarts. He tortured her until he broke through the Memory Charm my father had placed upon her. She told him I had escaped from Azkaban. She told him my father kept me imprisoned to prevent me from seeking my master. And so my master knew that I was still his faithful servant — perhaps the most faithful of all. My master conceived a plan, based upon the information Bertha had given him. He needed me. He arrived at our house near midnight. My father answered the door."
The smile spread wider over Crouch's face, as though recalling the sweetest memory of his life. Winky's petrified brown eyes were visible through her fingers. She seemed too appalled to speak.
Alicia's eyes widened, she'd seen that! She'd had that dream… but how?
"It was very quick. My father was placed under the Imperius Curse by my master. Now my father was the one imprisoned, controlled. My master forced him to go about his business as usual, to act as though nothing was wrong. And I was released. I awoke. I was myself again, alive as I hadn't been in years.
"And what did Lord Voldemort ask you to do?" said Dumbledore.
"He asked me whether I was ready to risk everything for him. I was ready. It was my dream, my greatest ambition, to serve him, to prove myself to him. He told me he needed to place a faithful servant at Hogwarts. A servant who would guide Harry Potter through the Triwizard Tournament without appearing to do so. A servant who would watch over Harry Potter. Ensure he reached the Triwizard Cup. Turn the cup into a Portkey, which would take the first person to touch it to my master. But first —"
"You needed Alastor Moody," said Dumbledore. His blue eyes were blazing, though his voice remained calm.
"Wormtail and I did it. We had prepared the Polyjuice Potion beforehand. We journeyed to his house. Moody put up a struggle. There was a commotion. We managed to subdue him just in time. Forced him into a compartment of his own magical trunk. Took some of his hair and added it to the potion. I drank it; I became Moody's double. I took his leg and his eye. I was ready to face Arthur Weasley when he arrived to sort out the Muggles who had heard a disturbance. I made the dustbins move around the yard. I told Arthur Weasley I had heard intruders in my yard, who had set off the dustbins. Then I packed up Moody's clothes and Dark detectors, put them in the trunk with Moody, and set off for Hogwarts. I kept him alive, under the Imperius Curse. I wanted to be able to question him. To find out about his past, learn his habits, so that I could fool even Dumbledore. I also needed his hair to make the Polyjuice Potion. The other ingredients were easy. I stole boomslang skin from the dungeons. When the Potions master found me in his office, I said I was under orders to search it."
"And what became of Wormtail after you attacked Moody?" said Dumbledore.
"Wormtail returned to care for my master, in my father's house, and to keep watch over my father."
"But your father escaped," said Dumbledore.
"Yes. After a while he began to fight the Imperius Curse just as I had done. There were periods when he knew what was happening. My master decided it was no longer safe for my father to leave the house. He forced him to send letters to the Ministry instead. He made him write and say he was ill. But Wormtail neglected his duty. He was not watchful enough. My father escaped. My master guessed that he was heading for Hogwarts. My father was going to tell Dumbledore everything, to confess. He was going to admit that he had smuggled me from Azkaban.
"My master sent me word of my father's escape. He told me to stop him at all costs. So I waited and watched. I used the map I had taken from Harry Potter. The map that had almost ruined everything."
"Map?" said Dumbledore quickly. "What map is this?" Alicia and Harry shared a look and Alicia placed a hand on her pocket were the map sat.
"Potter's map of Hogwarts. Potter saw me on it. Potter saw me stealing more ingredients for the Polyjuice Potion from Snape's office one night. He thought I was my father. We have the same first name. I took the map from Potter that night. I told him my father hated Dark wizards. Potter believed my father was after Snape.
"For a week I waited for my father to arrive at Hogwarts. At last, one evening, the map showed my father entering the grounds. I pulled on my Invisibility Cloak and went down to meet him. He was walking around the edge of the forest. Then Potter came, and Krum. I waited. I could not hurt Potter; my master needed him. Potter ran to get Dumbledore. I Stunned Krum. I killed my father."
"Noooo!" wailed Winky. "Master Barty, Master Barty, what is you saying?"
"You killed your father," Dumbledore said, in the same soft voice. "What did you do with the body?"
"Carried it into the forest. Covered it with the Invisibility Cloak. I had the map with me. I watched Potter run into the castle. He met Snape. Dumbledore joined them. I watched Potter bringing Dumbledore out of the castle. I walked back out of the forest, doubled around behind them, went to meet them. I told Dumbledore Snape had told me where to come."
Alicia knew it. She knew Snape had never said anything.
"Dumbledore told me to go and look for my father. I went back to my father's body. Watched the map. When everyone was gone, I Transfigured my father's body. He became a bone… I buried it, while wearing the Invisibility Cloak, in the freshly dug earth in front of Hagrid's cabin."
There was complete silence now, except for Winky's continued sobs. Then Dumbledore said, "And tonight…"
"I offered to carry the Triwizard Cup into the maze before dinner," whispered Barty Crouch. "Turned it into a Portkey. My master's plan worked. He is returned to power and I will be honoured by him beyond the dreams of wizards."
The insane smile lit his features once more, and his head drooped onto his shoulder as Winky wailed and sobbed at his side.