Greetings, one and all. And welcome to the next chapter of the Potter And Kent Chronicles. I hope you are going to enjoy it as much as I had writing it. I think there will be one or two more chapters in Year 4. Anyways, now on to the reviews.
Linkonpark100: Yes, Cedric's alive. He's not turning into a vampire anytime soon.
Ashzaroth: Thank you! Yeah, Clark noticed what was going to happen so he pulled Cedric down and told him to play dead. You will find out in this chapter.
And now on to the story.
Clark felt himself slam flat into the ground; his face was pressed into grass, the smell of it filled his nostrils. He had closed his eyes while the Portkey transported him, and he kept them closed now. He did not move. All the breath seemed to have been knocked out of him; his head was swimming so badly he felt as though the ground beneath him were swaying like the deck of a ship. To hold himself steady, he tightened his hold on the thing he was still clutching: the smooth, cold handle of the Triwizard Cup. He felt as though he would slide away into the blackness gathering at the edges of his brain if he let go of it. Shock and exhaustion kept him on the ground, breathing in the smell of the grass, waiting... waiting for someone to do something... something to happen...
A torrent of sound deafened and confused him; there were voices everywhere, footsteps. He remained where he was, his face screwed up against the noise, as though it were a nightmare that would pass...
Then a pair of hands seized him roughly and turned him over. He opened his eyes. He was looking up at the starry sky, and Elizabeth was crouched over him. The dark shadows of a crowd of people pressed in around them, pushing nearer; Clark felt the ground beneath his head reverberating with their footsteps.
They had come back to the edge of the maze. He could see the stands rising above him, the shapes of people moving in them, the stars above.
Clark let go of the cup, he raised his hand and seized Elizabeth's wrist, while her face swam in and out of focus. "He's back... He's back. Voldemort.", Clark whispered.
Elizabeth bent down, and raised her son from the ground and set him on his feet. The crowd around them jostled, fighting to get closer, pressing darkly in on him - "What's happened?" "What's wrong with them?"
"He'll need to go to the hospital wing." Fudge was saying loudly. "He's ill, he's injured..."
"I'll take Harry, Dumbledore, I'll take him...", Moody's voice said.
"No, I would prefer...", Harry's voice said int he distance.
"Harry, stay here...", Dumbledore said.
"Its all right, son, I've got you... come on... hospital wing..."
Clark heard Moody say, before he felt himself being enveloped in a tight hug, the scent of flowers filling his nose. "Clark! Thank goodness your alright.", a female voice said, he felt relieved, realizing it was Fleur.
"What happened, Clark?", Fleur asked as she held her boyfriend in her arms, his head resting on her chest, he found this very calming. "The cup was a Portkey. It took me, Harry and Cedric to a graveyard... and Voldemort was there..."
"Voldemort was there? What happened then?", Elizabeth's voice said to his side. "He tried to kill Cedric... He made a potion to got his body back... And the Death Eaters came and then he and Harry dueled. We got away, his wand did something funny."
"Voldemort's back, how did he do it?", Fleur asked.
"He took stuff from his father's grave, and from Bertha Jorkins, and from Harry, he took blood from...", Clark said, looking around for his friend, "Where is Harry?..."
Upon realizing, that Harry was missing, Elizabeth quickly stood up, "Please stay here and look after Clark.", she said, getting a nod from Fleur, "Don't worry, Clark. I will be back shortly sweetie." She then quickly left with Sirius, and Dumbledore, the three rushing towards Moody's office.
Elizabeth didn't bother to kick open the door, she merely raised her wand and with a blinding flash of red light, she broke the door, Moody was thrown backward onto the office floor. Quickly stepping inside, she saw her godson still staring at the place where Moody's face had been.
They stepped into the office, Dumbledore placed a foot underneath Moody's unconscious body, and kicked him over onto his back, so that his face was visible. Sirius and Elizabeth went straight to Harry.
"Come along, Harry." Sirius whispered, the thin line of his mouth was twitching, "Come along... hospital wing..."
"No. He needs to understand." Elizabeth said, "Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery. He deserves 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?"
"Tis is not Alastor Moody.", Elizabeth said quietly, kneeling next to her godson, "You have never known Alastor Moody. The real Moody would not have removed you after what happened tonight. The moment I realized he took you, I knew..."
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 and shot something silvery out of his wand.
Dumbledore then walked over to the trunk with seven locks, fitted the first key in the lock, and opened it. It contained a mass of spell-books. 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 Sneako-scopes, some parchment and quills, and what looked like a silvery Invisibility Cloak. After some time, he placed the seventh key in the lock, threw open the lid, and Harry let out a cry of amazement.
He was 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. Harry stared, thunderstruck, between the sleeping Moody in the trunk and the unconscious Moody lying on the floor of the office.
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. Sirius, throw down the imposter's cloak, he's freezing. Madam Pomfrey will need to see him, but he seems in no immediate danger."
Sirius did as he was told; Dumbledore covered Moody in the cloak, tucked it around him, and clambered out of the trunk again. Elizabeth summoned the hip flask that stood upon the desk, to her hand, she unscrewed it, smelled it.
"Polyjuice Potion.", Elizabeth muttered, "Simple but brilliant. Moody never drinks from anything 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. 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, Sirius and Elizabeth stared at him too. Minutes passed in silence...
Then, 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 gray hair was withdrawing into the scalp and turning the color 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.
Harry saw a man lying before him, pale-skinned, slightly freckled, with a mop of fair hair. He knew who he was. He had seen him in Dumbledore's Pensieve, had watched him 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 arrived. "Crouch!" Snape said, stopping dead in the doorway, "Barty Crouch!"
"Severus, you have the potion?", Dumbledore asked.
Snape, shot a glare at Sirius and Elizabeth and as he handed Dumbledore a small glass bottle of completely clear liquid: the Veritaserum with which he had threatened Clark with. 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, Sirius and Elizabeth were still glaring down upon them all.
Dumbledore forced the mans mouth open and poured three drops inside it. Then he pointed his wand at the mans chest and said, "Ennervate." 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?"
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 favor 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."
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?" Dumbledore said.
"The Imperius Curse," Moody said. "I was under my fathers 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 behavior."
"Did anybody ever discover that you were still alive?" Dumbledore said softly, "Did anyone know except your father and the house-elf?"
"Yes." Crouch said, 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."
"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 a controlled Bertha Jorkins. My master had found out that I was still alive when 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. "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."
"Tell me about the Quidditch World Cup." Dumbledore said.
"I arrived at the Quidditch World Cup, were I found 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. I wanted to attack them for their disloyalty to my master. I wanted to show those Death Eaters what loyalty to the Dark Lord meant, and to punish them for their lack of it. I cast the Dark Mark into the sky."
"What did Lord Voldemort ask you to do?" Dumbledore said.
"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.", Elizabeth said, her light blue eyes were blazing, though her voice remained calm.
"And what became of Bertha Jorkins after you attacked Moody?", Dumbledore said.
"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 the house-elf neglected her duty. She 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. For a week I waited for my father to arrive at Hogwarts. At last, one evening, I pulled on my Invisibility Cloak and went down to meet him. He was walking around the edge of the forest. Then Kent came, and Krum. I waited. I could not hurt Kent; my master had use for him. Kent ran to get Dumbledore. I Stunned Krum. I killed my father."
"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 and I waited, I watched Kent 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.
"Dumbledore told me to go and look for my father. I went back to my father's body. 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, then Sirius said, "And tonight..."
"I offered to carry the Triwizard Cup into the maze before dinner," Barty Crouch whispered. "Turned it into a Portkey. My master's plan worked. He is returned to power and I will be honored by him beyond the dreams of wizards.", the insane smile lit his features once more, and his head drooped onto his shoulder.
Dumbledore stood up. He stared down at Barty Crouch for a moment with disgust on his face. Then he raised his wand once more and ropes flew out of it, ropes that twisted themselves around Barty Crouch, binding him tightly. He turned to Snape.
"Severus please tell Madam Pomfrey to come down here; we need to get Alastor Moody into the hospital wing. Then go down into the grounds, find Cornelius Fudge, and bring him up to this office. He will undoubtedly want to question Crouch himself. Tell him I will be in the hospital wing in half an hour's time if he needs me." Snape nodded silently and swept out of the room.
"Come on Harry, let's get you to the Hospital Wing.", Elizabeth said gently as she and her husband helped their godson up, she realized that he was shaking. Harry nodded, a kind of numbness and a sense of complete unreality were upon him, but he did not care; he was even glad of it. He didn't want to have to think about anything that had happened since he had first touched the Triwizard Cup. He didn't want to have to examine the memories, fresh and sharp as photographs, which kept flashing across his mind. Mad-Eye Moody, inside the trunk. Jorkins, slumped on the ground, cradling her stump of an arm. Voldemort, rising from the steaming cauldron.
"Sirius... Elizabeth, were are Clark and Cedric?", Harry mumbled.
"They are at the Hospital Wing as well.", Sirius explained.
"Wait, Sirius, Elizabeth. I need to know what happened after Harry touched the Portkey in the maze." Dumbledore said, but Sirius and Elizabeth cut him off.
"We can leave that until morning." Sirius said harshly.
"Harry has shown bravery beyond anything we had the right to expect of him, he deserves his rest.", Elizabeth added and Harry felt a rush of gratitude towards his godparents.
When Elizabeth pushed open the door, Harry saw Clark, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Kara, Fleur, her mother, Gabrielle, Cedric and Mr. and Mrs. Diggory, all of them whipped around as Harry, Sirius, Elizabeth and Dumbledore entered.
Kara hurried toward them, pulled her boyfriend towards her, it surprised him sometimes how despise being so small, how strong she was.
She was very white, Harry felt an inexpressible sense of gratitude to Elizabeth when she told them to let him rest for now and to not press Harry, Clark or Cedric for answers until they were ready to tell them. "I will be back to see you as soon as I have met with Fudge. I would like you to remain here tomorrow until I have spoken to the school.", Dumbledore said and he left.
As Madam Pomfrey led Harry to a nearby bed, his eyes met those of Clark. "How are you?" Harry asked.
"I'll be fine. Just tired.", Clark said.
After Harry changed into a set of pajama's, Elizabeth, returned holding a small bottle of some purple potion and a goblet.
"You'll need to drink all of Tis, Harry. It's a potion for dreamless sleep.", Elizabeth explained.
Harry took the goblet and drank a few mouthfuls. He felt himself becoming drowsy at once. Everything around him became hazy, the lamps around the hospital wing seemed to be winking at him in a friendly way through the screen around his bed, before he could finish the potion, before he could say another word, his exhaustion had carried him off to sleep.
Clark woke up, so warm, so very sleepy, that he didn't open his eyes, wanting to drop off again. The room was still dimly lit, he was sure it was still nighttime and had a feeling that he couldn't have been asleep very long.
Then he heard whispering around him.
"They'll wake them if they don't shut up!"
"What are they shouting about? Nothing else can have happened, can it?"
Clark opened his eyes blearily, he could see the fuzzy outlines of his friends and family, Elizabeth was on her feet.
"That's Fudge's voice, and that's McGonagall's, isn't it? But what are they arguing about?", Sirius voice said.
Now Clark could hear them too: people shouting and running toward the hospital wing. "Regrettable, but all the same, Minerva..." Cornelius Fudge was saying loudly.
"You should never have brought it inside the castle!" yelled Professor McGonagall, "When Dumbledore finds out..."
Clark heard the hospital doors burst open, unnoticed by any save Fleur, who had rested her beautiful head on his bed, having fallen asleep as she sat next to his bed.
Fudge came striding up the ward, Professors McGonagall and Snape were at his heels. "Where's Dumbledore?" Fudge demanded of Sirius and Elizabeth.
"Not here. Tis is a hospital wing, don't you think you'd do better...", Elizabeth said, but the door opened, and Dumbledore came sweeping up the ward.
"What has happened?" Dumbledore said sharply, looking from Fudge to Professor McGonagall. "Why are you disturbing these people? Minerva, I'm surprised at you, I asked you to stand guard over Barty Crouch..."
"There is no need to stand guard over him anymore, Dumbledore!" she shrieked, "The Minister has seen to that!"
Clark had never seen Professor McGonagall lose control like this. There were angry blotches of color in her cheeks, and her hands were balled into fists, she was trembling with fury.
"When we told Mr. Fudge that we had caught the Death Eater responsible for tonight's events." Snape said, in a low voice, He seemed to feel his personal safety was in question. He insisted on summoning a dementor to accompany him into the castle. He brought it up to the office where Barty Crouch..."
"I told him you would not agree, Dumbledore!" McGonagall fumed, "I told him you would never allow dementors to set foot inside the castle, but..."
"My dear woman!", Fudge roared, who likewise looked angrier than Clark had ever seen him, "as Minister of Magic, it is my decision whether I wish to bring protection with me when interviewing a possibly dangerous ..."
But Professor McGonagall's voice drowned Fudge's, "The moment that... that thing entered the room," she screamed, pointing at Fudge, trembling all over, "it swooped down on Crouch and..."
Clark felt a chill in his stomach as Professor McGonagall struggled to find words to describe what had happened. He did not need her to finish her sentence, he knew what the dementor must have done. It had administered its fatal kiss to Barty Crouch.
"By all accounts, he is no loss!" Fudge blustered, "It seems he has been responsible for several deaths'."
"But he cannot now give testimony, Fudge.", Elizabeth said, she was staring hard at Fudge, as though seeing him plainly for the first time, "He cannot give evidence about why he killed those people."
"Why he killed them? Well, that's no mystery, is it? He was a raving lunatic! From what Minerva and Severus have told me, he seems to have thought he was doing it all on You-Know-Who's instructions!", Fudge blustered.
"Lord Voldemort was giving him instructions, Cornelius," Dumbledore said, "Those peoples deaths were mere by-products of a plan to restore Voldemort to full strength again. The plan succeeded. Voldemort has been restored to his body."
Fudge looked as though someone had just swung a heavy weight into his face. Dazed and blinking, he stared back at Dumbledore as if he couldn't quite believe what he had just heard. He began to sputter, still goggling at Dumbledore.
"You-Know-Who... returned? Preposterous. Come now, Dumbledore..."
"As Minerva and Severus have doubtless told you." Dumbledore said, "we heard Barty Crouch confess. Under the influence of Veritaserum, he told us how he was smuggled out of Azkaban, and how Voldemort, learning of his continued existence from Bertha Jorkins, went to free him from his father and used him to capture Harry. The plan worked, I tell you. Crouch has helped Voldemort to return."
"See here, Dumbledore." Fudge said, and Clark was astonished to see a slight smile dawning on his face, "You... you can't seriously believe that You-Know-Who is back? Come now, come now... certainly, Crouch may have believed himself to be acting upon You-Know-Who's orders, but to take the word of a lunatic like that, Dumbledore..."
"When Harry, Clark and Cedric touched the Triwizard Cup tonight, they were transported straight to Voldemort." Dumbledore said steadily, "They witnessed Lord Voldemort's rebirth. I will explain it all to you if you will step up to my office."
Dumbledore glanced around at Clark and saw that he, Harry and Cedric were awake, but shook his head and said, "I am afraid I cannot permit you to question either of them tonight."
Fudge's curious smile lingered. He too glanced at Harry, Clark and Cedric then looked back at Dumbledore, and said, "You are... er, prepared to take their word on this, are you, Dumbledore?"
There was a moment's silence, which was broken by Sirius and Elizabeth's angry growl.
"Certainly, I believe them." Dumbledore said, his eyes were blazing now. "I heard Crouch's confession, and I heard Harry's, Clark's and Cedric's account of what happened after they touched the Triwizard Cup; the four stories make sense, they explain everything that has happened since Bertha Jorkins disappeared last summer."
Fudge still had that strange smile on his face. Once again, he glanced at the three Champions before answering. "You are prepared to believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, on the word of a lunatic murderer, and two boys who... well..."
Fudge shot Harry and Clark another look, and the two suddenly understood.
"You've been reading Rita Skeeter, Mr. Fudge.", the duo said quietly.
Ron, Hermione, Neville, Kara, Sirius, Elizabeth, Apolline and Gabrielle all jumped. None of them had realized that Harry and Clark were awake.
Fudge reddened slightly, but a defiant and obstinate look came over his face. "And if I have?" he said, looking at Dumbledore, "If I have discovered that you've been keeping certain facts about the boy very quiet? A Parselmouth, eh? And having funny turns all over the place..."
"I assume that you are referring to the pains Harry has been experiencing in his scar?", Elizabeth said coolly.
"You admit that he has been having these pains, then?" said Fudge quickly, "Headaches? Nightmares? Possibly... hallucinations?"
"Listen to me, Cornelius.", Elizabeth said taking a step toward Fudge, she seemed to radiate an indefinable sense of power, "Harry is as sane as you or I. That scar upon his forehead has not addled his brains. I believe it hurts him when Voldemort is close by, or feeling particularly murderous."
Fudge had taken half a step back from Elizabeth, but he looked no less stubborn. "You'll forgive me, Lady Kent, but I've never heard of a curse scar acting as an alarm bell before..."
"I saw Voldemort come back!" Harry shouted, he tried to get out of bed again, but Sirius held him back, "I saw the Death Eaters! I can give you their names! Lucius Malfoy..."
Snape made a sudden movement, but as Harry looked at him, Snape's eyes flew back to Fudge.
"Malfoy was cleared!" said Fudge, visibly affronted. "A very old family... donations to excellent causes..."
"Macnair!" Harry continued.
"Also cleared! Now working for the Ministry!"
"Avery! Nott! Crabbe! Goyle!"
"You are merely repeating the names of those who were acquitted of being Death Eaters thirteen years ago!" Fudge said angrily, "You could have found those names in old reports of the trials! For heavens sake, the boy is full of some crackpot story and you're still swallowing them. The boy can talk to snakes... It seems to me that you are all determined to start a panic that will destabilize everything we have worked for these last thirteen years!"
"You fool!", Elizabeth shouted, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. He had always thought of Fudge as a kindly figure, a little blustering, a little pompous, but essentially good-natured. But now a short, angry wizard stood before her, refusing, point-blank, to accept the prospect of disruption in his comfortable and ordered world, to believe that Voldemort could have risen.
"Voldemort has returned, if you accept that fact straightaway. Fudge, and take the necessary measures, we may still be able to save the situation."
Dumbledore nodded, "The first and most essential step is to remove Azkaban from the control of the dementors..."
"Preposterous!" Fudge shouted again, "Remove the dementors? I'd be kicked out of office for suggesting it! Half of us only feel safe in our beds at night because we know the dementors are standing guard at Azkaban!"
"The rest of us sleep less soundly in our beds, Cornelius, knowing that you have put Lord Voldemort's most dangerous supporters in the care of creatures who will join him the instant he asks them!" Elizabeth said, "They will not remain loyal to you, Fudge! Voldemort can offer them much more scope for their powers and their pleasures than you can! With the dementors behind him, and his old supporters returned to him, you will be hard-pressed to stop him regaining the sort of power he had thirteen years ago!"
Fudge was opening and closing his mouth as though no words could express his outrage.
"The second step you must take and at once." Dumbledore pressed on, "is to send envoys to the giants. Extend them the hand of friendship, now, before it is too late or Voldemort will persuade them, as he did before, that he alone among wizards will give them their rights and their freedom!"
"You... you cannot be serious!" Fudge gasped, shaking his head and retreating further from Dumbledore, "If the magical community got wind that I had approached the giants... people hate them... end of my career -"
"You are blinded, by the love of the office you hold, Cornelius! You place too much importance, and you always have done, on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be! Your dementor has just destroyed the last remaining member of a pure-blood family as old as any and see what that man chose to make of his life!", Elizabeth said, "I tell you now take the steps I have suggested, and you will be remembered, in office or out, as one of the bravest and greatest Ministers of Magic we have ever known. Fail to act... and history will remember you as the man who stepped aside and allowed Voldemort a second chance to destroy the world we have tried to rebuild!"
"Insane.", Fudge whispered, still backing away, "Mad..."
And then there was silence. Madam Pomfrey was standing frozen at the foot of Cedric's bed, her hands over her mouth. Sirius was still standing over Harry, his hand on his shoulder to prevent him from rising. Ron, Neville, Hermione, Kara, Fleur, Apolline and Gabrielle were staring at Fudge.
"If your determination to shut your eyes will carry you as far as this, Cornelius." Dumbledore said, "we have reached a parting of the ways. You must act as you see fit. And we... we shall act as we see fit."
Dumbledore's voice carried no hint of a threat; it sounded like a mere statement, but Fudge bristled as though Dumbledore were advancing upon him with a wand.
"Now, see here, Dumbledore." he said, waving a threatening finger, "I've given you free rein, always. I've had a lot of respect for you. I might not have agreed with some of your decisions, but I've kept quiet. There aren't many who'd have let you hire werewolves, or keep Hagrid, or decide what to teach your students without reference to the Ministry. But if you're going to work against me..."
"The only one against whom I intend to work." Dumbledore said, "Is Lord Voldemort. If you are against him, then we remain, Cornelius, on the same side."
It seemed Fudge could think of no answer to this. He rocked backward and forward on his small feet for a moment and spun his bowler hat in his hands. Finally, he said, with a hint of a plea in his voice, "He can't be back, Dumbledore, he just can't be..."
It was at this moment that Elizabeth and Snape strode forward, pulling up the left sleeve of their robes. They stuck out their forearm and showed it to Fudge, who recoiled.
"There." Elizabeth said harshly, "There. The Dark Mark. It is not as clear as it was an hour or so ago, when it burned black, but you can still see it. Every Death Eater had the sign burned into him or by the Dark Lord. It was a means of distinguishing one another, and his means of summoning us to him. When he touched the Mark of any Death Eater or when he used a special spell, we were to Disapparate, and Apparate, instantly, at his side."
"This Mark has been growing clearer all year. Karkaroff's too. Why do you think Karkaroff fled tonight? We both felt the Mark burn. We both knew he had returned. Karkaroff fears the Dark Lord's vengeance. He betrayed too many of his fellow Death Eaters to be sure of a welcome back into the fold.", Snape added.
Fudge stepped back from Elizabeth and Snape too. He was shaking his head, he did not seem to have taken in a word Elizabeth or Snape had said. They stared, apparently repelled by the ugly mark on their arms, then looked up at Dumbledore and whispered, "I don't know what you and your staff are playing at, Dumbledore, but I have heard enough. I have no more to add. I will be in touch with you tomorrow, Dumbledore, to discuss the running of this school. I must return to the Ministry."
He had almost reached the door when he paused. He turned around, strode back down the dormitory, and stopped at Harry's bed. "Your winnings," he said shortly, taking three large bag of gold out of his pocket and dropping it onto Harry's, Clark's and Cedric's bedside table. "One thousand Galleons. There should have been a presentation ceremony, but under the circumstances..."
He crammed his bowler hat onto his head and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. The moment he had disappeared, Dumbledore turned to look at the group around Harry's bed.
"There is work to be done." he said, "Sirius, Elizabeth... am I right in thinking that I can count on you two?"
"Of course.", Sirius said.
"Then I need to send a message to Arthur and Molly.", Dumbledore said, "All those that we can persuade of the truth must be notified immediately, and he is well placed to contact those at the Ministry who are not as shortsighted as Cornelius."
"Minerva.", Dumbledore said, turning to Professor McGonagall, "I want to see Hagrid in my office as soon as possible. Also if she will consent to come, Madame Maxime."
Professor McGonagall nodded and left without a word. Dumbledore made sure that the door was closed, and that Madam Pomfrey's footsteps had died away, before he spoke again.
"I trust you three.", Dumbledore said, looking at Sirius, Elizabeth and Snape, "It is time for you to lay aside your old differences and trust each other."
Kara thought Dumbledore was asking for a near miracle. Sirius, Elizabeth and Snape were eyeing each other with the utmost loathing.
"I will settle, in the short term.", Dumbledore said, with a bite of impatience in his voice, "For a lack of open hostility. You will shake hands. You are on the same side now. Time is short, and unless the few of us who know the truth do not stand united, there is no hope for any us."
Very slowly but still glaring at each other as though each wished the other nothing but ill, Sirius and Snape moved toward each other and shook hands. They let go extremely quickly.
"That will do to be going on with." Dumbledore said, stepping between them once Elizabeth and Snape had shaken hands. "Now I have work for each of you. Fudge's attitude, though not unexpected, changes everything. Sirius, I need you to set off at once. You are to alert Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher. The old crowd."
"But...", Kara said, she did not want to have to say goodbye again so quickly.
"You'll see me very soon, Kara." Sirius said, turning to her, "I promise you. But I must do what I can, you understand, don't you?"
"Yeah, Yeah...of course I do.", Kara said.
Sirius grasped her hand briefly, giving Harry and Clark a hug each and giving Elizabeth a kiss. Then he walked the length of the room to the door, then he was gone.
"Severus.", Dumbledore said, turning to Snape, "You know what I must ask you to do. If you are ready... if you are prepared..."
"I am.", Snape said.
He looked slightly paler than usual, and his cold, black eyes glittered strangely. "Then good luck.", Dumbledore said, and he watched, with a trace of apprehension on his face, as Snape swept wordlessly after Sirius.
It was several minutes before Dumbledore spoke again. "Take the rest of your potion, Harry, Clark. I will see all of you later."
Clark slumped back against his pillows as Dumbledore disappeared. None of them spoke for a very long time. The thing against which he had been fighting on and off ever since he had come out of the maze was threatening to overpower him. He could feel a burning, prickling feeling in the inner corners of his eyes. He blinked and stared up at the ceiling.
"It's alright, Clark.", Elizabeth whispered. Clark felt a burning feeling in his throat. "Do you know why I spend so much time with Harry and Kara last summer? It's because you are already so strong and mature... You make me so proud.", she whispered as Clark felt himself fall asleep.
Over at Harry's bed, Kara set the potion down on the bedside cabinet, bent down, and put her arms around her boyfriend. There was a loud slamming noise, Kara looked up, not letting go of Harry for a second. Hermione was standing by the window, she was holding something tight in her hand.
"Sorry." she whispered.
Heavy, irresistible waves of dreamless sleep broke over Harry; he fell back onto his pillows and thought no more.
There you go, another chapter. Hope you enjoyed. Many thanks to everyone who reads, reviews, favorite or follows this story, you beautiful bastards. For now I wish you all a fantastic day and I will see you ladies and gents, next time. Mischief Managed.
