It was a blur, everything seemed to moving in slow motion. They had appeared outside the maze as the crowd went wild before screams broke out. Jamie had been clinging to Cedric's body, shaking and silently crying, Harry crying as well, as Cedric's father pushed her aside, screaming his son's name in agony.
Viktor and Fleur were there, looking horrified as they tried to get to their fellow champions. No one understood why Cedric was in the maze with them and immediately Amos had turned on Harry and Jamie, accusing them of murdering his son.
"How did he end up in the maze? Who killed him!" the man roared at her.
"I don't know how he got in there!"
"Liar—it's always something with you, Potter!" He stabbed his finger toward Harry threatening.
"It wasn't Harry's fault!" Jamie shrieked at the angry man, stepping in front of her brother. "Cedric was under some sort of spell, he wasn't in his right mind…it doesn't matter because Voldemort is back and Voldemort killed Cedric!"
Her words caused hysteria and people began rising to flee the stands.
"And how would you know He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned, girl?" The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, was rising from his seat.
"Because I saw him with my own eyes, so did Harry… I recognized him—" she cut off, realizing what she had said.
"How would you recognize him!?"
"Because… I'm Hally Potter," she felt the blood rush from her face as she took a step back from everyone. People were shouting in confusion and Dumbledore lurched forward, grabbing hold of Jamie and Harry's shoulders and shoving them toward the school.
Kingsley and Severus were running toward them but were stopped by the throng of people fleeing the grounds.
"She's been hiding this whole time…"
"Can you blame her?"
"I thought she was dead?"
"This is crap, so what, two Potters got to compete?"
"Who killed Cedric?"
"They said You-Know-Who is back…"
"It's bullshit."
"Liars."
"Liars."
"Liars."
The whispers were already swarming. Fingers were being pointed as they were marched through the mass of students.
"All of you! Return to your common rooms immediately!" Dumbledore thundered finally, "Go on now with you! Your heads of house will be waiting for you there!"
Mad Eye appeared and ordered Jamie and Harry to his office under the pretense of keeping them safe until Aurors and the proper authorities could come to retrieve statements. Jamie threw her arm around Harry protectively, eyes swimming with tears as they followed the man.
"Get in, get in," Mad Eye held the door of his office open, ushering them inside. "Quite a nasty business this has turned out to be."
"Sit boy, you look about dead on your feet," Mad Eye told Harry who immediately sat down in a chair as Mad Eye locked the door. Jamie felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up at the sound of the deadbolt turning.
"What a bloody mess—" Mad Eye was floundering around his desk drawers, searching for something, as the rattle of empty flasks and bottles clattered around. Jamie was trying to catch Harry's attention, but he was half-exhausted and had his eyes closed. "And you, Miss Shacklebolt, you've turned out to be my biggest problem of all."
Harry's head snapped up as Jamie froze.
"Sir—what?" Harry was confused. Jamie realized stupidly her wand was still in her pocket.
"All year long you've been a constant headache, always getting in the way, always hovering over Potter," Mad Eye spat. "Spoiled, self-center, lazy."
"That's enough," Harry stood up, anger rising. Jamie reached for wand, fingers curling around the hilt. "That's over the line, Professor."
"Over the line!" Mad Eye rumbled, still frantically looking in cupboards and desk drawers. "Did you think that miserable oaf would have led you into the woods for the dragons if I hadn't suggested it…but somehow, you got involved!" He stabbed a finger at Jamie who was edging toward Harry. "Think Neville Longbottom could have provided you with Gillyweed if I hadn't provided him the book that led him straight to it, huh?"
Mad Eye grabbed hold of Harry's collar of his shirt, shaking him.
"LET HIM GO!" Jamie shoved her wand into his neck. In a blur, Mad Eye had taken hold of her throat in his bare hands and shoved her up against the wall, squeezing her already bruised windpipe. He sent a spell to shove Harry back into his chair, holding him there.
"Go on—" Jamie choked out, eyes wide and rolling as her face turned blue. "Kill m-me, Mad Eye—"
"Jamie! Professor STOP!" Harry shouted.
"I put your name in the goblet of fire, boy, you won because of me, you ended up in that graveyard because it was meant to be so," his hands tightened on Jamie's throat. "This little brat has been the one thing threatening my plans all along! Always in the way! ONCE I GET RID OF HER ONCE AND FOR ALL, I CAN DEAL WITH YOU PROPERLY, POTTER," Mad Eye spat.
"BOMBARDA!" A voice roared as the door exploded into pieces, debris flying around the room as Dumbledore, Kingsley, Severus, and Professor McGonagall ran inside. Kingsley grabbed hold of Mad Eye and threw him to the floor with a jerk, one hand on his throat and his wand stabbing into his forehead with the other.
"Give me one reason not to end you right here for laying a hand on my daughter…" Kingsley growled.
"Your daughter," Mad Eye choked out laughter, his tongue flicking to the side of his lips like a serpent. "That little runt is a fraud and a mistake!"
Severus had pulled Jamie into his arms, smoothing her hair as she gasped for breath. McGonagall had moved to stand protectively in front of Harry.
"Severus," Dumbledore called, holding his hand as he bent over Kingsley and Mad Eye. Severus moved forward, dumping a vial of Veritaserum down his throat.
"Get away…" Mad Eye gagged as Kingsley subtly squeezed his throat, "…Professor Dumbledore…"
"Are you Alastor Moody?"
"—No—"
"Is he in this room?! Is he in this room!" Dumbledore shouted at him, grabbing hold of his shoulders and shaking him. The Mad Eye imposter pointed a finger toward a trunk. Kingsley kept hold of him as the three professors raced to it, unlocking it. Jamie staggered forward, as did Harry, to peer into the depths of the trunk.
A man could be seen laying in the bottom, an undetectable charm creating a prison inside of the trunks.
"You alright, Alastor?" Dumbledore called down to his old friend. The old men exchanged words of assurance as Jamie took a step back, her head light-headed, mind whirling.
"If that's Moody then who is—"
"Poly-juice potion, we know who's been stealing from your stores, Severus."
The imposter was grunting and groaning, body twitching, and they all watched horrified as his face began melting, the poly-juice potion wearing off. Kingsley let go of him, rising to his feet with his wand still drawn on him.
A younger man was left behind, Jamie peering down at him in confusion. He let on an anguished shout, lunging for her but Severus knocked him aside.
"Barty Crouch Jr.," Dumbledore announced, frown deepening. Jamie gasped, as did everyone else in the room. Barty Crouch Sr., had been found dead by the forest-line shortly after the second task, everyone had assumed he had had a heart attack.
"How did Cedric end up in the maze tonight," Jamie lifted her wand, striding forward, rage filling her body as Severus and Kingsley held out arms to hold her back.
"I told you, you little brat, I needed to find a way to get you out of my way," he spat at her. "Always in the way! Don't think you fooled everyone…always sneaking around hiding…I saw your romance and I thought what better way to punish you—"
"You imperiused him," Dumbledore's voice sent chills down her spine as she stopped breathing, waiting for the answer she already knew to be true.
"Diggory was supposed to kill her in the maze…he failed of course…it's not my fault, I mean who was I to know they would bring him with them to graveyard? Only Harry was meant to go there…his death is on her hands!"
It was all too much for Jamie and she turned away as Crouch Jr., babbled on about Voldemort returning and the rise of his power once again. Jamie spun on her heel, wrenching her arm from Dumbledore's hold as he tried to keep her in the room and took off, tearing across the castle, blinded by tears and rage as the others shouted for her to stop. She found herself half-stumbling down a staircase in the cold shelter of the dungeons.
Winding through the maze of tunnels, she found a set of steps leading down to a sub level and sank down on the bottom, letting sobs wrack through her body finally. Cedric was dead, Harry nearly killed…and Voldemort…Voldemort—
Memories of Cedric, their first kiss…his laugh, the day in the snow and in the Prefect bath. Cedric had been so much and more to her, and it dawned on her she had never had the chance to say…could never say it…
The last moments, his confusion, it mattered nothing to him when he stepped in front of her, wand drawn…he died trying to protect her…
And she would never be able to tell him. He was gone, just like Lily and James…he had slipped between her fingers just as they had, and she would never know him for what he could be.