Chapter 40

Tuesday, Harry was asked to stay behind after Transfiguration class. When he met up with us for lunch he told us why.

"Mr. Bagman is going to explain the third task to the champions. We have to go to the Quidditch Pitch tonight." Harry told us.

"It's so close to being over." I sighed.

My brain was starting to cotton ball a lot more but I couldn't see what I was supposed to. Morgan and Kassandra were dragging me to the courtroom every night just to ask what I had seen earlier that day or if anything else happened.

I didn't have anything to tell them usually.

Tuesday night, Harry had quite an adventure by himself.

I stayed in the common room with Ron and Hermione. I didn't want to be a mediator between Harry and Cassius.

But when Harry came back, he had a lot to say about Mr. Crouch being on the grounds.

"It comes down to this," Hermione was rubbing her forehead. "Either Mr. Crouch attacked Viktor, or somebody else attacked both of them when Viktor wasn't looking."

I had stood up and started to pace behind the couch.

I couldn't say anything about Moody since I didn't have proof, and everyone else liked him. And since he showed up after Harry and Dumbledore found Viktor, it didn't add up to accuse him of reaching Viktor first.

"It must've been Crouch," Ron said at once after Hermione. "That's why he was gone when Harry and Dumbledore got there. He'd done a runner."

"I don't think so," Harry shook his head. "He seemed really weak - I don't reckon he was up to Disapparating or anything."

"You can't Disapparate on the Hogwarts grounds, haven't I told you enough times?" Hermione said in exasperation.

"Okay, how's this for a theory," Ron said excitedly. "Krum attacked Crouch - no, wait for it - and then Stunned himself!"

"And Mr. Crouch evaporated, did he?" Hermione responded coldly.

"Oh, yeah…"

"What do you think, Cassie?" Harry turned to me.

I kept pacing until Ron and Hermione were also looking at me.

"I don't think we have enough information. Crouch wasn't making sense to Harry, he was talking to so many different people in his state of mind. He was talking to Percy about work, he was talking to his wife about their son. He said something about Bertha Jorkins, and about Voldemort.

I think Mr. Crouch was placed under a spell or two several times that caused his mind to get all muddled up the way it was. Somebody was keeping Mr. Crouch hostage and he managed to escape." I finally said.


At daybreak all four of us made our way to the owlery to send Sirius a note about what happened last night.

We stood out watching the grounds. our eyes were puffy and we were all pale from talking all night about the Crouch situation.

"Just go through it again, Harry." Hermione said while I yawned. "What did Mr. Crouch actually say?"

"I've told you, he wasn't making much sense," Harry sighed. "He said he wanted to warn Dumbledore about something. He definitely mentioned Bertha Jorkins, and he seemed to think she was dead. He kept saying stuff was his fault… He mentioned his son."

"Well, that was his fault." Hermione said testily.

"He was out of his mind," Harry reminded her. "Half the time he seemed to think his wife and son were alive, and he kept talking to Percy about work and giving him instructions."

"And… remind me what he said about You-Know-Who?" Ron asked tentatively.

"I've told you," Harry repeated dully.

He threw his arm over my shoulder and I stepped closer to him.

"He said he's getting stronger."

We stood in silence.

I couldn't tell them what I had seen last year.

I grabbed Harry's hand and gave it a squeeze. He squeezed my hand back at that.

"But he was out of mind, like you said, so half of it was probably just raving…" Ron said in a fake confident tone.

"He was sanest when he was trying to talk about Voldemort." Harry said.

Ron and Hermione both winced at the use of the name, but Harry and I didn't.

"He was having real trouble stringing two words together, but that was when he seemed to know where he was, and know what he wanted to do. He just kept saying he had to see Dumbledore."

Harry stared up into the rafters.

"If Snape hadn't held me up," Harry said bitterly, "we might've got there in time. 'The headmaster is busy, Potter… what's this rubbish, Potter?' Why couldn't he have just got out of the way?"

"Maybe he didn't want you to get there!" Ron said quickly. "Maybe - hang on - how fast d'you reckon he could've gotten down to the forest? D'you reckon he could've beaten you and Dumbledore there?"

"Not unless he can turn himself into a bat or something," Harry answered.

"Wouldn't put it past him," Ron muttered.

"We need to see Professor Moody," Hermione said. "We need to find out whether he found Mr. Crouch."

'If he didn't kill him on site.' I thought to myself bitterly.

"If he had the Marauder's Map on him, it would've been easy." Harry agreed.

"Unless Crouch was already outside the grounds," Ron said, "because it only shows up to the boundaries, doesn't -"

"Shhh!" Hermione said suddenly.

Somebody was climbing up the stairs.

"- that's blackmail, that is, we could get into a lot of trouble for that -"

"- we've tried being polite; it's time to play dirty, like him. He wouldn't like the Ministry of Magic, knowing what he did -"

"I'm telling you, if you put that in writing, it's blackmail!"

"Yeah, and you won't be complaining if we get a nice fat payoff, will you?"

The Owlery door banged open, Fred and George came in and froze at the sight of us.

"What are you doing here?" Ron and Fred asked together.

"Sending a letter," George and Harry answered.

"What, at this time?" Fred and Hermione asked.

I started to laugh as Fred grinned.

"Fine - we won't ask you what you're doing, if you don't ask us." Fred said.

Fred did a slight of hand trick and covered the name on the envelope.

"Well, don't let us hold you up," Fred said, making a mock bow and pointing at the door.

Ron didn't move.

"Who are you trying to blackmail?"

I slapped my hand to my forehead.

The grin vanished from both twin's faces.

"Don't be stupid, I was only joking." George tried to cover up.

"Didn't sound like it," Ron said.

Fred and George looked at each other.

"Ron, do you really want to know?" I asked my friend.

He paused at what I said but then continued on.

"Who are you trying to blackmail?" Ron repeated himself.

"I've told you before, Ron, keep your nose out if you like it the shape it is. Can't see why you would, but -"

"It's my business if you're blackmailing someone," Ron interrupted Fred. "George's right, you could end up in serious trouble for that."

"Told you, I was joking." George said, he looked over at me and I shook my head.

I couldn't help them out of this one.

"You're starting to sound a bit like our dear older brother, you are, Ron." George pulled out the letter from Fred's hands and attached it to an owl. "Carry on like this and you'll be made a prefect."

"No, I won't!" Ron said hotly.

George carried the owl to the window and let it go.

"Well, stop telling people what to do then. See you later."

George and Fred walked out of the Owlery together.

"You don't think they know something about all this, do you?" Hermione whispered to us. "About Crouch and everything?"

"No," Harry and I both said.

"They would tell Dumbledore if they knew anything about Crouch. They're occupied with something else." I finished.

Ron started to look uncomfortable.

"What's the matter?" Hermione asked him.

"Well…" Ron started off slowly. "I dunno if they would. They're… they're obsessed with making money lately. I noticed it when I was hanging around with them - when - you know -"

"We weren't talking," Harry filled in. "Yeah, but blackmail…"

"It's this joke shop idea they've got," Ron sighed. "I thought they were only saying it to annoy Mum, but they really mean it, they want to start one. They've only got a year left at Hogwarts, they keep going on about how it's time to think about their future, and Dad can't help them, and they need gold to get started."

Hermione started to look uncomfortable now.

"Yes, but… they wouldn't do anything against the law to get gold."

"Wouldn't they?" Ron asked, looking skeptical. "I dunno… they don't exactly mind breaking rules, do they?"

"With school rules, they get detention for punishments and points taken away. They know that there are real consequences out in the real world. Again, they are dealing with something completely different than our situation." I rubbed my eyes and let out a yawn at the end.

"I think Ron should tell Percy…" Hermione said.

"Are you mad?" Ron and I both turned to her.

"Tell Percy? He'd probably do a Crouch and turn them in!" Ron stared out the window.

"They're not delinquents!" I added. "If they knew anything, and I mean anything about Crouch they would not be sending a letter for blackmail money!"

"Do you know what they're doing?" Harry turned to me.

"I gave them a starter fund. They told me that Molly burnt what they had already started. I gave them money to get started again because they would be amazing at owning a joke shop! Instead of acting like a loon, you should support them!" I held my head high.

"Why would you give them a starter fund?!" Ron and Hermione both asked.

"Can you see them working at the Ministry!?" I asked them.

That got them to stop.

"George and Fred Weasley, Ministry workers?! Honestly! They would cause so much mischief sitting behind a desk wearing a suit and tie! They would be absolutely miserable! A joke shop is the perfect job for them and you both disgust me that you want them to be just like Percy!" I spat at them.

I walked out of the Owlery, my hair turning red from the anger.

Harry caught up with me and put my hand in his elbow.

"Let's get some breakfast, I'm hungry." He said.

I will always be grateful that Harry knew that sometimes the best thing to say, was nothing at all.


The rest of the day was spent in silence. Ron and Hermione couldn't come up with a comeback for me about the twins.

History of Magic went by a lot more slowly than usual. Hermione wasn't even paying attention to Binns.

At the end of class, we hurried to the Dark Arts classroom. Lucky for us, Moody was walking out of the room.

His left eye was drooping a little, looking as tired as we felt.

"Professor Moody?" Harry called out.

"Hello, Potter." Moody growled.

His magical eye followed a couple of first years who sped up when they noticed him looking.

"Come in here." Moody growled and gestured for us to go into the empty classroom.

"Did you find him?" Harry asked as soon as the door closed. "Mr. Crouch?"

"No," Moody sighed.

'You're lying.' I thought to myself.

I kept my eyes on Moody as he walked over to his chair. He sat down with his leg up and let out a long groan.

He pulled his hip flask out and took a drink out of it.

"Did you use the map?" Harry asked.

"Of course," Moody nodded. "Took a leaf out of your book, Potter. Summoned it from my office into the forest. He wasn't anywhere on there."

"So he did Disapparate?" Ron asked.

"You can't Disapparate on the grounds, Ron!" Hermione rolled her eyes. "There are other ways he could have disappeared, aren't there, Professor?"

Moody's magical eye quivered towards Hermione.

"You're another one who might think about a career as an Auror," he told her. "Mind works the right way, Granger."

I had to agree with Moody on that one. Hermione flushed pink with pleasure at his compliment.

"Well, he wasn't invisible." Harry said. "The map shows invisible people. He must've left the grounds, then."

"But under his own steam, or because someone made him?" Hermione asked eagerly.

"Yeah, someone could've - could've pulled him onto a broom and flown off with him, couldn't they?" Ron asked quickly, looking at Moody hopefully.

Ron also wanted to be told that he could be an Auror too.

"We can't rule out kidnap." Moody growled.

"So, d'you reckon he's somewhere in Hogsmeade?" Ron asked.

"Could be anywhere. Only thing we know for sure is that he's not here." Moody growled.

"Were you looking for Mr. Crouch, or a dead body?" I finally asked.

The silence in the room was loud.

Moody's eyes flashed at me and we locked eyes.

For a second, I thought he knew that I thought he wasn't the real Moody.

"Does the map show dead bodies?" Moody asked.

"I don't know." Harry asked.

"It shows ghosts, but if you're not seeing a ghost, or finding him on the grounds, he just may be dead. Who knows how long he was out there without food or water." I said.

"You are not in the best of moods today, are you?" Ron snapped at me.

"Zwart has a point. When you're looking for someone, and you don't know their condition, you don't know what you're looking for." Moody growled.

Suddenly he let out a wide yawn, breaking the tension.

"Now, Dumbledore's told me you four fancy yourselves as investigators, but there's nothing you can do for Crouch. The Ministry'll be looking for him now. Dumbledore's notified them. Potter, you just keep your mind on the third task."

"What? Oh yeah…" Harry said.

I forgot that Harry knew what the third task was.

"Should be right up your street, this one," Moody scratched his chin as he stared at Harry. "From what Dumbledore's said, you've managed to get through stuff like this plenty of times. Broke your way through a series of obstacles guarding the Philosopher's Stone in your first year, didn't you?"

"We helped," Ron said quickly. "Cassie, Hermione, and I helped."

"Well, help him practice for this one, and I'll be very surprised if he doesn't win," Moody said. "In the meantime… constant vigilance, Potter. Constant vigilance." Moody took another swig from his flask.

"You three," Moody turned his magical eye onto Ron, Hermione and myself. "You stick close to Potter, all right? I'm keeping an eye on things, but all the same… you can never have too many eyes out."

"You don't have to worry about Harry, I'm usually by his side." I pulled my sleeve up and showed Moody my black flames.

I saw something flash in his eyes but I didn't know what it could be.


I am really sorry that this one is late too! I meant to post this yesterday for Christmas but I forgot when I got home. Happy holidays you guys!

Shout out to Aywen for adding this story to your favorite and following list!

Shout out to Tod1002 for adding this story to your favorite and following list!