The Time Travel Crew
Chapter 21: Minerva, Filius and Pomona see it all
Minerva couldn't deny it. She was worried. And so were all the other member of the crew, though they would never show it. It was sheer force of will to keep her occlumency shields on that got her through the rest of the month... That got her through her meetings with Dumbledore without him realising that something was off.
But they had been prepared for this, hadn't they. Oh, why did Quirrel and Voldemort decide to act so abruptly? What had gone wrong?
The answer was, everything. They had changed the entire future, the entire order of events of the Wizarding World...But that was what they had intended to do from the beginning... What they had not anticipated was the survival of Lily Potter... leading to the immediate declaration of Sirius Black's innocence... leading to the capture and arrest of Peter Pettigrew... leading to the exposure to his animagus ability...
What of these events resulted in Barty Crouch Junior suddenly overcoming his father's imperius? Crouch Junior... He was one of the culprits that started the second Wizarding War in the previous time... All because he got the freedom, that tiny bit of freedom in the Quidditch stadium thanks to that compassionate house-elf.
No, it was the fault of Bertha Jorkin's curiosity, her utter stupidity... Or may be the fact that stupid Peter Pettigrew was caught in the open by nosy Bertha Jorkins...
Wait.
Minerva sat up straight in her chair, the sudden movement almost letting her hand hit the inkpot over the fourth year students' essays that she had assigned them in preparation for the coming examinations. The compassionate elf! That was it! That had to be it.
Minerva dropped her quill back into the inkpot and got up and moved to her window where she could think more clearly. It was rather difficult to think clearly given that the grounds were filled with dementors and cats and - for the life of her, Minerva could never understand their significance in solving the dilemma of a missing rat - dogs. Well, a Minister of Magic who was on the verge of being forced to resign thanks to Lucius Malfoy, would think of everything regardless their consequences in order to improve the public's opinion of him.
The consequences being the accidents and madness caused when a cat and dog were let lose in the same place. It was a nuisance... The ruckus distracted both the students and the teachers from their daily routine... But now, Minerva pulled her concentration from the noisy acrobatics down below and focussed on the matter at hand.
Winky was overlooked by them... She had always been fond of the younger Crouch... More was her fondness for Junior than her loyalty towards Senior... Could it be... Could it be that Winky probably sometimes if not all the time shielded Junior from Senior's imperiuses?
Had it happened the previous time? But why did Junior not confess to it in the previous time? Did she keep the news away from him as well as his father? Wouldn't she have to punish herself?
If Minerva's bizarre assumption was true - would it have been possible, if in the previous time it was Pettigrew who was arrested and not Black, that during the times when Winky shielded Junior from the imperius the young menace had enough time to decide his plan and take action at the right moment?
Minerva needed to voice her opinion so she shut her window and flooed to the dungeons. How the founders of Hogwarts managed to have a nonstop ventilation for the chimney system of this cold place was a mystery. Harry would have simply shrugged his shoulders and said 'Magic'. But Minerva was not going to be distracted... She had come for a purpose...
She got out at the right grate and winked twice at a startled Severus and put up a couple of their secrecy charms.
"What's wrong?" was all he said.
"I have a lead in the Crouch's case, or at least I think I do... go ahead and meet me at Filius's quarters after dinner. I'll inform him and Pomona, if you will send a coded letter to one of the boys..."
Minerva didn't wait for Severus to respond. She turned stepped into the grate and flood to Pomona's office leaving Severus to remove the charms if he desired. After leaving Pomona - whose turn it was to watch Crouch Junior and the rat - baffled, she met with Filius and then seeing that she had a couple of hours left for dinner, after a brief explanation, she dragged the tiny wizard, making sure they were both invisible, towards the gates of Hogwarts amidst the pandemonium on the grounds.
A patronus kept away the dementors and then they disapperated to a shrubbery almost a kilometer away from the Crouch residence.
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Filius would spend the next few days wondering why he hadn't thought of Winky and he was supposed to be the head of Rawenclaw house.
Now as they made their way to the Crouch home, Filius could only hope they didn't come face to face with a rat who missed his toe. Invisible or not, meeting up with him would definitely change any plans he and Crouch made.
They entered the house and found Winky trimming a few bushes in the garden, for, the Crouches lived amongst Muggles and knowing what Crouch Senior's attitude was, Filius wad sure he was trying to keep up with their standards if not surpass them.
Without wasting anytime, Minerva imperiused the elf while Filius cast the handy silencing charm around them.
"Tell us Winky," Minerva said in the same high-pitched voice she had used while addressing the goblin at Gringotts. "Have you ever interfered with your master's administration of the imperius curse on his son?"
"Winky did so." sqeaked Winky.
"When did you do it?"
"Once every fourteen days."
"Are you going to ask her the reason?" Filius asked to Minerva in a quiet whisper.
"It's of no use." Minerva murmured back to him before asking the elf, "Does your Master or his son no of your doings?"
"They do not know of Winky's doings." the elf squeaked.
"Might as well do a good job of it, now that we're here." Minerva murmured to Filius and he rolled his eyes.
"Why did you do it?"
"Winky was obeying Winky's Mistress's orders."
That was not an answer Filius was prepared for and one look at Minerva confirmed that she too hadn't anticipated it.
"What orders?"
"Before Mistress Crouch switched places with Young Master Crouch, Mistress Crouch told Winky that no matter how badly Master Crouch treated young Master Crouch, Winky needed to make young Master Crouch's life as happy as Winky could without Master Crouch's or young Master Crouch's knowledge, so Winky would not get punished."
"That explains a lot." Filius murmured.
With a weary sigh, Minerva ordered the elf to forget about their interrogation and Filius and she left the premises, walked for another kilometer and disapperated to Hogsmead, his mind working at a pace he hadn't thought was possible.
They had their dinner and headed for Filius's quarters, set up the usual wards and waited for the other members to join them.
"Who would have thought of it?" Minerva said faintly.
"You did." Filius said amused.
"No, I didn't." Minerva said, shaking her head. "I would have never guessed that that Junior's mother had such an influence on the elf."
"Why do you say that?"
"I thought an elf would give preference to the member of the family whom he has served the longest... Mother Crouch married into the Crouch family years after Winky began serving Barty Crouch and Junior came into the picture after that. So why do Mother Crouch's orders still stay strong?"
"There are exceptions among house-elves too, you know." Filius said patiently. "Take Dobby for example. Winky must have formed a stronger bond with the Mother for all we know... And Mother Crouch basically gave Winky the permission she needed to disobey Crouch... Would you like to go back and question the elf again?"
Minerva shook her head, "No. It isn't that important."
"What isn't that important?" said Harry's voice as he poked his head in the room and greeted them with two winks.
"Yeah?" said Draco entering after Harry followed by Justin and Neville. "I thought the letter Severus sent to us was mighty important."
Minerva rubbed her temples.
"It is, boys. Come in and sit. I'd prefer to explain it all when Severus and Pomona get here."
And as if on cue, Severus entered the quarters.
"What's happened?" he said as he gave them the signature winks.
"I'll tell you all when Pomona gets here. Come take a seat."
Severus moved to shut the door, but it was pushed open by Pomona who rushed in, excitement written all over her face. In her hands were the two small circular mirrors and from Filius's angle, they seemed to feature the same background.
Pettigrew had finally arrived at the Crouch residence!
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Pomona couldn't keep the excitement out of her system.
There she was, watching over Crouch Junior going through his daily routine and the rat making his way to his destination, but the moment she realized that Pettigrew had entered the Crouch Garden, she disillusioned herself, making herself visible to the members of the crew alone, grabbed the mirrors and made a beeline to Filius's quarters.
Minerva had called her there for an urgent matter, but Pomona was almost certain that no matter would be as important as this.
She hardly realized that she almost squeezed Severus between the door, she banged open and the wall behind as she rushed in.
"Ah, your here." Minerva began, but Pomona interrupted her.
"There's no time for that. Look!"
She held out the two mirrors and judging by Filius's expression and posture, he was already on track with the situation. Nonetheless Pomona said, "Pettigrew has reached the Crouch residence."
That was all that was needed, for the next second, everyone had straightened up. Even Severus stopped tending to his nose and sat down.
Filius enlarged one of the mirrors and set it on the floor and together they watched as the rat waited for the perfect time to approach Crouch.
Two minutes later the rat hadn't moved so Filius stood up, grabbed the smaller of the mirrors and stated:
"I'm going over to the Lovegoods and I make it in time, Luna and I will witness it all."
And then he rushed out of his quarters, leaving the others to watch the event through the enlarged mirror.
Ten minutes passed...then another...and ten minutes more, but the rat didn't leave it's hiding place... an hour passed and the boys began to fidget around nervously and Pomona began to feel like a fool... Of course, even if the rat did meet with Junior, the latter would be under his father's imperius, unable to communicate with Pettigrew in anyway.
She was about to tell them to forget it carry on with their own work when a window on the first floor opened and a rope was slid out onto the ground.
Almost brimming with excitement, the crew watched the rat hurry across the garden and sink his teeth into the rope. Slowly Pettigrew was lifted off the ground as the rope was pulled back up the window... Up and up it went until the rat reached windowsill from where he let go of the rope and leapt down on a nearby table... He jumped to the floor and transformed soon after into a thin undernourished man, whose left index finger was replaced by a thick ugly scab, and turned to look up unto the face of Barty Crouch Junior.
"You took your time." came the latter's greeting.
"If you wanted me to arrive earlier, you should have left me a map that lead to this darned house or even better a wand."
"You should be grateful I got you out of there." Crouch snarled. "And exactly where would you have put those things had I given them to you?"
Pettigrew scowled, an ugly scowl... He seemed to have changed completely from what he was in the previous time, though his face was still rat like, and his voice was rather squeaky and rat like. Azkaban had affected him, but Pomona hoped he wasn't as dangerous as Azkaban affected Bellatrix of the previous time.
"How come you escaped?" he said, changing the subject. "Everyone thought you were too cowardly to wait for the Dark Lord to return and so chose the path of death."
It was Crouch's turn to scowl.
"That was my mother's doing."
"Would you care to elaborate?"
Crouch glared at him and sat in his bed, leaving the table top or the floor to Pettigrew due to the absence of a chair. Pettigrew hoisted himself onto the table
"My mother was dying and her last wish to my father was to place her in Azkaban with a huge stash of Polyjuice potion and take me home in her stead. I'm not going to waste time in elaboration, but my then sickly condition fooled the dementors the day my parents arrived to do their deed under the pretext of visiting me before I died.
"My mother consumed Polyjuice until she died in my place while our house-elf nursed me back to health. My mother was buried by the dementors while the man I'm forced to call my father sealed an empty coffin and had a burial ceremony for her in the nearby cemetery.
"Once I was well enough, I wanted to head out in search of my Lord and that was when my father began tying me up to the bed. I voiced my opinion of his actions rather loudly and that was the last straw for him. He used the imperius on me and uses it till this day."
Pettigrew jumped out of his seat, alarm written all over his face.
"He's ordered you to do this!"
"No."
"Why are we not speaking in a more secluded place then?"
"Because, both my father and our elf have left the house on my command."
"Explain!" Pettigrew demanded.
"I believe I am a rather accomplished wizard, for the Dark Lord would never have let me join his ranks."
"I will need more convincing than that." Pettigrew snarled. "You, at the moment seem to be nothing more than an idiot whose only talent is to boast."
"I will not stay still and take in comments of a rodent." Crouch said coldly.
"I believe I know how to find the Dark Lord." Came the rat's shrewd reply.
"How?" Crouch said eagerly.
"I'll tell you after you give me the full explanation."
"About what?" Crouch growled with frustration.
"Let's start with where are your father and elf?"
"To the cemetery to visit my mother."
"How did you get them to leave?"
"I imperiused them."
"Without a wand?" Pettigrew said incredulously.
Crouch looked rather smug. "Uh uh. I did say I was accomplished."
"Are you under the imperius?"
"No."
"Where's the proof?"
Crouch bit out a swear word and pulled out a vial of -
"Veritaserum." Severus told the other members of the crew just before Crouch opened his mouth.
"Have you heard of Veritaserum?"
"Yes." Pettigrew said.
"I shall put three drops into my mouth and state that I am not under the imperius."
Pettigrew raised his mutilated hand.
"Let's save that part for later. But don't think for a minute that I believe you. All I want is to get over with this before your father and elf return from their little trip. Why are you not under the imperius now?"
"So you believe me?"
"Not in the least. Answer my question."
"It was my elf's doing."
"What do you mean?" Pettigrew snapped.
"Apparently, my mother instructed my elf that no matter what my father would do to me, she was to make my life easier."
"Oh?" Pettigrew said in a disbelieving tone.
"Winky told me once or probably everytime she shields me from the imperius. She obliviates me after she does that."
"And how do you know of the reason if you're robbed off those memories?" Pettigrew said rather exasperated at the way the conversation was going.
"Because, I wandlessly shielded myself from her obliviate, probably a week before I sent you those shrinking and growing potions. And from that moment on, I've been shielding myself from both, my father's and Winky's magic and they have absolutely no idea."
"You thought of all this within a week?"
"I didn't seem to have anything else to do then, did I?"
They sat in silence for a while.
Then, Crouch said, "Shall I take the Veritaserum now?"
Pettigrew looked torn.
"When will your father and his elf return?"
"They will be heading to the Ministry after this. I directed my father to get Winky to give his office a good clean and he is going to supervise, so they shouldn't be back in another thirty minutes."
"Now at night?" Pettigrew said incredulously.
"Uh huh. My father isn't in the habit of showing off his routine life to the public so to say... They usually clean out his office around this time."
"Okay." the rat said albeit a little reluctantly. "How do you know that that's Veritaserum? For all you know, it could be water."
Crouch scowled and handed the vial to the rat.
Pettigrew took the bottle and sniffed the contents.
Crouch bit out another swear word. "Gah! Why would my father imperius me to help you escape Azkaban? Isn't his reputation enough for you to know what kind of a man he is? It's true you didn't get a trial, but do you know what he did for me when he gave me one?... Nothing!"
Pettigrew sighed and said, "You know what, I'll take your word for it. Put this away... From where did you get it?"
"From my father's stores." Crouch said sharply as he took back the vial, corked it and dropped it back into his pocket.
Then he sat up straighter. "Alright, where's the Dark Lord?"
"The exact location I do not know."
"You traitorous rat! You played me for a fool!" Crouch half-bellowed, his expression that of rage.
"What makes you think I fooled you?" Pettigrew said calmly.
"You told you you knew where the Dark Lord was!"
Pettigrew scoffed.
"I did not! I told you I know how to find him."
Crouch didn't look quite happy.
"Well, how are we going to find him?"
Pettigrew smiled, "By following his trail."
"What trail?"
"Rats."
"What!?"
"Rats. They told me on their way here that there was a particular place, they seemed to afraid to get to. They felt the place was too dangerous for anyone to be around and, if I follow the trail through the sewers, I am most certain, I will head straight to our Lord."
"And what am I going to do?"
"You are going to try and subdue your beloved father and wonderful elf as much as you can without arousing suspicion. I don't know how long I'll take, but once I find the Dark Lord, I shall try and tell him about you. Let him decide the plans from then on."
Crouch nodded rather reluctantly. "Oh well, since we're on the same side, we will have to trust each other."
Without a parting word, the rat left, climbing down the window with the help of the same rope he climbed up with and he made his way across the garden, leaving his viewers in a stunned silence.
To be continued...