Part 1

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Percy Weasley grumbled to himself as he walked into the department of mysteries. He'd never been inside before, but he'd been near the entrance plenty of times. It was always guarded, but not tonight.

Something krept at the back of Percy's mind. He wasn't sure what, but an unguarded restricted section was never a good sign. Percy tried calming down, but the shelves lined with human organs weren't exactly helping.

He glanced back and forth for Harry, Sirius, or Dumbledore. There weren't any signs of them, but he did notice someone run into the isle next to him. There was a blur of ragged brown hair and dark clothing. Then they were gone.

Percy looked around the isle for the strange man, but they were already gone. He considered giving chase, but Harry was the priority at the moment.

Something didn't feel right; Percy picked up his pace. Then his body stopped moving. He fell to the ground, his body stuck in a running posture.

Someone came up behind him, and pain shot through Percy's head as a hair was pulled out. Barty Crouch Jr. walked past, putting the hair into a vile. Soon the young death eater morphed, turning into Percy. He punched Percy in the face. Crouch winced as a bruise formed on his face.

Then Crouch pulled Percy toward a shelf. He put a hair into the vile before forcing it down Percy's throat.

The taste made Percy want to gag but his throat wouldn't respond. Soon he felt his body changing, but he couldn't see himself or move to take a look.

Crouch leaned over Percy, a vicious smile on his face. He whispered in Percy's ear. "Well Crouch, looks like you'll be receiving the dementor's kiss."

Percy's eyes went wide as Crouch walked away into the darkness.

Soon Crouch came to a set of shelves with crystal balls on them. A few voices came from the hallway and Crouch saw several people on the ground in black robes. Crouch then came face to face with Alastor Moody, Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, Harry Potter, and a very bloody Sirius Black.

Harry and Lupin were carrying Sirius. Moody and Tonks both looked at Percy. Tonks just looked confused while Moody still had his guard up. "Percy Weasley? What are you doing here?"

"Was following a lead." Percy pointed at the crumpled heaps of people in what looked like death eater garb. "D-did I miss something?"

Moody snickered. "Oh you have no idea. Did you see Barty Crouch Jr. run by?"

Percy nodded. "Yeah. Managed to catch him when we fought. So Uh…" He pointed at the death eaters.

"Why don't you lead me to where Crouch is and I'll explain on the way." Moody turned to Tonks. "Can you handle things from here?"

Tonks gave a thumbs up and Crouch led Moody to where a very Crouch-like Percy lay. Percy tried to yell a warning to Moody, but his mouth wouldn't move. Moody crouched down, looking at Percy, then turned back to Crouch.

"How'd you catch him?" Moody asked. "Only Mcgonnagall's ever beaten him."

Crouch shrugged. "Honestly I don't know. I got lucky I gue-" Crouch fell down, his completely still.

Moody undid Percy's full body bind. Percy gasped as Moody looked him over. "You all right Weasley?"

"Yeah, thanks." Percy nodded. "How'd you know?"

Moody pointed at his eye. "Did a little fiddling." He smirked back at Crouch. "Use the same old tricks and someone will have a countermeasure." Moody's face grew solemn. "You're a great wizard Crouch. Too bad you only use your talents to cause so much pain."

"Where's Harry?" Percy asked.

"Potter's fine." Moody pointed down the hallway. "But maybe wait to see him until the poly juice wears off."

-

Part 2

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Cedric Diggory woke with the sunrise on Saturday. Breakfast wasn't for a few hours, so he'd have some time to meet with Professor Umbridge. He was usually the only one in the Hufflepuff common room at this hour on weekends.

Occasionally Timmy would be there returning from the kitchens. The third year always seemed to show up with food. Sometimes it was a second breakfast or brunch. Other times it was merienda or a midnight snack. How that kid stayed so skinny all the time was beyond Cedric, but he was grateful for the biscuits he found on one of the tables.

Cedric headed into the hallway and up a few flights of stairs. He entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts room and made his way to Professor Umbridge's office.

When he got to her door Cedric knocked. He'd sent a message to Umbridge about meeting with her now, but he still didn't want to barge in. An answer came from the office. "Come in."

Cedric opened the door and Umbridge smiled at him. "Ah, Mr. Diggory. Right on time. Please have a seat."

"Thank you." Cedric sat down.

"So what did you wish to speak to me about?" Umbridge asked.

"It's come to my attention that there was an incident in one of your classes." Cedric said. "I wanted to clarify some things as some students are concerned."

"Ah, of course." Umbridge tried to keep any malice or anger out of her voice. "Who spoke to you? Perhaps I can clear things up with them."

"They wished to remain anonymous. I just wanted to ask about your classes yesterday. Perhaps there was something you did unintentionally to offend someone. Were there any altercations between you and any students?"

Umbridge was silent for a moment, weighing her words. "Well…I did give a student detention for disrupting class. I was trying to start a lecture but he kept interrupting me."

"I see. Were there any similar instances in other classes?"

Umbridge shook her head. "Not that come to mind."

Cedric continued. "If I may ask. Who are the most difficult students to deal with?"

"Well, ones that disrupt class. But I suspect that will sort itself out."

Cedric couldn't help the feeling that Umbridge was dodging the question. "You mentioned a student interrupting you. Can you go into detail about that?"

"Well, classes are meant to be private. I don't wish to break my students' confidentiality." Umbridge said.

"Confidentiality? That implies something very serious happened. Have you spoken with the headmaster about the situation?"

Umbridge gawked. "The headmaster? It was a detention, not suspension or risk of expulsion."

Cedric nodded. "I understand, but classrooms are a public setting. The only way to guarantee events in such a place were confidential would be a fidelius charm. Is there any reason that you would be physically incapable of answering a question?"

"Uh no. Mr. Diggory, you're making quite a few assumptions." Umbridge raised an eyebrow.

"I'm merely trying to resolve the situation before it grows into anything more problematic. The students who came forward mentioned concerns with your treatment of Harry Potter."

After the meeting Cedric had more questions than answers, but he could tell Umbridge wouldn't tell him any more.

He'd just have to ask Harry at breakfast. The dining room was roaring with noise, even more than usual. Cho and Max met him at the door when he entered. Max wore shirt readin All hail the giant squid.

"Cedric!" Cho pulled him over. "You'll never believe what happened." She showed him the front page of the daily prophet.

Cedric's eyes went wide when he saw a picture of Harry Potter. His face was cut up, but nowhere near as bad as Sirius Black. The title read Mad Eye catches Crouch.

Cedric raised an eyebrow looking closer at the newspaper. The image transitioned between a picture of Harry and Sirius and one of Mad Eye Moody escorting a surprisingly calm Crouch through the ministry. Crouch's wrists were bound and his mouth was gagged.

Cedric read the story getting more and more worked up. Apparently Barty Crouch Jr. had been impersonating Sirius Black for the last few months and had tried to kill Harry.

Harry and Sirius were recovering at St. Mungo's Hospital. There were also mentions of Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, and Professor Weasley. Crouch had been only one of 6 death eaters captured. One of the death eaters, , was someone who Cedric knew to be locked up in Azkaban.

Other articles in the news mentioned escapes from Azkaban and an attack on Professor Mcgonnagall. There were also reports of Dumbledore saving both Harry and Mcgonnagall.

Cedric kept reading. Harry Potter was ambushed in the department of mysteries where he claims he fought He Who Must Not be Named. Potter was rescued by Albus Dumbledore who along with a few other witches and wizards defeated the death eaters responsible. While Potter and Dumbledore both claim to have seen Lord Voldemort, the ministry believes this was merely a ploy by Gellert Grindelwald to spread fear. Grindelwald is well known for his cunning and trickery. It is also believed that he was behind the attack on Minerva Mcgonnagall, who was also rescued by Albus Dumbledore.

Cedric headed over to Ron and Hermione who were sitting at the Gryffindor table. Several students were asking questions, but the two didn't seem to have any answers.

They both looked at Cedric when he got there, but before they had a chance to speak Percy Weasley was at the table ushering them out of the main hall. Percy was about to stop Cedric from following, but Ron motioned for Cedric to come.

Percy led the 3 students to the Transfiguration classroom and offered some seats. "Harry should be back by this afternoon or tomorrow. They just wanted to check for any curses cast on him."

Ron nodded. "That answers a few questions. But what the fuck happened last night!?"

"Uh, well…I-don't know. I mean, I know Harry got attacked by Crouch who's been impersonating Sirius for I don't even know how long. Moody took down Crouch, I was almost kissed by a dementor, Sirius is in the hospital, there are issues and an investigation at Azkaban, and Voldemort might be back."

Cedric raised an eyebrow. "First Harry, now you. Seems like the dementors are attacking a lot of people they shouldn't."

Percy shook his head. "No, Crouch used a poly juice potion on me after a full body bind curse. Made himself look like me, but Moody figured it out."

"So is Crouch…you know?" Ron slid his finger on his throat.

"Azkaban. Apparently there's an underground cell for him and the other death eaters. The Ministry is trying to figure out what to do with them."

"Since they already escaped." Cedric said

Percy nodded. "Unfortunately that's all I'm allowed to tell you right now. Classified and all that. Harry, on the other hand, can probably tell you whatever he wants."

-

Part 3

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Harry woke up with a massive headache. The bleached white walls around him were lined with paintings of different styles and colors. There were knights fighting dragons, planes flying over the ocean, a quidditch match, and a meeting in stonehenge.

Several beds were lined up next to him with nurses and doctors coming by every now and then. The last night had been full of testing with medics worried about curses cast on him. He tried explaining that he was fine, but a doctor freaked out when Harry told him about getting hit by the cruciatus and imperious curses.

Medics were also trying to treat the scar on his stomach, but that wasn't going anywhere. Why they kept insisting on removing it was beyond Harry, but at least he'd eventually convinced them to stop.

Harry's first instinct this morning was to visit Sirius. What he found when he got to his godfather's room made him really concerned. Most of Sirius's wounds had been healed, but he was struggling with a pretty serious blood curse. It was slowly draining his body of blood and medics had to keep replacing it. Sirius wasn't in any real danger, but Harry could tell the process was really painful by his facial expressions.

The worst part was the doctors didn't seem to be making any progress, so Sirius could be in the hospital for a long time. On top of that, the last night had left its mark.

Crouch had replaced both Moody and Sirius for several months. There was no telling who else had been replaced. Every time any of the medical staff came he was afraid they might be a death eater. The Marauders Map could prove who everyone was, but even then he had some doubts.

Harry spent the rest of the day with probably Sirius. Harry hated not completely opening up when talking to Sirius, but he couldn't bring himself to trust his eyes.

He was released and sent back to Hogwarts in the afternoon. Ron and Hermione were waiting in the common room for him.

"Harry! How are you doing mate?" Ron said.

"I'm fine. But Sirius will be in the hospital for a while."

"How's he doing?" Hermione asked.

"He's fine. But his blood curse hasn't gotten any better. They have to replace his blood every few hours." Hermione and Ron both winced as Harry headed to the boys dormitory.

"Hey, where are you going?" Hermione said.

"I need to check something. I'll be right back." Harry said. He climbed the stairs, and headed to his trunk. When he looked at the Marauders Map, he didn't see anyone that shouldn't be there. Hermione and Ron were there, as well as a few other Gryffindors. "Mischief Managed." Harry said, putting the map away.

He headed down the stairs back into the common room. "Sorry about that."

Ron and Hermione glanced at each other, then Ron shrugged. "No worries. Heard last night was bonkers."

Harry nodded. "Yeah." He sat down on a couch. "I'm guessing you guys have some questions. So, ask away."