Chapter Sixty-Six: The End of the Beginning
Over the next few days, Harry avoided the Great Hall as much as possible. Dumbledore had told the school to refrain from asking him questions, and for the most part, the students listened to that request. There were rumors, of course — there always were — but no more than that.
The whispers were only dispelled at the Leaving Feast. The Great Hall was covered in black drapes to mourn Cedric. Dumbledore rose to his feet.
"The end of another year," he said, looking around at the Hall. "There is much that I would like to say to you all tonight, but I must first acknowledge the loss of a very fine person, who should be sitting here," he gestured toward the Hufflepuffs, "enjoying our feast with us. I would like you all, please, to stand, and raise your glasses, to Cedric Diggory."
The entire Hall stood, raised their goblets, and said in one loud, low, rumbling voice, "Cedric Diggory."
Everyone sat back down again, and Dumbledore resumed, "Cedric was a person who exemplified many of the qualities that distinguish Hufflepuff House. He was a good and loyal friend, a hard worker, he valued fair play. His death has affected you all, whether you knew him well or not. I think that you have the right, therefore, to know exactly how it came about."
Daphne exchanged a glance with the others.
"Cedric Diggory was murdered by Lord Voldemort."
A wave of whispers, like leaves rustling in the wind, went through the Hall.
"The Ministry of Magic does not wish me to tell you this. It is possible that some of your parents will be horrified that I have done so, either because they will not believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, or because they think I should not tell you so, young as you are.
"It is my belief, however, that the truth is generally preferable to lies, and that any attempt to pretend that Cedric died as the result of an accident, or some sort of blunder of his own, is an insult to his memory."
Daphne looked around the Hall, which seemed to be mostly horrified. Her S.I.N. friends all looked grim, but unsurprised. Malfoy, however, was muttering something to Crabbe and Goyle.
"There is somebody else who must be mentioned in connection with Cedric's death. I am talking, of course, about Harry Potter."
Once again, some whispers went through the Hall, and people turned to look at him.
"Harry Potter managed to escape Lord Voldemort. He risked his own life to return Cedric's body to Hogwarts. He showed, in every respect, the sort of bravery that few wizards have ever shown in facing Lord Voldemort, and for this, I honor him."
Dumbledore turned gravely to Harry and raised his goblet again. Most of the Great Hall followed suit, including all of S.I.N.. Many other Slytherins, however, remained seated defiantly.
"The Triwizard Tournament's aim was to further and promote magical understanding. In the light of what has happened — of Voldemort's return — such ties are more important than ever before."
Dumbledore looked around the Hall again, sweeping his eyes over the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students.
"Every guest in this Hall will be welcomed back here at any time, should they wish to come. I say to you all, once again, in light of Voldemort's return, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.
"Lord Voldemort's gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.
"It is my belief — and never have I so hoped that I am mistaken — that we are all facing dark and difficult times. Some of you in this Hall have already suffered directly at the hands of Lord Voldemort. Many of your families have been torn asunder.
"A week ago, a student was taken from our midst. Remember Cedric. Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory."
At long last, the day of departure had come. After saying goodbye to Fleur and Krum, both of whom seemed to have taken a liking to Harry, they boarded the Hogwarts Express, and after finding a compartment to themselves — joined by Ginny — Harry finally told them everything that had happened on the night of the third task, explaining first how he had saved Cedric from Krum, and later defended him against an Acromantula when Cedric was about to reach the Cup.
Cedric, feeling noble, wanted to give Harry the Cup instead, and they'd compromised on taking it together. The Cup had turned out to be a Portkey, which transported them to the graveyard where Voldemort's father lay buried.
Wormtail had killed Cedric and then performed a ritual using the bones of Voldemort's father, his own right hand, and Harry's blood to resurrect Voldemort.
Then, intending to humiliate Harry, Voldemort had allowed him a chance to fight back. Harry and Voldemort's wands, however, shared cores, having been constructed with feathers from the same phoenix — Fawkes — and caused an effect called Priori Incantatem, which had forced Voldemort's wand to produce shadows of the last spells it had performed, summoning shades of the people he'd killed, including Cedric and Harry's parents.
Cedric had asked Harry to bring his body back to Hogwarts, and Harry had barely managed to escape while the shades distracted Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
Then, he began to explain how his name had been entered into the Goblet of Fire in the first place.
"Barty Crouch Jr never died. He was smuggled out of prison by his father, disguised as his mother. His mother took his place in his cell and died there, taking Polyjuice Potion until the end of her life. Crouch kept his son under the Imperius Curse, but over time he grew able to resist it, and he broke free during the Quidditch World Cup," Harry said.
His tone was a bit distant, but he seemed somehow relieved to be able to tell his friends what had happened at last.
"He was the one who sent up the Dark Mark, but he had an Invisibility Cloak. He was Stunned along with Winky, and Crouch put him back under the Imperius Curse."
"So how did Voldemort find him?" Daphne asked.
"Bertha Jorkins had discovered he was alive when she visited Crouch's home for work. She confronted him and he put a Memory Charm on her to make her forget, but it damaged her memory permanently," Harry said. "Wormtail overpowered her in Albania, where she was on holiday, and Voldemort extracted the information about Crouch and the Tournament out of her. They then visited Crouch to free Crouch Jr from his control and they put old Crouch under the Imperius Curse instead.
"Then, though, their plan had some problems. They intended to kidnap Moody and have Crouch Jr replace him at Hogwarts all year, but Sirius had told Moody about Wormtail's Animagus form and he managed to fight them off, though he didn't manage to identify Crouch Jr.
"So, Crouch Jr replaced his father instead. He used Polyjuice Potion and kept Crouch Sr Stunned, Imperiused, and most of the time Transfigured into a rat — inspired by Wormtail — so he could easily hide him and Transfigure him back into his normal form whenever he needed to extract hair for the Polyjuice Potion, or he needed specific information from his father."
"That's…inspired," Daphne had to admit.
"He'd have had a job doing it if he had to be at Hogwarts all the time, but since he spent a lot of time in his office at the Ministry, it was doable. Of course, since he had the same name as his father, the Marauder's Map never picked up it wasn't the same person, so all the times I saw him on it I didn't think anything of it.
"Then, he had to make sure I got through the Tournament, and that was tricky for him. Since he didn't have direct access to me like he would've had if he'd impersonated Moody, he had to work around it.
"He deliberately allowed Sirius to find out about the dragons being imported, hoping he would warn me. Failing that, he made sure that Hagrid knew about the dragons well in advance — easy, since Hagrid is the Magical Creatures teacher — and banked on him warning me about them.
"For the second task, he did something similar, discussing the merpeople with Amos Diggory — who of course works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures — knowing that he was eager to see Cedric beating me and thus making sure his son got the information. Cedric, who was very honest, then made sure I got the information as well to pay me back for the dragons. He again relied on Sirius to teach me the Bubble-Head Charm in time for the task.
"Lastly, there was the third task. He pulled rank on Moody to place the Cup in the maze, where he turned it into a Portkey, and then he inspected us for contraband…only that wasn't all he did. He placed Krum under the Imperius Curse, hiding his action in plain sight since he was using his wand to check us anyway.
"He picked Krum because he knew that Karkaroff, as a Death Eater, would want his students susceptible to it in case he ever needed to use it on them, and so wouldn't have trained them to resist it. He didn't know enough about Beauxbatons or Veela to risk going after Fleur, and he was aware that Moody had trained all the Hogwarts students to resist it.
"When he came to me, he did something different. He wouldn't be able to influence me once I was in the maze, so he used a very complex charm he called the Fortis Fortunatis Charm, which influences a person's decisions so they'll have the highest odds of success–"
"Like Felix Felicis!" Daphne said. "A potion also called 'liquid luck'. Valentina Barese told me about it at the Quidditch World Cup. Isaac's curse does the same, but in reverse."
Harry nodded. "Exactly. Since he knew I'd be trying to win, the charm he put on me would give me the best odds of success, so I encountered very few obstacles I couldn't deal with, and I did win, sort of. Though I think he did too well on the charm, because I got incredibly lucky when I faced Voldemort later. He might have saved my life trying to get me killed, ironically.
"Of course, when I returned, he was too eager to find out what happened and tried to take me away from Dumbledore, which is when Moody Stunned him. Then he was dragged to Moody's office, given Veritaserum, and told the entire story I just told you."
"So what happened to Crouch Sr? I thought I heard that he was dead? But if Crouch Jr used Polyjuice Potion, his father had to be alive, right?" Hermione asked.
Harry grimly shook his head. "He placed another curse on his father, one that would kill him unless Crouch Jr periodically cast a counter-curse on him. That way, if his father ever escaped, he wouldn't live long enough to tell anyone anything. By the time the interrogation was over, Crouch Sr was already dead."
"That's…very thorough of him," Daphne said.
In a weird way, she admired the lengths Crouch had gone to to ensure that his master returned to full power. And to pull that act off so well that no one had suspected him all year — apart from Moody, who suspected everyone — was even more impressive.
"Just as thorough as Fudge was in destroying the evidence," Harry said darkly.
"Fudge was never going to be the one to oppose You-Know-Who, though, was he?" Ginny asked. "That's Dumbledore, and Dumbledore knows what happened now. I'm sure he's making plans to deal with the situation right now…"
For a while, they discussed the plans that Dumbledore might be making, stopping only when the witch with the lunch trolley came by.
While they were still enjoying their food, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle entered.
"So, Potter, Dumbledore's favorite boy again, are you?" Malfoy asked, advancing into the compartment.
Daphne seriously wondered what he thought he was going to do.
"Trying not to think about it, are we? Trying to pretend it hasn't happened?" he went on with a smirk.
"Get out," Harry said.
By the tone in his voice Daphne knew it would get ugly really quickly and she prepared herself.
"You've picked the losing side, Potter! I warned you! I told you you ought to choose your company more carefully, remember? When we met on the train, first day at Hogwarts? I told you not to hang around with riffraff like this! Too late now, Potter! They'll be the first to go, now the Dark Lord's back! Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers first! Well, second, Diggory was the f–"
He didn't get to finish his sentence. Loud bangs and flashes of light filled the compartment as Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Daphne all fired hexes at Malfoy and his goons, and they hadn't even been the only ones.
Fred and George had come up from behind Malfoy and hexed him, Crabbe, and Goyle as well.
"Thought we'd see what those three were up to," Fred said matter-of-factly, stepping onto Goyle — who, like Malfoy and Crabbe, was unconscious — and into the compartment. He had his wand out, and so did George, who was careful to tread on Malfoy as he followed Fred inside.
"Interesting effect," George said, looking down at Crabbe. "Who used the Furnunculus Curse?"
"Me," Harry said. "Odd," George said lightly. "I used Jelly-Legs. Looks as though those two shouldn't be mixed. He seems to have sprouted little tentacles all over his face. Well, let's not leave them here, they don't add much to the décor."
Using only kicks of varying power, Ron, Harry, and George pushed Malfoy and his trolls into the corridor, then came back into the compartment and rolled the door shut.
"Exploding Snap, anyone?" Fred asked, pulling out a pack of cards. They played several games, and for just a while it felt like nothing was wrong, like this was just a normal year where nothing dangerous had happened.
As they got closer to London, though, she saw Harry's expression gradually darkening, and she decided it was time to spring her own surprise.
"I'm staying with you this summer," she said to Harry.
Harry blinked at her. "You what?" he asked.
"I'm staying with you," Daphne repeated. "After what happened to you, I don't want to leave you alone with those Muggles. I– I might not really be able to help you deal with…with what happened, but I am not leaving you alone."
"I don't think the Dursleys will let you," Harry pointed out.
"They will," Daphne said. "They might hate magic, but I'm sure they don't hate money. I asked Mum and Dad, and they said they'd take care of it. Your relatives are going to be paid handsomely for letting me stay with you. Usually works to get pureblood Noble Houses who dislike each other to get along, so I'm sure it'll work on Muggle supremacists as well."
"But if you're with me…you won't be able to use magic, or keep up with the wizarding world much, unless you think it's smart to use your Portkey every day…"
Daphne shook her head. "I won't be. I'll just be staying with you until we go over to Ron's place the second you've done your time. I mean…if you want me to, that is…" she finished hesitantly.
"Are you insane? Of course I want you to!" Harry said.
Daphne grinned at him, and when she saw how much less apprehensive Harry looked after that moment, she knew she'd made the right decision. Even though there currently wasn't much she could do, she'd at least be able to be there for Harry, and that was good enough for her.
This chapter and the previous one were originally one chapter, but I considered it too long and split it up. With this, we've reached the end of year four at long last.
Usual end of year notes: This year was hard. I was changing just enough of the canon that it got me in trouble while writing, while still staying close enough to it I could still rely on key moments. Next year things will be even more difficult, because I intend to give Caps Lock Harry fewer appearances than he did in canon…except that Caps Lock Harry is about three-quarters of the book. If he isn't as reckless and aggressive, many things will change, but again I want several key moments to still occur. It's going to be difficult for me, and while Order of the Phoenix might have been the longest book, it may not necessarily turn out to be the most chapters within this fic.
You may also have noticed, in the previous chapter, that two of Molly's big moments were taken by Daphne. I'll admit it, I don't like Molly Weasley much as a character. I know she loves her children and would literally kill for them (in canon, anyway…) but her character just fits the 'My Beloved Smother' trope too much for my liking. Consequently, her presence might be heavily downplayed. I know she fulfills the role of surrogate mother for Harry, and I'll try to be fair to her, but, well, I don't like her and this is my fanfic, so thematically accurate or not, her role will be diminished.
Year five will also be the year I'll begin building toward the triad, which should happen somewhere during the year, though obviously not near the very start.