Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, I am writing this fanfiction for my own amusement and make no profit, all recognizable characters in this story are the property of J.K Rowling, Scholastic, Warner Brothers, etc.
Great Hall, Hogwarts, 11/24/1997, 15:48
Harry sat at the Hufflepuff table feeling rather subdued, what had happened to Krum today had really opened his eyes to how dangerous the Tri-Wizard tournament was.
The entire Durmstrang contingent had boarded their ship and left before the students had even returned from the dragon arena.
The exciting atmosphere that had overtaken the great hall just a few hours earlier was completely gone now. Many at Hogwarts were upset about Viktor's death but none more so than Hermione Granger. Harry glanced over to the Gryffindor table and saw the girl crying into will's shoulder while he rubbed her back trying to soothe her.
"You did good today mate," Cedric said cutting into his observations.
"Thanks, I hoped plan B would work because I didn't have a plan C," Harry admitted with a weak chuckle.
"What spell did you use, all I could see was a bunch of flashing lights and fog," Cedric admitted.
"Simple switching spell," Harry shrugged.
"So the fog and the bangs were just you putting on a show?" Cedric asked.
"Exactly, if I had just switched the egg it would have been a huge letdown for the crowd," Harry smirked.
"It probably would have negatively affected your score as well," Cedric agreed.
"Pretty much, they wanted a spectacle," Harry agreed.
"Clearly, otherwise they wouldn't have used fucking dragons," Cedric snorted.
"Yeah, my mother should be tearing the tournament officials a new orifice at this very moment," Harry chuckled gleefully.
"It was insane what happened to Krum," Cedric said quietly.
"Yeah it was, I steered my brother away from using that same technique but even I didn't expect what happened to Viktor," Harry admitted still finding it hard to believe that someone had been killed.
"What your brother did was just as insane," Cedric rebutted.
"True, flying a flammable wood stick around the head of the most dangerous dragon known to wizardkind was completely mental," Harry agreed.
"Can you imagine what would have happened if she had broken her chain?" Cedric shuddered.
"It would probably look like something out of a bad movie based on a good book. There would be an epic chase around the castle and just when Will thought he had outrun it, the dragon would pop out of nowhere and unseat him from his broom knocking him onto one of the towers, of course, his broom would land just out of his reach."
"The dragon would land above him and crawl down the roof towards him while Will would desperately try to get to his broom. At the last second, Will would grab his broom but at the same time the ledge he was standing on would crumble sending him into a freefall which Will would pull up from at the last second."
" The chase would commence again with Will narrowly dodging bursts of flame igniting the tail of his broom before Will managed to fly through the supports of a conveniently placed bridge causing the dragon to crash and tumble into the ravine below".
"Will would then fly into the stadium with the tail of his broom smoking and wobbling to cheers and applause and...
"Alright I get it, it would become something utterly ridiculous," Cedric said cutting off Harry's endless speculation.
"Exactly, what did you think of Delacour's task?" Harry said glancing over his friend's shoulder.
"It was great, she has the voice of an angel. Too bad more of her skirt didn't burn off though," Cedric said wistfully.
"British pig, ze flame would 'ave burned me as well," Fleur snapped from just behind Cedric.
Harry grinned at the look of embarrassment on Cedric's face before turning to Fleur," I was very impressed with your approach to subduing the dragon, was that an enchantment?" Harry asked seriously.
"Oui, zat was a spell my grandmere taught me, it is an old veela spell," Fleur said proudly as she took a seat next to a still blushing Cedric.
"We were just discussing the other champions' tasks as you may have noticed," Harry said as he smirked at Cedric.
"Cedric turned to Fleur and sputtered," I am s-sorry for my remarks, Ms Delacour."
"Non, you are sorry I 'eard zem but I forgive you. You are a teenage boy after all," Fleur said magnanimously.
"Can you believe what happened to Viktor?" Harry asked Fleur, bringing her mood down considerably.
"Non, zey promised us ze tasks would be safer in zis tournament, my papa is on ze warpath 'e was in ze stands and saw what 'appened to Viktor," Fleur admitted sounding rather upset.
"My mum is too, it didn't help that Will went after Viktor," Harry said darkly.
"So she was zere to cheer her Snuggly Bear, zen?" Fleur asked in an attempt to elevate the mood once more.
"Yes, though at the moment she is having a chat with the tournament officials," Harry chuckled.
Before anyone could say anything else Harry felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see his brother standing behind him.
"What's up, Will?" Harry asked noting his brother's sombre expression
"Can we have a word... in private?" Will asked.
"Yeah alright," Harry said before turning to Cedric and Fleur, " I'll catch you two later. Congratulations on the task Delacour, Cedric try and keep your foot out of your mouth, eh?"
Harry got up and followed Will to the classroom they had met at a few days ago and shut the door behind them before putting up a few simple privacy charms.
"Alright mate what's up?" Harry asked taking a seat on one of the desks shoved against the wall.
"I wanted to apologise for being an ass the other day, I should have done what you told me," Will said quietly.
"Probably so, but you never had much sense of self-preservation. Don't worry about it," Harry shrugged.
"From what I heard you did really well in your task," Will said.
"I did, while you're here, I've got to ask... What the fuck were you thinking flying a broomstick around a dragon!?" Harry demanded his voice starting out calm before getting quite loud.
"It was the only thing that I could think of, though it wasn't exactly my idea," Will admitted as he took a seat on the teacher's desk.
"Who would suggest you fly a broom to evade a fuckng dragon?" Harry asked tiredly.
"Moody, he pulled me aside and gave me a hint to summon my broom to get past my dragon," Will shrugged.
"You are lucky to be alive but I have to admit you did... okay," Harry smirked, secretly making a mental note to look into Moody when he got the chance.
"Piss off! I did amazing! If Karkoroff hadn't left I would have tied with you," Will retorted hotly.
"Yeah, but we'll never know," Harry grinned at how easy he could get under Will's skin.
"Whatever, I had something else to talk to you about anyway," Will said somewhat irritably, he had always been overly competitive.
Harry looked at his brother for a moment, he was about four inches shorter than him. William had the classic Potter hair though his was a deep auburn like their mothers. Neither one of them wore glasses any more thanks to a potion that their mother had brewed for them on their seventh birthdays. Will favoured James Potter more in the face than him, he had a longer nose and James' hazel eyes, and his cheekbones were more pronounced than Harry's. Still, there was no mistaking the familial resemblance between the two brothers. Harry hadn't paid much to how much his brother had grown in the last few years but looking at him now he realised that he wasn't a snot-nosed kid anymore.
Harry shook himself from his thoughts noticing will waiting anxiously.
"Alright little brother what's up?" Harry asked, already knowing from his brother's nervous demeanor that he wouldn't like whatever Will was about to ask of hm.
"I just found out that Hermione was supposed to be going to the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum," Will said somewhat sadly.
"Really? Isn't she like fourteen?" Harry asked a bit surprised by this revelation.
"She's fifteen, her birthday is after the cutoff date," Will explained with a shrug.
"Gotcha, how is she handling this?" Harry asked remembering her crying on Will earlier.
"She's devastated, she was really looking forward to the ball," Will said sadly.
"So why don't you take her?" Harry suggested thinking this was the obvious solution.
"I don't like Hermione like that, when we kissed at that party after the selection it felt so wrong like kissing my sister or something," Will admitted looking Harry in the eye to convey his seriousness.
'So just go as friends" Harry shrugged not seeing the problem.
"I can't, when Crouch told us about the Yule Ball I asked someone out the next day," Will admitted looking uncomfortable.
"What poor girl did you ask out?" Harry asked in amusement.
"Susan Bones," Will admitted his face heating up.
"Oh brother, you're really putting me in a difficult place here," Harry sighed tiredly.
"I'm sorry, but how does everything I do become about you?" Will exclaimed in annoyance
"Because you are escorting one of my housemates, one of my housemates who has a very overprotective wand happy aunt. I will only say this once, you had better treat her respectfully or else," Harry said in a deadly serious tone.
"I will," William said taken aback by his brother's change in attitude.
"Good, when she comes back from the ball, she had better be smiling. You will be polite, ask her to dance, and see to her every need like a proper gentleman," Harry continued staring at his brother.
"Alright I will, jeez you're acting like she's your sister or something," Will muttered looking a little intimidated.
"She is a Hufflepuff and we look out for our own. I will not have my snot-nosed little brother disrespecting one of my housemates," Harry shrugged.
"Alright, I promise to treat her like a queen, happy?" Will asked impatiently.
"I'm not unhappy," Harry smirked
"Now back to what I was saying about Hermione," Will said looking like he deeply regretted telling Harry who his date was.
"What about her?" Harry sighed.
"You know she's had a crush on you for a while," Will said leadingly.
"Where are you going with this, Will?" Harry asked already having a good idea.
"Would you please ask her to be your date to the ball?" William pleaded.
"What, you know she's too young for me," Harry protested.
"I'm not asking you to shag her, Harry! Just ask her to the ball, and do all that stuff you just demanded I do with Bones and then escort her back to the common room," Will clarified.
"What about that Weasley boy?" Harry asked not real keen on the idea if he was honest with himself.
"That would be a disaster, Ron is my best mate but he is utterly clueless with girls. I am hoping if you ask her to the ball it might help take her mind off of what happened to Krum," Will implored.
"You know this could cause a whole new set of problems?" Harry pointed out.
"It won't, as long as you don't do something stupid," Will assured him.
"I'll think about it," Harry said noncommittally.
"That's all I ask," Will said looking relieved.
"Alright, I think the food will be served soon so I'm out of here," Harry said hoping off of the desk.
"Yeah right, just ask her soon before she gets stuck going with Ron," Will said as he followed Harry out of the room.
"I said I'll think about it," Harry said as they entered the hall and went towards their separate tables.
"What was that all about?" Cedric asked when Harry had taken his seat.
"He wants me to ask Granger to the Yule Ball," Harry said as the food appeared on the table.
"She's kind of cute in that nerdy girl next door kind of way," Cedric reasoned.
"Yeah I guess but she's my brother's friend," Harry countered as he piled food on his plate.
"I thought he was into her?" Cedric asked between bites.
"Apparently he's already taking Bones to the Yule Ball," Harry shrugged not noticing the sound of a fork hitting a plate a few seats down the table.
"Is he crazy?" Cedric snorted.
"Maybe, we both know that he has no sense of self-preservation," Harry chuckled before taking a bite of his chicken.
"And what is that supposed to mean, Potter?" the annoyed voice of Susan Bones carried down the table.
"N-nothing," Harry said a bit too quickly.
"Why is Will stupid for asking me to Yule Ball? Is something wrong with me?" Susan demanded her eyes starting to tear up.
"Of course, nothing is wrong with you, it's a crazy idea because your aunt is bloody terrifying," Harry answered very conscious of the many people looking their way at Susan's exclamation.
"Not to mention over protective," Cedric cut in.
"And the head of the DMLE," Harry added.
And smoking hot," Cedric grinned
"That too, but mostly because Will is an idiot and bound to do something to screw it up," Harry finished.
"It was nice knowing him," Cedric said in faux sadness.
"Well not that nice," Harry corrected.
"You two are worse than those Weasley twins," Hannah snorted as Susan scowled at the two of them but seemed mollified at his answer.
"That was close," Cedric muttered.
"I noticed, you should really start putting up privacy charms those two are always eavesdropping," Harry grinned.
"This is a public place, if we happen to hear what you two apes talk about its not our fault," Susan huffed in annoyance.
"Alright Bones, you've made your point," Harry sighed.
"Good, I hope you didn't scare off my date for the ball," Susan said the warning clear in her tone.
"Of course not but I may have strongly suggested that he act like a proper gentleman or he might end up in Azkaban," Harry said innocently.
"Good," Susan said before her and Hannah got up from the table and walked over to the Gryffindor table.
"So are you going to ask her?" Cedric asked looking highly amused by the irritable fourth years.
Before Harry could answer, he saw Susan whisper somethingto Hermione making the girls cheeks turn pink.
"Uh oh it looks like Bones is taking matters into her own hands" Cedric smirked
"It would appear that way," Harry nodded as he watched Hermione get up from her table and make a beeline for the Hufflepuff table.
"S-Susan said you wanted to talk to me?" Hermione said as she took a seat across from him.
Harry glanced over to where his brother was sitting, Susan was now sitting beside Will smirking in Harry's direction.
"I'll just be going," Cedric said before getting up and making his way over to sit with Cho shooting Harry a knowing grin.
"How are you handling things?" Harry asked Hermione after Cedric was out of earshot.
"I just can't believe this happened, Viktor was going to take me to the ball," Hermione sniffed wiping her eyes with her sleeve.
"I know, Will told me," Harry admitted.
"He was the first guy to show me any interest and he was eaten by a dragon!" Hermione wailed before she broke down in tears again covering her face with her hands.
Harry glanced over at his brother who shot him a pleading look. Sighing Harry gave him a nod before looking at Hermione.
"Come on let's go for a walk," Harry said getting up from his seat.
"Where are we going?" Hermione sniffed as she got up her eyes still streaming tears.
"To get you a calming draft from the infirmary," Harry said as he put his arm over her shoulder and led her out of the hall.
Twenty minutes later he and Hermione stepped out of the hospital wing and began walking in the direction of the Gryffindor common room.
"Thank you for this, I know I am a bit of a mess right now," Hermione said croakily though she was very calm now.
"You don't have to thank me for this, if my brother wasn't a clueless git he would have thought to do this first," Harry chuckled.
"He is a bit clueless," Hermione admitted with a watery smile.
"Are you going to be okay?" Harry asked as they began climbing the stairs towards the seventh floor.
"Yes, but I probably won't be going to the ball now," Hermione admitted sadly.
"Why not?" Harry asked curiously.
"Because nobody will want to go with me, not even my best friends have noticed that I'm a girl," Hermione sighed.
"Would you like to go with me?" Harry asked casually causing Hermione to stop walking mid-step.
"W-what?" Hermione asked disbelief colouring her tone.
"Would you like to go to the ball with me?" Harry asked looking her in the eye.
"Are you teasing me?" Hermione asked looking at him warily.
"No, I am seriously asking you to be my date to the ball," Harry said patiently.
"O-okay," Hermione stammered out her cheeks going pink.
"Alright then, I will meet you at the portrait of the fat lady on the night of the ball," Harry said as they arrived at the entrance to Gryffindor Tower.
"Thank you," Hermione squealed before wrapping him in a tight hug.
"If you're still having problems dealing with what happened today you can talk to me," Harry said returning the hug if a bit awkwardly.
After a few minutes, Hermione released him from the hug and darted through the portrait hole.
"Thanks Harry," Will said from behind him, Ron Weasley giving him a glare that said he didn't share his brother's sentiments.
"Don't mention it," I got her a calming draft so she should turn in soon," Harry said patting Will on the back as he headed towards the stairs.
Great Hall, Hogwarts, 11/25/1997, 08:29
Classes had been cancelled this morning due to the incident yesterday at the tournament.
The mood in the hall this morning was still a bit subdued though the gossips were all clustered around Lavender Brown at the Gryffindor table.
Unfortunately, Hannah Abbott was the unofficial Hufflepuff representative to the rumour mill so he had a pretty good idea what the topic they were discussing this morning was.
"I heard a rumour that you asked Granger to the ball last night," Cedric said as he took a seat beside him
"I did, that's why our eavesdropping badgers are at the Gryffindor table right now. They are all getting their stories straight, no doubt," Harry muttered irritably.
"Just wait until your gorgeous mother hears that you stole your brother's girlfriend," Cedric smirked.
"I have a feeling my brother is already playing that angle up, I know if it was me I would, and stop talking about my mother that way Diggory," Harry said in a warning tone.
Before anything else could be said the headmaster rose from his seat and cleared his throat getting the attention of everyone in the hall.
"May I have your attention, please! After the tragedy that occurred during the first task yesterday, the ministry has decided to reassess the other two tasks."
"The judges and organizers called an emergency meeting yesterday evening where we have decided to make a few changes to the tournament moving forward."
"It was also decided that the second task is far too dangerous and are in the process of designing a new challenge that will test the champion's mental, magical, and physical ability while not threatening the lives of the competitors."
"There will be a meeting with the champions a month before the second task where we will brief them on what to expect in the second task.
"Finally, Counsellors from St Mungos will be in the infirmary for anyone who is having trouble coping with what they saw yesterday," Dumbledore said in a booming voice before retaking his seat and turning to talk with Mad-Eye Moody.
"I am surprised they can change the task once the tournament has started," Harry said as the post owls arrived.
"Don't ask me, I am just grateful I wasn't chosen," Cedric said as the Daily Prophet owl landed in front of Harry.
"Yeah I am too, It would not have been very entertaining to watch you stare at a dragon and soil yourself in front of three different schools," Harry agreed as he paid the owl before unfurling the paper.
Tragedy Strikes at Tri-Wizard Tournament Durmstrang Champion Killed!
Bulgarian Minister up in Arms After Bulgarian National Team Seeker Killed in First Task!
Minister Has to Answer Questions About Lax Safety Regulations at the First Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament!
Harry gasped as he read the articles covering the entire front page and second page, there was even a moving photo of Viktor Krum being snapped up in the dragon's mouth and hurled across the arena before the picture would repeat the scene over again.
Harry couldn't believe they would put a picture of Krum's being killed on the front page of the paper. Whoever wrote this appeared to have no tact whatsoever but when he saw that it was authored by Rita Skeeter it made perfect sense.
Harry pushed his disgust for Skeeter aside and began reading the articles.
The first was a fairly accurate recap of the tournament starting with a recap of the first two champions completing their tasks successfully before it went on to describe how Viktor Krum had been killed in graphic detail
The second article was about the Bulgarian minister's reaction to the death of Viktor Krum. To put it simply the Bulgarian minister was furious and was bringing the case before the ICW to demand monetary recompense for the death of a very high profile citizen.
The article went on to say that the Krum family was filing a lawsuit against the British Ministry's Department of International Magical Cooperation and the Department of Sports and Games for the wrongful death of their son.
They were also filing a suit for criminal negligence against the ministry as a whole, citing that there was a complete lack of safety measures in place to control a XXXXX creature should something go wrong.
The third article was an interview, Fudge's representative was being interviewed by Barnabas Cuffe. The questions were answered in the typical way of a politician using fifty words to answer a yes or no question and to be honest the whole article was a waste of newsprint.
"Holy shit!" Harry exclaimed after he had read all three articles.
"This is insane," Cedric exclaimed looking up from the paper he had been reading over Harry's shoulder.
"What did you expect? Viktor Krum was Bulgaria's only shot at winning the next world cup," Harry said as he reread the first article detailing the events of the first task again, noticing Will's task was left out completely.
Though considering the flak the ministry was getting about the tournament, it was understandable they would want to hide the fiasco of an underage student being entered in the tournament as a fourth champion.
"The ministry will be a madhouse after people read this," Cedric muttered.
"It's been a mess since yesterday afternoon," Susan said as she and Hannah took a seat across from him and Cedric.
"Oh well," Harry shrugged as he put the paper down.
"Bagman and Crouch were taken into custody last night, Auntie wouldn't tell me the details but she hinted this may be much bigger than the paper suggested," Susan leaned forward and whispered.
"How much bigger?" Harry asked curiously.
"I don't know but my aunt is handling this case personally if that tells you anything," Susan muttered.
Amelia Bones held the second most powerful position in the ministry, for her to be putting on her work robes and handling a case personally, it must be very important.
"So Harry, I heard you asked Hermione Granger to the Yule Ball," Hannah said louder than was strictly necessary pulling him from his thoughts.
"I did," Harry said not elaborating.
"She seems to be very excited about you taking her," Susan said softly.
"We're just going as friends," Harry said not really wanting to get into this.
"Did you tell her that?" Cedric asked shrewdly.
"Well no but-
" Oh bugger, this could get ugly," Cedric snorted cutting across Harry's mumbled answer.
"I will let her down easy," Harry assured them
"You had better, she is a very nice girl, don't be mean about it," Susan said with a hint of warning in her tone.
"I won't, my mother loves her like a daughter and would flay me alive if I was," Harry snorted.
"Ron Weasley seems pretty upset about you taking her," Hannah whispered looking highly amused.
"Can we talk about something else like why you two are so obsessed about this?" Harry said getting tired of the conversation at hand
"You have no idea how big a deal this is, Hermione's popularity is going to soar when the girls in the other houses learn she is going to the ball on the arm of the real Hogwarts champion," Hannah explained a slight touch of envy in her voice.
"Ugh, I hate this dance already," Harry sighed.
"At least you all have dates," Hannah muttered grumpily.
"You could take Ron Weasley since he is soooo upset about Granger," Harry quipped.
"I don't think most students know about the ball yet, I'm sure someone will ask you when it's announced," Cedric said in a comforting tone before Hannah could reply.
"They will all know by lunch thanks to Brown and this one," Susan scowled pointing her thumb at Hannah.
"Have you asked Chang yet?" Harry asked Cedric.
"No, me and Chang had a bit of a falling out two nights ago," Cedric admitted.
"What did you do?" Harry asked in amusement.
"I didn't do anything... well I did catch her snogging Michael Corner if that counts as something," Cedric snorted.
"I did warn you she was a bit on the easy side," Harry smirked.
"I believe I said the same thing about, Spinnet," Cedric countered.
"Alright, I am done talking about other people's romances, want to go for a flight?" Harry asked looking at Cedric in annoyance who shot him a knowing grin.
"Sure mate if you see how flying is supposed to be done maybe you'll improve," Cedric said with a put upon sigh.
"Oh Diggory it must be wonderful living within your own delusions," Harry said as he got up from his seat.
Hogwarts Head's Office, Hogwarts, 11/26/1997, 21:38
Albus sat behind his desk feeling utterly exhausted, truthfully the last few days had felt like an eternity.
The auror department was currently going through every aspect of the tournament, which was really fortunate in the headmaster's case.
The aurors had been reading through the minutes of all the tournament meetings which would show that he had tried many times to change the first task but had been outvoted every time. Albus was fairly certain that this piece of evidence would keep his head off the chopping block.
Minister Oblansk the Bulgarian minister of magic had arrived at the ministry late this morning. Albus had been stuck mediating the meeting between Minister Oblansk and his British counterpart all afternoon. The Bulgarian Minister was hoping to find a peaceful resolution to this matter concerning the first task without having to go through the ICW.
Unfortunately, Cornelius Fudge was out of his depth in the meeting and was only making matters worse. Fudge as showing how incompetent he truly was, the man had no tact and was not skilled at making decisions unless someone guided him by the hand and told him what to do.
Ludo Bagman had been officially placed under arrest after his interrogation this evening. Ludo had confessed under veritaserum to attempting to rig the tournament so that William Potter could win. Bagman would be charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence, Gambling on a ministry sanctioned event, fraud, and collusion.
Ludo would likely spend two decades or more in Azkaban as the court would almost certainly convict him if for nothing else than to appease the public.
Tomorrow morning Bartemius Crouch would be interrogated by Amelia Bones herself, this would have already happened if not for the fact that it had been discovered Crouch was under the effects of the imperius curse.
The unspeakables had developed a method to break the curse after the last war when the curse was discovered almost daily on ministry employees.
The curse on Crouch had been broken without complication so as soon as Crouch was cleared by the mind healer, he would be interrogated. Albus was sure that this interrogation would answer a lot of questions he had in the last month.
Albus had a bad feeling about Crouch, something in his gut told him that once Barty was interrogated he would finally learn who had entered William Potter's name in the tournament. He just hoped to find the answer to the more important question, why this person had gone through so much trouble to do so.
Albus had never hated being right so much before in his life, he had warned the officials about the dangers of using nesting mother dragons in the first task and what he had predicted had come to pass.
Viktor Krum should never have been put into such a dangerous situation, the boy was only a few months past seventeen, a young man with a bright future snuffed out because of Bagman's greed and Crouch's ambition.
Then there were other matters closer to home to deal with, mainly the irate Potter matriarch who had accosted the tournament judges after the task. Albus was just grateful that once the minutes from the tournament meetings became public, her ire would be focused on somebody else.
Albus had been thinking of dramatically simplifying the final two tasks, the tournament was already a lost cause and the only reason they were continuing at this point was that the champion's magic was bound to the goblet.
During an emergency Wizengamot session yesterday morning, there had been a unanimous vote to cancel the Tri-Wizard tournament indefinitely after the completion of this one.
"Surely it wouldn't have been this bad if they had held the tournament when I was in school,' Dumbledore thought wistfully as he popped a lemon drop into his mouth.
Ministry of Magic, Interrogation Room Number Two, London, 11/27/1997, 14:35
Amelia Bones had been working overtime for the last few days because of this cock-up at Hogwarts. What moron thought pitting teenagers against nesting mother dragons would be a good idea? It turns out that question was easy to answer, Ludo Bagman was that moron.
She had personally interrogated that puffed-up moron, under the influence of veritaserum he had confessed to everything from accepting bribes to using ministry resources to fix sporting events.
'Well that would explain how the Tutshill Tornadoes are doing so well this season,' Amelia thought darkly
Bagman also had a massive gambling debt and was trying to use a bet he had placed on the Tri-Wizard tournament to pay off the goblin, he had borrowed a lot of galleons from them before the world cup. By the time she was finished with the interrogation, she felt like throttling the man.
Amelia had filed every charge she could against Ludovic Bagman, and with the public mood of late, he would very likely be convicted of every charge.
Pushing the thoughts of Bagman to the side, she nodded to the aurors standing guard on either side of the door, before entering the room where her old boss was waiting to be interrogated.
It was discovered that Crouch had been under the effects of the imperius curse since the end of last August. That fact did not absolve him of his participation in planning out the first task of the tournament as the details of the tasks had been ironed out by early June.
The man was still just as responsible as Bagman for what had transpired a few days ago but she feared that was just the beginning of what she would find during this interrogation.
Amelia believed this interrogation would bring much worse problems to light, like the mystery of how young William Potter's name came out of the goblet of fire for a start.
Amelia looked around the white-walled interrogation room, it was a twelve by twelve room with a steel table bolted to the floor and a chair on either side of the table with a bright magical light shining down on the suspect.
On the side facing the door sat her old boss, Bartemius Crouch. He was chained to a straight back armchair that was bolted to the floor.
The man looked awful. He was wearing back and white striped inmates' robes, there were bags under his eyes and he had a five o'clock shadow forming on his jaw, he was squinting in her direction trying to make her out through the blinding light shining over him.
"Good afternoon Mr Crouch, I am Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I will be asking you a series of questions, if you refuse to answer or I feel you are lying to me I will have veritaserum administered and get the answers I seek by force, do you understand?" Amelia said as she walked around Crouch visually inspecting the bindings holding him to the chair
"Yes Madam Bones," Crouch croaked out as she set a sheet of parchment and a dictaquill on the table and it began recording their conversation.
"Good, We will get past all of the formalities first. Do you know why you are being held in ministry custody?" Amelia asked as she took a seat across from him and waved her wand diming the light so he could look her in the eye.
"Because of the accident at the first task," Crouch croaked out looking at her with large bloodshot eyes.
"Correct, at first we had only brought you in for questioning concerning your involvement in planning out the first task of the Tri-Wizard tournament."
"However, when giving you a standard examination we made an alarming discovery. Tell me, Mr Crouch, do you know who placed you under the imperius curse?" Amelia asked in a crisp tone.
"My son, Bartemius Crouch Jr," Barty croaked out looking utterly ashamed.
"Your son died in the summer of nineteen eighty-two," Amelia said in a disbelieving tone.
"No, he did not. I snuck him out of the prison a week before his reported death," Crouch admitted.
"Then who did the ministry bury in the prison cemetery?" Amelia asked sharply.
"My wife," Crouch answered tears starting to stream down his cheeks.
The next four hours were filled with one gut-twisting revelation after another. Barty Crouch had been keeping his son imprisoned in his home by means of the imperius curse for over a decade!
Even worse, Crouch confessed to obliviating a ministry employee who had discovered That Barty Crouch Jr was still alive. That employee had gone missing this summer, a ditzy blonde by the name of Bertha Jorkins.
It was also revealed that Crouch Jr was responsible for the dark mark appearing over the world cup campgrounds last August.
Then they got to the night of August twenty-fourth when Peter Pettigrew showed up at his home and overpowered him freeing his son from the imperius curse. Barty gave a disturbing account of a third person, an infant-sized creature that spoke with the voice of he-who-must-not-be-named.
Barty had told her all that he had overheard of their plans, she was horrified to learn the next revelation.
Alastor Moody was not teaching at Hogwarts, Crouch Jr and Peter Pettigrew had overpowered the aged auror on the first of September. Crouch Jr had been teaching in his place since September under the guise of polyjuice potion. According to Barty, his son under the guise of Alastor Moody had been giving him new commands every time he visited the school.
Amelia stomped out of the interrogation room signalling for the aurors on either side of the door to take Crouch back to his cell.
She had an arrest to organize and paperwork to file. If she had her way Bartemius Crouch Sr would be chucked through the veil of death for what he had done.
Storming into the bullpen she bellowed into the room packed with aurors going about various tasks, " Shacklebolt, Williamson in my office, now!"
They would have to arrest Barty Crouch Jr as quickly as possible. He was a very dangerous wizard so she would have to send two teams, with any luck they would catch the man by surprise tomorrow morning at breakfast.
"I really hope this goes smoothly," Amelia sighed as she poured herself a large whiskey and took a seat behind her desk watching her subordinates enter her office looking wary.
AN: I decided not to alter this chapter either, I know some folks won't like the Hermione angle but I actually do like that angle.The next chapter will change quite a bit as I am definitely going to handle the Crouch debacle differently.