CHAPTER THIRTEEN

ALL IS REVEALED

"What?" shrieked Hermione. "You mean to say you are Barty Crouch?"

Harry and Ron can't say they didn't expect Hermione to behave like this. It will come as a shock to anyone. Harry then stood up and went to Hermione, comforting her.

"Is he insane? Is he pulling my leg? It is isn't it. Very funny. You haven't got me. You haven't fooled me." said Hermione though she didn't seem to mean what she said by the tone of hervoice.

Harry patted her back. "Hermione, what he is saying is true." Harry the reached for the empty bottle from his pocket and showed it to Hermione. "I added Veritaserum to his champagne."

Hermione then suddenly pushed Harry away from her. She was clearly upset and started mumbling to herself. She then started scolding Harry. "You! You knew this? All this time, Harry? You never told me and made me act so stupid, trying to befriend a criminal! Why didn't you tell me, huh, Harry? I know,its becaus I am not Ron. You tell him everything, even back then, at school." She then walked away from Harry and stood by the kitchen, her head on her hand.

Harry then just looked at Ron, who clearly didn't know what to say. Ron just gave him a puzzled look and motioned him to go to Hermione. Harry then stepped towards Hermione, still standing in the kitchen.

"Hermione" started Harry, carefully choosing his words. "We didn't tell you because we were sure you would act differently. You would think that we were just fooling you just because you liked this Grindle, even though he's really Crouch. I mean you wouldn't believe us unless Crouch admits who he is himself. Okay?"

Hermione stood in silence, not moving. Time seemed to creep slowly during these silent, awkward moments. Harry stood there, expressionless and silent.

Finally, Hermione shifted from her stance and went to the dining room. Harry followed.

"So" said Hermione. "What else do Inot know about this?"

Hermione sataround the dining table, and so did Harry. They all sat there with Barty, ready to reveal everything to Hermione, as well as question Crouch on the whole truth of the matter.

"It all started when you introduced us to Grindle" said Harry. "I recognized him immediately. That was when I began suspecting things. Back at the office, you know Magda? Well she had a mirror, which is with me now, that belonged to Sirius once. You know, the one he gave me during fifth year to communicate with him? I thought 'how can this be with her' and so I asked her. She told me that she saw Grindle come out of the veil in the Department of Mysteries and then, well actually, there are lost patches in her memory about the whole thing. All she can remember is seeing Grindle come out of the veil and having blood and a cauldron with her."

"So, why were there lost parts in her memory?" asked Hermione, listening intently in her chair.

"Well, I think that Crouch used the Imperious Curse on her, which is why Magda can't fully recall things."

"But why the cauldron and blood?"

"Well, Magda said that Crouch came out in sort of a barely human form. He lacked a suitable body. I think that while Magda was under Crouch's control, she performed Flesh Blood and Bone to give him a body, like what Voldemort did years ago."

"So, Crouch survived the veil? But Harry… Oh this is amazing. You mean there is still hope for… we can still save…"

"Sirius? Well Crouch said he was still alive in the veil, somehow. That was when I started asking Lucius Malfoy."

"That explains why you went to Azkaban. I know about your sacking Harry. Heard it from my friends at work. Thatwas whyyoucouldn't go to Azkaban withoutme. So what did Lucius say?"

"He told me that Crouch wasn't a true servant ofVoldemort, not a faithful one. Voldemort wasn't able to know this since Crouch was a good Occlumens. Crouch was more of a fan, an admirer of Voldemort and wanted to belikehim. When Voldemort died, he was upset, thinking that the one he admired mostlost. At that moment, he swore to become a next Dark Lord but this time, more powerful and vile."

"But in the first place, how did Crouch survive the Dementor's kiss?"

"Dementors, as Lucius said, were allies of the Dark Lord. Before being kissed, Crouch made a bargain with the Dementor, asking it to not give him full blast of the spell. The Dementors liked whatever Voldemort of the DeathEaters offered more than what the Ministry gives them so, promised a reward, theDementor gave in to Crouch's dealings. Crouch's soul wasn't sucked. He was reduced to a surviving yet almost bodiless form, bordering from the physical. He got transported to the Dementor's realm, which is where all the souls of people who have been kissed go, but in Crouch's case, he went in there with almost a body."

"I still don't get most of it though. How does that explain the veil thing?"

"The veil is the only other entrance towards the Dementor's Realm, aside from being kissed. My guess is, Sirius survived in there since he wasn't kissed. He went there with a body. We can save him but we...can't exactly just storm in under the veil."

"So how do we enter it?"

"Well, we ask Crouch here since the Veritaserum is still in effect in his body."

They all faced Crouch's limp form in the chair. Harry shifted in his seat and started asking him.

"So Crouch, how did you exactly go out of the Dementor's Realm?"

Crouch began to open his mouth and breathe heavily. He then spoke up in a weak voice. "Through a portkey I made."

"How did you make this portkey?" asked Harry.

"There are no material objects in the Dementors' Realm. Everything in there is still, there is no time, which is why Dementor's don't die. The souls there are sustained though, by a magic in its very atmosphere, in the air. That is why my frail body survived. My body didn't die nor did it age. The barely human form of mine survived and lived on. I was still able to hold physical things though, since I had a body. I found a wand and a small square mirror from your uncle. Those were the only physical things inthat world that can be turned into a portkey.Icharmed the mirror into a portkey to transport me to the entrance veil in the Department of Mysteries, which is how I escaped the Dementor's Realm."

"It all makes sense now." said Harry."Listen, weeks ago, I had a note mistakenly sent to me though it belonged to another department in the Ministry offices. It was a report on an illegal portkey access from an Unplottable Location. The Unplottable place must be from the Dementor's Realm! We can still save Sirius!" (if you forggothis detail,check out chapter 2)

Hermione then faced Harry slowly and looked at him in the eye. He placed her hand on his shoulder and spoke in an honest, kind tone. "Harry, I'm sorry for being so upset a while ago. I don't blame you. I can't deny that I would be furious if you told me before nowabout Edgar's trueidentityListen, as a way of saying sorry, count me in on saving Sirius, okay?"

"Me too, mate!" chipped in Ron after being silent for a long time.

"Well, it's the three of us again, just like in school" smiled Harry, touched by both his best friends' willingness to help him.

"Lets just think of a plan first, okay, guys?" said Ron. "And, what about him?" Ron was pertaining to a limp Crouch.

"Lets leave him on the street. People are bound to recognizehim and send him packingfor Azkaban." said Hermione, quite pleasedwith her newfound ruthlessness."

"At least we know one thing." said Harry in a very serious tone."Tomorrow, we go through the veil."

END OF CHAPTERTHIRTEEN