Author's Note: Hello, and thank you to everyone who is reading. I was wowed by the response to the first chapter. I will post on Thursdays with this story. MNF

Chapter 2:

Hoodwinked and Confused

On the night of the third task, when it was over the Aurors had dispersed, the students had been sent off to their common rooms and the professors were searching the grounds, Sirius tore through the grounds where maze had been in Padfoot form, but he could only smell Harry to the middle of the labyrinth and then nothing. He exited the maze area through the other end and walked along the outside. His sense of smell was exceptional, but when he needed it most, it was failing him. He went a few more yards, and still nothing. His bloody nose had never failed him like this before. He barked in frustration while his human brain let a string of curse words fly that would make the most hardened prisoner in any of the Queen's fine penitentiary facilities blush. With each step he took, dread and fear coursed through his veins. His pup was gone, and neither Padfoot nor Sirius knew where to start his search.

Oddly he did come across Moody's coat and his artificial leg. Beside it sat a large pile of ash that smelled much like Aspen wood and the old wizard. Remus followed the large grim at a distance and picked up the coat and leg when Padfoot whinged. After years of listening to the dog's resonances, he knew what Sirius was thinking; the man and dog took off for the Defence professor's office.

Once inside the office with the door shut, Sirius turned back into his human form. "Why would Moody's coat be outside, but he isn't? And how is he moving around without his leg?"

"I don't know, Padfoot, but this is beyond strange. I also can't seem to find my wand. I thought I had it in the pocket of my robes," Remus said.

"Well, they're holey enough that it could have slipped through," Sirius said, then looking down at the rags he was still wearing that had once been an Azkaban prison uniform. "Neither of us looks like we've been outfitted by a fine tailor, do we?" They'd both cast so many charms on their outfits they didn't take anymore. It was probably time for them to steal something off someone's wash line.

"No, we don't," Remus answered. "This is –"

Moony stopped as Alastor's large trunk rattled and rocked to their left.

"What the fu—" Sirius was halted by the trunk moving again.

"There's something in there," Remus said.

"Well, you're spot on with the obvious, Moony."

"Honestly, Padfoot, do you have to be such an arse?"

"Help." The voice was muffled but was definitely human.

"It came from in there," Moony said. This time, instead of making a joke, Sirius just nodded his head. The pair went to the trunk but couldn't disengage the lock. Sirius tried banging on it with a heavy tome, but the lock would not unfasten. Remus went to Moody's desk and found a skinny metal nail file. He'd never thought of the old Auror as being one for being on top of his nail care. The odd things you find out about people.

"I never thought when you taught me this in our sixth year, I'd ever use it again," the former Defence professor said. "That was before I had to live on the outskirts of society and regrettably, had to rely on petty crime to eat." Remus moved the file through the tumblers, knocking them up and then down until the covering disengaged. "One of the mistakes of the wizarding world is relying solely on magical locks. If all you engage the lock with is a simple spell, the physical tumblers can easily be picked. A witch or wizard's laziness saved me more than once."

"Well, if I ever own anything worth, well, anything, I'll make sure to ward it against you and use a key," Sirius joked.

The pair lifted the heavy top and were shocked to find a rather peaked, legless, nearly bald Alastor Moody laying in the bottom of a multi-layered trunk.

"I'll march your murdering arse back to Azkaban myself, Sirius Black!" Moody yelled.

"Doesn't look like you'll be walking anywhere, Mad-Eye; I have your leg," Sirius barked back, lifting the object for him to see. "And, I'm innocent! A touch of Veritaserum will prove it." Then, he turned to Remus, "We should leave him down there until I'm proven innocent."

"Sirius, honestly," Remus said, exasperated. "Alastor, let me get something to lower down to you, and then we'll get you to Poppy."

"You should shackle that murderer."

"Would it help if I told you he was innocent?" Remus asked. "Believe me, the man who was responsible for James and Lily's deaths is out walking free, and I want him found and brought to justice, but Sirius isn't that man."

"Get me out, then we can figure out if you've been hoodwinked." Remus stifled a laugh, as even though his physical health was poor, Moody was as curmudgeonly as ever. Sirius had found a length of rope in the classroom; what Moody was doing with it was beyond him, and the rope was lowered down to Alastor. The old Auror held on as the two slowly lifted him out. Moody attached his leg and threw his coat over his shoulders to get to the hospital wing. Sirius quickly changed over to Padfoot, and Remus mostly carried Moody to get some help.

The first blushes of dawn awoke Harry from his slumber in the graveyard. The fire under the cauldron had burned down to coals, but it still gave off a bit of heat. Dew had fallen on Harry as he rested, and he realized he was wet. He waved his wand over his shoulder and dried off his backside. His front had stayed dried as it was pressed against the ground.

With a groan, Harry shifted so he was sitting up. Using his arm caused pain to rocket up to his shoulder, and he remembered that Wormtail had cut him the night before. He used the Episkey Charm to treat the wound, although he'd have Madame Pomfrey look at it when he got back to Hogwarts, if he got back to Hogwarts. He didn't even know where he was. Without thinking, Harry reached up to scratch his scar and realized it felt different. First, it was sort of wet and sticky; second, it felt like it had opened. Harry thought about healing it himself, but he was sure the scar would be worse if he did. It was one thing to have a jagged scar on your arm, another to have a more prominent scar on his head that drew even more attention to him.

As Harry stood, the first thing that drew his attention was the robes, Death Eater Masks, and little piles of wet sawdust where each of the Death Eaters had stood and watched him fight Voldemort. Turning himself in a circle, moving in a clockwise motion, starting at about four o'clock he surveyed the cemetery. He quickly deduced this was a mostly Muggle one by the religious markings and average lifespans on the grave markers. Harry took in the tombstones, including the one that still had dangling ropes that held him to Voldemort's father's stone.

"Tom Riddle. His father was a Muggleborn? Huh? I wonder if his idiot followers know that?" Harry mused aloud. Eight o'clock, ten, and at twelve, he stopped. The wispy black-grey garment that Voldemort had put on lay directly in front of him. Beside it was another wet pile of sawdust and a carved handle, a stylized claw made from ivory.

"Why does it not surprise me that he'd use something you had to murder the animal to get?" Harry muttered, remembering a primary class lesson about the Ivory trade in Africa. "I have no idea what happened here, but your rebirth was something your followers weren't expecting. I wonder what Dumbledore will say about this. Shite, I'm going to be in trouble; I've been out of the castle all night."

Harry looked at the robes and masks and knew he couldn't leave them here. Muggles undoubtedly came to the cemetery, and what would they make of the mess? Surely it went against the Statute of Secrecy, he thought. Harry went through the cemetery and picked up sticks he could rekindle the fire with. He Vanished the cauldron and then threw the robes into the flames. He was going to do the same with the masks, but they had carved their names into the inner side of the bone.

"Seriously, are they like reception class kids? Aunt Petunia had to put Dudley's name in everything, or he'd come home with another kid's shoes or coat," Harry said with a laugh. "I bet Professor Moody or Madame Bones will want to see these." Harry needed something to put them all in and guessed that since wherever he was would be like Little Whinging, he raised his wand. "Accio bag."

It wasn't long before a plastic Tesco bag came sailing at him, and he caught it with ease. "Figured there would be litterbugs here too," Harry commented to the wind before stuffing the masks into the bag. "Now, how am I going to get back to Hogwarts?"

It only took a moment of looking around to locate Cedric's body, which hadn't disappeared like the Death Eaters, and the still glowing Triwizard Cup. "It was a Portkey that brought us here; let's hope it's a Portkey to take me back." Harry pushed the Tesco bag onto his good wrist and then grabbed hold of Cedric. He then leaned over, took a deep breath, and grabbed the cup. The familiar yet nauseating pull at his navel let him know that it was indeed a return Portkey; he hoped it would take him back to Hogwarts instead of some Death Eater hideout.

It was still early when Harry landed in the Quidditch pitch. During the night, the maze had been dismantled, and all that remained was a faint outline on the pitch floor. He looked around and wondered what he should do next. He couldn't just show up in the building with a corpse. Not wanting people to get the wrong idea, Harry moved Cedric into one of the Quidditch teams' changing rooms. He cast a Freezing Charm on the room, hoping to keep anything untoward from happening to Cedric's body. He locked the room behind him. He then took one of the school brooms and flew to the school.

What greeted him in the entranceway was nothing short of pandemonium. Students, Aurors, professors, and others asked about wands and whether they had theirs with them. Harry reached around and made sure his was securely under his shirt and tucked into the waistband of his trousers.

Harry slipped his Cloak of Invisibility out of his pocket and quickly disappeared. Torn between going to Gryffindor Tower, the Headmaster's office, or thehospital wing , the pain in his arm and head won out, and he made his way to the second floor. Seeing who was sitting there, Harry closed the doors behind him and erected a Silencing Charm. He then removed his cloak.

"Padfoot, come here, boy," Harry said to the dog, who immediately got up and tackled the boy. Harry hugged the dog for everything he had, crying into his fur. Remus came over and wrapped his arms around Harry's shoulders as the boy wept.

"It's okay, pup, we've got you," Remus whispered into his ear. "You're okay."

"Wait, how do we know it's Harry? Ask him something only he'd know," Alastor Moody barked. Remus looked at the old Auror like he'd lost his mind but did what the man asked.

"Harry, what form does your Patronus take?" Remus asked.

"It's a stag like my father's."

"It's him, Alastor," Remus said with finality to his tone. "Where have you been?"

"Padfoot, I need you to be in your other form to tell this whole story," Harry said softly, and Sirius was instantly sitting by his godson, his arm over his shoulders. Harry leaned into his godfather. Then, Harry withdrew his wand and locked the room.

"The cup was a Portkey," Harry said with a shaky voice. "It took Cedric and me to a graveyard. Wormtail murdered Cedric. Voldemort is back, but I killed him and the Death Eaters. I think I might know what happened to all the wands." The words tumbled out of Harry in an affectless tone. Sirius gripped his godson tighter.

"It's okay, Pup. I've got you. We'll get through this together." Sirius then looked at his best friend. "I think we need Dumbledore."