35. Veritaserum

Fire And Lightning

Harry felt himself slam flat into the ground; his face was pressed into grass; the smell of it filled his nostrils. He had closed his eyes while the Portkey transported him, and he kept them closed now. He did not move. All the breath seemed to have been knocked out of him; his head was swimming so badly he felt as though the ground beneath him were swaying like the deck of a ship. To hold himself steady, he tightened his hold on the two things he was still clutching: the smooth, cold handle of the Triwizard Cup and Cedric's body. He felt as though he would slide away into the blackness gathering at the edges of his brain if he let go of either of them. Shock and exhaustion kept him on the ground, breathing in the smell of the grass, waiting . . . waiting for someone to do something . . . something to happen . . . and all the while, his scar burned dully on his forehead. . . .

The tugging was gone...

A torrent of sound deafened and confused him; there were voices everywhere, footsteps, screams. ... He remained where he was, his face screwed up against the noise, as though it were a nightmare that would pass. . . .

Then a pair of hands seized him roughly and turned him over.

"Harry! Harry!"

He opened his eyes.

He was looking up at the starry sky, and Albus Dumbledore was crouched over him. The dark shadows of a crowd of people pressed in around them, pushing nearer; Harry felt the ground beneath his head reverberating with their footsteps.

He had come back to the edge of the maze. He could see the stands rising above him, the shapes of people moving in them, the stars above.

Harry let go of the cup, but he clutched Cedric to him even more tightly. He raised his free hand and seized Dumbledore's wrist, while Dumbledore's face swam in and out of focus.

"He's back," Harry whispered. "He's back. Voldemort."

"What's going on? What's happened?"

The face of Cornelius Fudge appeared upside down over Harry; it looked white, appalled.

"My God - Diggory!" it whispered. "Dumbledore - he's dead!"

The words were repeated, the shadowy figures pressing in on them gasped it to those around them . . . and then others shouted it - screeched it - into the night - "He's dead!" "He's dead!" "Cedric Diggory! Dead!"

"Harry, let go of him," he heard Fudge's voice say, and he felt fingers trying to pry him from Cedric's limp body, but Harry wouldn't let him go. Then Dumbledore's face, which was still blurred and misted, came closer.

"Harry, you can't help him now. It's over. Let go."

"He wanted me to bring him back," Harry muttered - it seemed important to explain this. "He wanted me to bring him back to his parents. ..."

"That's right. Harry . . . just let go now. . . ."

Dumbledore bent down, and again with extraordinary strength for a man so old and thin, raised Harry from the ground and set him on his feet. Harry swayed. His head was pounding.

His injured leg would no longer support his weight. The crowd around them jostled, fighting to get closer, pressing darkly in on him - "What's happened?" "What's wrong with him?" "Diggorys dead!"

"He'll need to go to the hospital wing!" Fudge was saying loudly. "He's ill, he's injured - Dumbledore, Diggory's parents, they're here, they're in the stands. ..."

"I'll take Harry, Dumbledore, I'll take him -"

"No, I would prefer-"

"Dumbledore, Amos Diggory's running . . . he's coming over. . . . Don't you think you should tell him - before he sees - ?"

"Oh my God!" Why did people always say that?

"What happened to Emma, where is she?!"

She was in danger...

"She went running up to the castle with Carmichael and Miss. Nightroad about an hour ago - Mrs. Makerere and Mrs. Delacour were right behind her!"

"Harry, stay here -"

Girls were screaming, sobbing hysterically... The scene flickered oddly before Harry's eyes. . . .

"Its all right, son, I've got you . . . come on ... hospital wing . . ."

"Dumbledore said stay," said Harry thickly, the pounding in his scar making him feel as though he was about to throw up; his vision was blurring worse than ever.

"You need to lie down. . .. Come on now..."

Someone larger and stronger than he was was half pulling, half carrying him through the frightened crowd. Harry heard people gasping, screaming, and shouting as the man supporting him pushed a path through them, taking him back to the castle.

He heard somebody behind him shouting above all of the rest, in a voice full of anguish. "My boy! That's my boy!"

Across the lawn, past the lake and the Durmstrang ship, Harry heard nothing but the heavy breathing of the man helping him walk.

"Emma's in danger..."

"She'll be fine. What happened, Harry?" The man asked at last as he lifted Harry up the stone steps.

Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. It was Mad-Eye Moody.

"Cup was a Portkey," said Harry as they crossed the entrance hall. "Took me and Cedric to a graveyard . . . and Voldemort was there . . . Lord Voldemort..."

Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. Up the marble stairs . . .

"The Dark Lord was there? What happened then?"

"Killed Cedric . . . they killed Cedric. . . ."

"And then?"

Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. Along the corridor . . .

"Made a potion . . . got his body back. . . used the diary..."

"The Dark Lord got his body back? He's returned?"

"And the Death Eaters came . . . and then we dueled. ..."

"You dueled with the Dark Lord?"

They had suddenly stopped, and Harry couldn't for the life of him see why - he couldn't see much of anything at the moment - but, then, he heard it; a soft and hissing voice, belonging to Septimus the snake. "Be ssstill, Ssson Of Jamesss..."

The next sound that Harry heard was his godmother's voice, strong and clear, but with a slight tremble in it as she said: "Get. Away. From. My. Godson."

Harry tried to focus more. Confusion echoed in his mind. What was going on...?

"So..." Moody said, in an unreadable voice. "You know...?"

"I do." Emma said. "Now..."

Harry's eyes focused more...the corridor that they were in swam into view...

She was standing in front of them, her cape and the light behind her making her look like an angel of fury - Emma Pax. Her wand was pointed directly at Moody's throat; Harry could see that, even from that distance, Moody's throat was what she would have hit, especially if she was using something like Flamma. "Now," she added. "Now I see...why it keeps on happening...why I can't..."

"Emma..?" Harry tried to say. "What...?"

"Tell me something," her voice had an edge to it, so Harry wasn't sure if she was talking to him or not. "Do you remember...why you wanted to rush back here so quickly?" She never took her eyes off of Moody's face, which Harry could see was as pale as what Dumbledore's had been. "Was it because you could've been killed, kiddo?"

Harry, with some difficulty because his whole body was still aching, shook his head. "No...no, it was because..." He then found himself able to look directly at her. She, too, was pale, but her gaze was firmly fixed on Moody. "You're in danger! Emma! Voldemort...he said that there's a Death Eater at Hogwarts, who'll deliver you straight to him!"

His voice rang out in the long corridor.

There was a moment of silence, and then something grabbed Harry so quickly from behind that he barely had time to register it, before Moody had drawn his wand and aimed a spell at them, but both Harry's saviour and his godmother raised their own wands at the same time and yelled: "Protego!"

The curse hit the shimmering blue shield that appeared around them, shattering it.

Moody looked like he was about to turn and flee, but then his magical eye looked behind him and he stopped; Harry saw it, too - Septimus and September were both blocking the other end of the corridor, raised off the ground with their hoods spread, as only cobras could. There were two of them, and Harry knew how fast a cobra could strike - one of them would have been able to get to Moody, no matter what he did.

But...why Moody?

Harry looked up into the face of his saviour, and realised that it was none other than Carmichael Ackerly. The beautiful man who had once been Imperiused by Lord Voldemort, made to do his bidding in the guise of a teacher and end the year by having a student murdered, was staring down the corridor at Moody with a look that was full of nothing but pure hatred. His deep blue eyes were flashing, and his voice was cold as he said: "What is your hurry, 'serviteur le plus fidèle'?" There was a definite sarcasm in his words just then.

Moody was staring back at Ackerly, the only similarities between their faces being the looks that they had on them - nothing but pure hatred.

"Most faithful servant, huh?" Emma was walking past Harry and Ackerly, her wand still pointed at Moody. Her steps were slow, and measured. "That'd be about right - it'd have to be someone capable of it. And, even now...you're blocking me, aren't you? Only someone who could...he did make that perfectly clear back then..."

"And, who told you about that?" Moody said suddenly, in such a way that it was almost a reflection of what Emma had said to Harry just prior to Ackerly's arrival.

"I see..." Emma seemed to sigh just then. She was shaking her head. "I see...figures...nobody else ever was quite capable of it...I suppose that I should feel good about myself, for making it more difficult for you all, but...maybe it's like what Karkaroff said, and I am more trouble than what I'm worth..."

"Emma!" Harry called to her, trying to get up, but Ackerly kept him back down. "Karkaroff...you know...he's a Death Eater...!"

It was Moody who responded to this, however. "Karkaroff?" He said, with an odd laugh. "Karkaroff fled tonight, when he felt the Dark Mark burn upon his arm. He betrayed too many faithful supporters of the Dark Lord to wish to meet them . . . but I doubt he will get far. The Dark Lord has ways of tracking his enemies."

"Karkaroff's gone? He ran away?" Harry blinked. "But then - he didn't put my name in the goblet?"

"No," said Moody slowly. "No, he didn't. It was I who did that."

Harry heard, but didn't believe.

Ackerly drew in a sharp intake of breath.

"No, you didn't," Harry protested. "You didn't do that. . . you can't have done..." There had to be some other reason for this, some other reason as to why Moody had just attacked them, and why Emma and Ackerly were doing this...

"I assure you I did," said Moody. "He forgave them, then? The Death Eaters who went free? The ones who escaped Azkaban?"

"What?" said Harry.

"I asked you," said Moody quietly, "whether he forgave the scum who never even went to look for him. Those treacherous cowards who wouldn't even brave Azkaban for him. The faithless, worthless bits of filth who were brave enough to cavort in masks at the Quidditch World Cup, but fled at the sight of the Dark Mark when I fired it into the sky."

"You fired . . . What are you talking about. . . ?" Harry looked at Moody, and then at his godmother, wishing that he could see the expression on her face.

"I told you. Harry ... I told you. If there's one thing I hate more than any other, even more than someone like him," Moody said, nodding once towards Ackerly. "It's a Death Eater who walked free. They turned their backs on my master when he needed them most. I expected him to punish them. I expected him to torture them. Tell me he hurt them, Harry. . . ." Moody's face was suddenly lit with an insane smile. "Tell me he told them that I, I alone remained faithful... prepared to risk everything to deliver to him the two things he wanted above all..."

Emma held her left hand out, to silence Harry. He noticed that her arm was shaking now.

"Who put your name in the Goblet of Fire, under the name of a different school?" Moody went on. "I did. Who frightened off every person I thought might try to hurt you or prevent you from winning the tournament? I did. Who nudged Hagrid into showing you the dragons? I did. Who helped you see the only way you could beat the dragon? I did."

Moody's normal eye was still fixed on Emma, but his magical one was staring through her at Harry. His lopsided mouth leered more widely than ever.

"It hasn't been easy, Harry, guiding you through these tasks without arousing suspicion. Look at how your godmother was accused, just for being there - when anyone who would bother to care to know her properly could tell that it took all of her strength and willpower not to call the whole thing off, for fear of you going through something like what she went through. She has suffered a great deal, mainly at the hands of the Ministry who don't have a clue how to respect her kind of power...but, I must say, she has persevered magnificently. I watched her go through the exact same tasks in the Triwizard Tournament eighteen years ago; it was easy for her, she needed no guidance.

And, I have had to use every ounce of cunning I possess, so that my hand would not be detectable in your success. Dumbledore would have been very suspicious if you had managed everything as easily as your godmother. As long as you got into that maze, preferably with a decent head start - then, I knew, I would have a chance of getting rid of the other champions and leaving your way clear. But I also had to contend with your stupidity."

It was Emma's turn to draw in a sharp intake of breath.

Moody raised an eyebrow. "The second task . . . that was when I was most afraid we would fail. I knew it was too much to hope that you'd end up with a pendant like your godmother's. But, even before that, there were hurdles. I was keeping watch on you, Potter. I knew you hadn't worked out the egg's clue, so I had to give you another hint -"

"You didn't," Harry said hoarsely. "Cedric gave me the clue-"

Ackerly's hand tightened on Harry's shoulder.

Moody sighed. "Who told Cedric to open it underwater? I did. I trusted that he would pass the information on to you. Decent people are so easy to manipulate, Potter. I was sure Cedric would want to repay you for telling him about the dragons, and so he did. But even then, Potter, even then you seemed likely to fail. I was watching all the time ... all those hours in the library. Didn't you realize that the book you needed was in your dormitory all along? I planted it there early on, I gave it to the Longbottom boy, don't you remember? Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean. It would have told you all you needed to know about gillyweed. I expected you to ask everyone and anyone you could for help. Longbottom would have told you in an instant. But you did not. . . you did not. . ."

"I told you..." Emma said quietly. "I told you that he wouldn't...he's had to be independent..."

"He has a streak of pride and that independence, which might have ruined all." Moody reminded her, and then he addressed Harry again. "So what could I do? Feed you information from another innocent source. You told me at the Yule Ball a house-elf called Dobby had given you a Christmas present. I called the elf to the staffroom to collect some robes for cleaning. I staged a loud conversation with Professor McGonagall about the hostages who had been taken, and whether Potter would think to use gillyweed. And your little elf friend ran straight to Snape's office and then hurried to find you..."

Moody's wand was still pointing directly at Harry's heart, but he couldn't do anything for Emma and Ackerly still had their wands pointed directly at him - Emma's at his throat and Ackerly's at his heart - so, he continued talking.

"You were so long in that lake, Potter, I thought you had drowned. Those idiots were worried about the Selma, thinking that Emma had ordered it to attack, but I knew that she could handle it once again. She was down there, knowing that it was the only thing that she could do to make it easier for you, knowing that's what she would have wanted - was for someone to have been down there. So, they allowed her to go. You just had to get back up and get those points. I didn't think to account for the strange way that your mind works, Potter. But luckily, Dumbledore took your idiocy for nobility, and marked you high for it. I breathed again."

"The Selma..." Emma began.

Moody looked at her, then at Ackerly, and back to Emma. "Not quite a Basilisk in the Chamber Of Secrets, is it?" He said mildly. "More of a...mild inconvenience, an unavoidable one, but one that a certain spell seemed to keep at bay..."

Ackerly's grip was painfully tight on Harry's shoulder now, as Moody spoke to Harry again.

"You had an easier time of it than you should have in that maze tonight, of course," said Moody. "I was patrolling around it, able to see through the outer hedges, able to curse many obstacles out of your way. I Stunned Fleur Delacour as she passed. I put the Imperius Curse on Krum, so that he would finish Diggory and leave your path to the cup clear."

"You..." Emma whispered. "You made Viktor do that to Cedric...use the Cruciatus Curse on him..." She was shaking even more now.

"Had to be done." Moody said casually, shrugging.

Harry stared at Moody. He just didn't see how this could be. ... Dumbledore's friend, the famous Auror. . . the one who had caught so many Death Eaters ... It made no sense ... no sense at all. ...

Emma's mentor...this couldn't be...

Emma's voice was shaking now, too. "You know how I..." She swallowed. "You did it, didn't you?" She said suddenly. Moody looked at her. "You..." She seemed to trail off, but Moody was nodding, as if he could hear what she had wanted to say next, but couldn't bring herself to.

"I know how you feel about bloodshed, love," he told her. "About killing...you've done it yourself though, haven't you?" He pointed out.

"...Once..." Harry's godmother said, her voice shaking. "And, only once...I killed a Death Eater whose name was...ah, I do not wish to say it, but, I mainly know him as the one who murdered her … who murdered Hope ..."

Harry's breath hitched in his throat. Hope?

His godmother heard it and, with a sigh, she elaborated. "It was at the beginning of the break before our final year. I was living with your Dad and his parents at the time, kiddo - had been since I got here," she explained. "And, I opened my trunk to find a cobra wrapped around my arm - Septimus, the snake that Sni-Snape had fired from his wand and who I had released into the Forbidden Forest, or so I'd thought."

Harry was shocked. It sounded almost exactly like what Teddy had done two years ago in the Great Hall.

"I screamed so loudly that James and Sirius - he was living there by that stage too, naturally - came running in, but, luckily I was able to calm down enough to listen to Septimus telling me what he'd overheard - about how the Death Eaters were going to start attacking random places until I handed myself over to them," Emma laughed sardonically then. "Starting with Bali, because they knew that's where a lot of Australians like to travel..."

"Never did I imagine that it wasss a trap..." Septimus' voice came from the far end of the corridor.

"It didn't matter to me that it might have been a trap," Emma said, in a way that meant that it hadn't actually occurred to her that that's what it might have been. "Because, at that moment, I received a letter from Remus, telling me that he and his family and the Tonks family were vacationing in Bali right at that very moment in time. James and Sirius needed no further convincing. The three of us - plus Septimus - were able to get there. How we managed to Apparate to a spot so far away, and that only I had ever been to before, I'll never know. I don't think that it's even legal. But, as it turned out, the Death Eaters were able to get there, too - it was a trap, after all. And, although our Ministry and the Indonesian Ministry arrived not long after that, not all of us made it out of that mess that I'd caused..." Her voice was soft, full of regret. "I'll never ever forget seeing the Dark Mark in the sky for the first time that day, knowing that someone had been killed and all because of my reckless behaviour...when I found out who it was...the people that had been struck with the Killing Curse..."

Harry remembered how she had reacted to seeing the Dark Mark after the World Cup, how relieved she had been to see people that she knew still alive...

"So...you killed the person who killed them?" Harry asked her.

She nodded. "Just one of them … there were many others who the Death Eaters killed on that day, but, that one death … it really got to me, but … it was not until the following year...when I myself took a life . . ." Her voice gained a slight edge to it. "Voldemort keeps on trying to capture me...sends his best Death Eaters to do such terrible things...kills everyone around me, and then wonders why we had that conversation, eighteen years ago..." Her gaze was fixed on Moody now. "He wonders why I still resist him, why I will stop at nothing to protect everyone that I can..."

"You mean Cedric Diggory?" Moody threw back at her, and Harry watched his godmother flinch. "Oh, you mean Potter. Of course, of course, he's your best friends' son...the last thing that you have left of those two..."

"That's not the only - "

But, Moody had turned his gaze back to Harry.

"The Dark Lord didn't manage to kill you. Potter, and he so wanted to," whispered Moody. "Imagine how he will reward me when he finds I have done it for him. I gave you and the diary to him - the things he needed above all to regenerate - and then I killed you for him, before bringing him the Dark Jewel. I will be honored beyond all other Death Eaters. I will be his dearest, his closest supporter . . . closer than a son. ..."

Moody's normal eye was fixed upon Harry; the magical one was looking to his left for some reason.

"And," Ackerly said. If not for his hand still on Harry's shoulder, then, Harry would forgotten that he was even there. He had stayed silent throughout most of the discussion, but now he spoke up again, his voice as cold as ice. "How do you plan on doing that?"

"You think that I won't?" Moody asked him. "That I'm unable to? You think that I would need to order something else to do it for me?"

He was definitely talking about Ackerly and the Basilisk, but somebody's next words came as a surprise.

"But isn't that what Voldemort's been doing?"

Emma gasped, and a bit of her composure slipped when she saw the figure standing at the far end of the corridor between the two snakes. "Lillica! What are you doing here?!" Harry heard the panic in her voice now.

"Everyone's on their way up here, Mum..." Lillica told her. "I should have realised it...but...you were right...about...about him..." She cast a wary glance at Moody, who was looking at her with his magical eye.

"I know that, Lillica, but you shouldn't be up here!" Emma told her. "You know what this man is, you've experienced firsthand what he's capable of through his classes!"

"We've been in dangerous situations before..." Lillica pointed out.

"I know what you're talking about," Emma said quietly, and Harry could hear how hard she was working to contain her panic now. "Unlike Professor Quirrell, this man will not hesitate to kill for his master, even if it means hurting me beyond repair, he will stop at nothing to make his escape!" Lillica's stubborn gaze faltered only slightly. "Lillica..."

Harry realised that the fact that Moody was standing in between Emma and Lillica wasn't helping the situation for any of them.

Perhaps Moody could see this, too. He kept on glancing to his left, not that the solid wall there would do him much good. He was cornered...just like Wormtail had been on that day, when he'd murdered twelve muggles and then faked his own death...

Harry suddenly understood why his godmother was panicking now.

Emma was still looking at Lillica. "I can't lose you..." She told her daughter.

"Mum..."

"If only more people," Moody stated, interrupting the moment between mother and daughter. "Could be more like you are, love - you care about your family as much as my father didn't. You know...as I've told you, the Dark Lord and I...have much in common." He looked at Harry again. "Both of us, for instance, had very disappointing fathers . . . very disappointing indeed. Both of us suffered the indignity, Harry, of being named after those fathers. And both of us had the pleasure . . . the very great pleasure ... of killing our fathers to ensure the continued rise of the Dark Order!"

Emma shuddered then, and Lillica's silver eyes widened. "Mum...?!" She called, taking a step forwards.

"Wait, Lillica!" Ackerly warned her sharply.

September tugged back on Lillica's sleeve. "Do you even ssstill recall the plan?" Harry heard the snake hiss urgently to Lillica. "You were sssupposssed to go and get Winky!"

"I got Kreacher to do it..." Lillica hissed back.

Harry was looking at Moody. He remembered hearing Voldemort say how someone had died...how the Dark Jewel - Emma - could sense it...how upset it had made her...

This man had done that...

"You're mad," Harry said - he couldn't stop himself - "you're mad!"

"Mad, am I?" said Moody, his voice rising uncontrollably. "We'll see! We'll see who's mad, now that the Dark Lord has returned, with the Dark Jewel and me at his side! He is back, Harry Potter, you did not conquer him..." He stopped talking, quite abruptly.

Harry heard it, too - hurried footsteps, running up the stairs behind Lillica and September. At first, he thought that this was why Moody had stopped talking, but then he realised that the face of the man standing before them had begun to change. The scars were disappearing, the skin was becoming smooth; the mangled nose became whole and started to shrink. The long mane of grizzled gray hair was withdrawing into the scalp and turning the color of rust.

Harry stared, and he was quite sure that his expression was a reflection of the one on Lillica's face right now; his godsister was standing there stunned and open-mouthed, her arms now hanging limply by her sides.

She barely even registered the fact that people had appeared at the top of the stairs behind her. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape all rushed up the stairs with their wands drawn.

Movement made Harry half turn; Lovota, Brunilda, and Apolline had appeared from around the corner behind him, and each of the three ladies had their wands out as well.

Suddenly, with a loud clunk - Harry turned back around quickly - the wooden leg fell away as a normal leg regrew in its place; next moment, the magical eyeball had popped out of the man's face as a real eye replaced it; it rolled away across the floor and continued to swivel in every direction.

Harry saw a new man standing before him. He knew who he was. He had seen him in Dumbledore's Pensieve, had watched him being led away from court by the dementors, trying to convince Mr. Crouch that he was innocent. . . but he was lined around the eyes now and looked much older. . . .

Nobody moved. Nobody said or did anything, as the transformation was complete.

Emma's whole entire body had gone very still; Harry felt for sure that, had she been a wolf, then her ears would have pricked up. It looked like every ounce of her fibre was focused on the man in front of her, and he was doing the same. The look on his face was almost like a hungry predator, gazing at its prey...

Then, the man spoke to Emma. His voice was deep and somewhat husky; it sounded vaguely familiar to Harry.

"'Allo, Love..."

Emma spoke, and her slightly hoarse voice sent a thrill of static electricity down Harry's spine.

"'Timus..."

Then, everything seemed to happen at once.

Crouch's son slashed with his wand, sending a streak of what looked like black light at them. Harry saw Ackerly's wand come up; saw the blue shield again...but, then, he heard Lillica shriek, and watched as Crouch's son moved left, disappearing straight through the fake wall that he would have been able to see before thanks to the magical eye...Emma was right behind him, however, and vanished from sight.

A shock of panic shot straight through Harry, that had nothing to do with Lovota crying: "She can't duel him, she knows what will happen!"

Harry suddenly realised that Crouch's son...had killed his Father...that must've been the night that Emma had returned to Hogwarts...the night that, she too, had been attacked...

Who knew what Crouch's son would do to her...

Making up his mind in the split second it took him to get to his feet, Harry threw himself through the fake wall after them, ignoring the now louder cries from those behind him as well as the pain in his leg.

As he ran down the hidden passage, following the sounds of the duel which had clearly started up ahead, Harry's heart was hammering in his chest. He could scarcely bear to believe what was happening...he felt like the night would never end...

"Keep going..." A small voice hissed in his ear just then, and Harry nearly tripped; Septimus was curled around his waist and up his back, with his head resting on Harry's shoulder. He must have used the distraction caused by the transformation to slither his way over to Harry. Never again would Harry question how Emma was sometimes unaware that the snake was even with her. "Hurry!"

"Ssseptimusss..." Harry panted, as he struggled up a staircase. "That man...Mr. Crouch'sss ssson...how did he...?! What about Moody?!"

"You have never known the real Alassstor Moody," Septimus told him. "Him, we found in that trunk in the impossster'sss officcce, barely alive and missssssing clumpsss of hair..."

"Clumps of hair?" Harry asked, in English, as he finally reached the top of the stairs. "Why?"

"For the Polyjuice Potion, Harry," a voice came from halfway up the stairs, and Harry turned in amazement to see Dumbledore ascending the staircase towards him. How had he caught up with Harry so fast? He didn't even seem to be out of breath. "You see the simplicity of it, and the brilliance." He added, as he finally reached Harry and Septimus. "For Moody never does drink except from his hip flask, he's well known for it. The imposter needed, of course, to keep the real Moody close by, so that he could continue making the potion."

"The imposter..." Harry said slowly. "You mean...Mr. Crouch's son! But...how...?"

"How indeed?" Dumbledore's voice sounded light, but his blue eyes were flashing.

Septimus hissed, somewhat nervously.

"Professor," Harry said hurriedly. "Emma...! She...she's the Dark Jewel, the one Voldemort's after...!"

He was suddenly cut off by a scream, which came from the area just beyond the chamber at the top of the stairs. Without even waiting, both Harry and Dumbledore ran the distance of the chamber and through the archway, into a part of the castle that Harry hadn't known existed up until this point.

They had come out about halfway up a long staircase, leading up to an area with floor-to-ceiling windows lining one wall.

And, at the top of those stairs, two people were currently locked in a duel, the likes of which Harry had never seen before. Their wands slashed, sending streaks of light that never once hit their target, because Emma would either block or dodge, and Crouch's son was doing the same thing. They both moved so fast, that Harry was only able to tell who was who from his godmother's gold cape. They weren't even saying the names of their spells.

Something suddenly flew past Harry's left ear - if Dumbledore hadn't grabbed his arm and yanked him out of the way then whatever it was would have hit him. There was the sound of clattering footsteps coming from the bottom of the stairs, as Dumbledore pulled Harry to stand more behind him.

"She shouldn't be doing this!" Lovota's voice cried, as she appeared behind them. The Black twins were right behind her.

Lillica looked too shocked to even speak, as she watched her mother dodge one of Crouch's son's spells.

Teddy, who was catching her breath, managed to say: "That's - Uncle Barty's - son...right?" Harry nodded. "Then she - really shouldn't - be duelling him..."

"Why-?"

Harry's question was soon answered, however, as both Emma - who was on the floor - and Crouch's son - who was standing about ten feet away from her - suddenly chose that moment to finally announce their next spells, at the exact same time.

"FLAMMA!" Emma shouted.

"FULGUR!" Crouch's son yelled.

"Non!" Ackerly cried (when had he gotten there?).

White and gold flames streaked forth from Emma's wand, just as black and silver lightning shot from the wand of Crouch's son.

The two spells collided in mid-air but, instead of one overpowering the other or even both of them ricocheting off of each other (and, into things), something different happened...

Harry's mind was somehow dragged almost painfully back to the graveyard, when his and Voldemort's spells had collided, uniting their wands. Harry had no idea what had happened then. And he had no idea what was happening now, as the heat from both of the spells intensified.

The two spells seemed to have combined, swirling around each other and throwing showers of ember and light around, until the ground around Emma and Crouch's son was covered in glowing dust, which rose up into the air around them.

Crouch's son had his back to them, so they couldn't see his face. They could just make out Emma's face through the glowing embers that were the exact same colour as her eyes.

She looked just as scared as Harry had imagined that he had looked, back in the graveyard.

"Mum!" Teddy cried, over the sound of the two spells colliding.

"What should we do?!" Lillica looked from what was happening, to Dumbledore, but it was Ackerly who responded.

"You can't get close!" The half Veela warned them all. "The power of The Old Magic makes it too dangereux to approach them now!" His dark blue eyes were glued intently to Emma.

"It's not just that!" Lovota cried. She looked like she was holding Lillica back; the younger girl seemed determined to reach her mother, despite the warnings. "It's because those two are connected by a Bond! It's gotta be causing them both so much pain to be doing this!" Her eyes had filled with tears. "Why...?" They heard her almost whisper. "Why would she put herself through this...?"

"You can end this, Love!" Crouch's son said suddenly, and they watched him step closer to Emma. "You don't have to do this!"

"Yes, I do!" Emma responded. "I do...'Timus, you know why I have to!"

Harry suddenly became aware of Snape and McGonagall hurrying up the stairs behind them, both of them unable to look anything but shocked as they saw what was happening.

Then, Snape's dark eyes narrowed slightly. "What will she do...?" Harry heard him mutter, as Crouch's son appeared to reach out a hand towards Emma then.

"Oh, God, I can't watch!" Lillica exclaimed, although she didn't seem to be able to tear her gaze away, either.

Neither could Harry, who had just caught sight of the object in his godmother's left hand. It was a pocket watch - not her own, but, the one that had once belonged to Mr. Crouch...Emma had been found with it on that night...Crouch's son had been there...Voldemort had said that his most faithful servant would return to him, bringing with him the Dark Jewel...

The ring had been there, too, but Harry had a feeling that The Old Magic wouldn't have liked having done to it what had been done to the pocket watch...

"Emma!" Harry suddenly shouted, with what felt like his last ounce of strength left for that night. "The pocket watch is a Portkey! Mr. Crouch's pocket watch! You've got to get rid of it!"

He saw Crouch's son freeze...saw Emma's eyes widen first in surprise, and then in sheer horror as the realisation dawned on her...

"STUPEFY!"

The voice came from the left of the corridor, out of sight of Harry and everyone else, but they certainly saw the red beam of light that hit Crouch's son from the side, sending him flying away from Emma and causing the fire and lightning to finally disappear, along with the heat.

It was almost completely gone, with no signs that it had ever been there to begin with, when they finally made it up the stairs.

Emma was still sitting there, her forehead resting on her left hand. Mr. Crouch's pocket watch was on the ground in front of her and, as they watched, it struck the hour and then vanished without a trace.

Emma let out a long, shuddering sigh. Her hair was falling in front of her face, blocking it from view.

Crouch's son was lying several feet away, where the stunning spell had sent him flying into a wall.

There was no sign of the person who had conjured the spell.

For a second, nobody moved, and then Emma raised her head to look at them all.

Then, a piercing shriek suddenly broke the silence, and Winky the house elf flung herself at Emma.

"Mistress Emma! What has happening to you?!" She wailed.

Emma looked quite startled, but then she wordlessly pointed over to Crouch's unconscious son, and Winky nearly lost it.

"Master Barty! No! What is you doing here?!" She flung herself at him, now.

As Professor McGonagall went to try and prise Winky off of Crouch's son, Harry said: "How did Winky know where we were?"

"Kreacher must've sent her up here." Lillica replied promptly.

"Who?" Harry asked, watching as Dumbledore and Snape hurried over to Crouch's son.

"Later," Lillica muttered, kneeling down beside her mother as she also watched what was happening.

Snape handed Dumbledore a small glass bottle of completely clear liquid: the Veritaserum with which he had threatened Harry in class. Dumbledore bent over the man slumped against the wall, forced his mouth open and poured three drops inside it. Then he pointed his wand at the man's chest and said, "Ennervate."

Crouch's son opened his eyes. His face was slack, his gaze unfocused. Dumbledore knelt before him, so that their faces were level.

"Can you hear me?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

The man's eyelids flickered.

"Yes," he muttered.

Emma shuddered again.

"Mum?" Teddy said, kneeling down on the other side of her. "Are you okay? Mum..?"

Emma shook her head briefly, but didn't say anything. Harry hoped that wasn't blood running between her fingers from her forehead, but he had a sickening feeling that it was. Lovota and Ackerly cautiously approached them, as Dumbledore continued questioning Crouch's son.

"I would like you to tell us," said Dumbledore softly, "how you came to be here. How did you escape from Azkaban?"

Crouch took a deep, shuddering breath, then began to speak in a flat, expressionless voice.

"My mother saved me. She knew she was dying. She persuaded my father to rescue me as a last favor to her. He loved her as he had never loved me. He agreed. They came to visit me. They gave me a draft of Polyjuice Potion containing one of my mother's hairs. It was brewed by Emma's husband. I hate that man. My father loved Emma as much as he had never loved me, as well. I never blamed him for that. Why wouldn't he? Emma would have done anything to help our family. She agreed."

Harry and the twins traded a stunned, three-way glance. Only Lovota and Ackerly remained impassive.

"Mother took a draft of Polyjuice Potion containing one of my hairs. We took on each other's appearance."

Winky was shaking her head, trembling.

"Say no more. Master Barty, say no more, you is getting your father and Mistress Emma into trouble!"

Lillica and Teddy both suddenly looked horrified.

"No-" Lillica began.

But Crouch took another deep breath and continued in the same flat voice.

"The dementors are blind. They sensed two healthy people and one dying person entering Azkaban.

They sensed two healthy people and one dying person leaving it. Emma and my father smuggled me out, disguised as my mother, in case any prisoners were watching through their doors.

My mother died a short while afterward in Azkaban. She was careful to drink Polyjuice Potion until the end. She was buried under my name and bearing my appearance. Everyone believed her to be me."

The man's eyelids flickered.

"And what did your father do with you, when he had got you home?" said Dumbledore quietly.

"Staged my mother's death. A quiet, private funeral. That grave is empty. The house-elf nursed me back to health. My father began to limit Emma's contact with me after that. He feared what might happen to her. Sent her on leave with her family. Then I had to be concealed. I had to be controlled.

My father had to use a number of spells to subdue me. When I had recovered my strength, I thought only of finding my master . . . of returning to his service. My father had expected that. That's why he sent Emma on leave. For her safety. I thought of her, too."

Lillica was gripping Harry's arm now. Teddy was trembling.

"How did your father subdue you?" said Dumbledore.

"The Imperius Curse," Crouch said. "I was under my father's control. I was forced to wear an Invisibility Cloak day and night. I was always with the house-elf. She was my keeper and caretaker. She pitied me. She persuaded my father to give me occasional treats.

Rewards for my good behavior."

"Master Barty, Master Barty," sobbed Winky through her hands. "You isn't ought to tell them, we is getting in trouble. ..."

"Did anybody ever discover that you were still alive?" said Dumbledore softly. "Did anyone know except Emma and her husband, your father, and the house-elf?" He was watching Crouch, and so he didn't see the look that Lovota and Ackerly exchanged.

"Yes," said Crouch, his eyelids flickering again. "A witch in my father's office. Bertha Jorkins. She came to the house with papers for my father s signature. He was not at home. Winky showed her inside and returned to the kitchen, to me. But Bertha Jorkins heard Winky talking to me. She came to investigate. She heard enough to guess who was hiding under the Invisibility Cloak. My father arrived home. She confronted him. He put a very powerful Memory Charm on her to make her forget what she'd found out. Too powerful. He said it damaged her memory permanently."

"Why is she coming to nose into my masters' private business?" sobbed Winky. "Why isn't she leaving us be?"

"Tell me about the Quidditch World Cup," said Dumbledore.

"Winky talked my father into it," said Crouch, still in the same monotonous voice. "She spent months persuading him. I had not left the house for years. I had loved Quidditch. Ever since I first saw Emma flying. I always wanted Gryffindor to win, even when they were playing against Slytherin. Winky knew how I felt. She understood more than what my father ever could have.

'Let him go', she said. 'He will be in his Invisibility Cloak. He can watch. Let him smell fresh air for once.' She said my mother would have wanted it. She told my father that my mother had died to give me freedom. That Emma had taken risks for the sake of our familys' Bond. They had not saved me for a life of imprisonment. He agreed in the end."

Harry chanced a glance at his godmother, but Lovota was leaning over her, so he couldn't see her face. Her shoulders shook, however. She motioned to Harry once, and attempted to get up, but Lovota gently pushed her back.

"It was carefully planned. My father led me and Winky up to the Top Box early in the day. Winky was to say that she was saving a seat for my father. I was to sit there, invisible. When everyone had left the box, we would emerge. Winky would appear to be alone. Nobody would ever know.

But Winky didn't know that I was growing stronger. I was starting to fight my father's Imperius Curse."

Lillica gasped, but said nothing. Her nails were now digging painfully into Harry's skin, above the cut in the crook of his arm, but he barely even noticed it and neither did she.

"There were times when I was almost myself again. There were brief periods when I seemed outside his control. It happened, there, in the Top Box. When I heard Emma's voice. I hadn't heard it in so long. Had my father been paying attention in the past, then, he would have realised the truth. It was like waking from a deep sleep. I found myself out in public, in the middle of the match. I saw Emma. I was finally able to touch her again."

Harry recalled the way Emma had touched the back of her head after she had sat down next to him in the Top Box...had she really forgotten that she had Septimus with her, or, had she suspected something more...?

"I saw, in front of me, a wand sticking out of a boy's pocket. I had not been allowed a wand since before Azkaban. I stole it. Winky didn't know. Winky is frightened of heights. She had her face hidden."

"Master Barty, you bad boy!" whispered Winky, tears trickling between her fingers. "You is even upsetting Mistress Emma!"

"So you took the wand," said Dumbledore, "and what did you do with it?"

"We went back to the tent," said Crouch. "Then we heard them. We heard the Death Eaters. The ones who had never been to Azkaban. The ones who had never suffered for my master. They had turned their backs on him. They were not enslaved, as I was. They were free to seek him, but they did not. They were merely making sport of Muggles. The sound of their voices awoke me. My mind was clearer than it had been in years. I was angry. I had the wand.

I wanted to attack them for their disloyalty to my master. When I saw that Emma had been injured, I wanted to attack the ones responsible for that, as well. My father had left the tent; he had gone to free the Muggles. Winky was afraid to see me so angry. She used her own brand of magic to bind me to her. She pulled me from the tent, pulled me into the forest, away from the Death Eaters. I tried to hold her back. I wanted to return to the campsite. I wanted to show those Death Eaters what loyalty to the Dark Lord meant, and to punish them for their lack of it. To punish them for causing Emma pain. She found me. We had been drawn to one another. She confronted me, she didn't want me to do it - I used the stolen wand to cast the Dark Mark into the sky."

"Emma, keep breathing..." Ackerly said softly. "C'est d'accord..."

"Ministry wizards arrived. They shot Stunning Spells everywhere. One of the spells came through the trees where Winky and I stood. The bond connecting us was broken. I pushed Emma out of the way. Winky and I were both Stunned.

When Winky was discovered, my father knew I must be nearby. He saw Emma, he knew. He searched the bushes near where she had been and felt me lying there. He waited until the other Ministry members had left the forest. He put me back under the Imperius Curse and took me home.

He dismissed Winky. She had failed him. She had let me acquire a wand. She had almost let me escape."

Winky let out a wail of despair.

"Emma went back to her family. Now it was just Father and I, alone in the house. And then . . . and then . . ."

Crouch's head rolled on his neck, and an insane grin spread across his face. "My master came for me."

"Breathe, Emma!" Lovota suddenly said, sharply. "Emma! Oh, dear...here..." Harry suddenly sensed a great warmth wash over him, and looked.

Emma was still sitting with her head bowed, but now a small silvery Patronus was lying next to her. Not a wolf, as Harry had assumed Lovota's Patronus would be, but what looked like a small dragon, about the size of a dog. It wrapped its tail around Emma, who still looked pale, but at least she had stopped shaking.

Dumbledore and Crouch seemed to take no notice of this, as Crouch continued.

"He arrived at our house late one night in the arms of his servant Wormtail. My master had found out that I was still alive. He had captured Bertha Jorkins in Albania. He had tortured her. She told him a great deal. She told him about the Triwizard Tournament.

She told him the old Auror, Moody, was going to teach at Hogwarts. He tortured her until he broke through the Memory Charm my father had placed upon her. She told him I had escaped from Azkaban. She told him my father kept me imprisoned to prevent me from seeking my master. And so my master knew that I was still his faithful servant - perhaps the most faithful of all. My master conceived a plan, based upon the information Bertha had given him. He needed me. He arrived at our house near midnight. My father answered the door."

The smile spread wider over Crouch's face, as though recalling the sweetest memory of his life. Winky's petrified brown eyes were visible through her fingers. She seemed too appalled to speak.

If not for the presence of Lovota's Patronus, then Harry felt quite certain that Emma would have either broken down at that moment, or bolted. Perhaps both.

"It was very quick. My father was placed under the Imperius Curse by my master. Now my father was the one imprisoned, controlled. My master forced him to go about his business as usual, to act as though nothing was wrong. And I was released. I awoke. I was myself again, alive as I hadn't been in years."

"The eyes..." Lovota said suddenly, and Ackerly nodded. He looked grim. The Patronus' tail seemed to wrap even tighter around Emma. Harry was somewhat comforted by its presence, and hoped that the twins were, too. They were both staring at Crouch in silence. Lillica's nails were going to leave a mark on Harry's arm.

"And what did Lord Voldemort ask you to do?" said Dumbledore.

"He asked me whether I was ready to risk everything for him. I was ready. It was my dream, my greatest ambition, to serve him, to prove myself to him. When I heard that it involved Emma - the Dark Jewel - I knew that I could do it. He knew that I was close with Emma. He told me he needed to place a faithful servant at Hogwarts. A servant who would guide Harry Potter through the Triwizard Tournament without appearing to do so. A servant who would watch over Harry Potter and the Dark Jewel both. Ensure that Harry Potter reached the Triwizard Cup. Turn the cup into a Portkey, which would take the first person to touch it to my master. But first -"

"You needed Alastor Moody," said Dumbledore. His blue eyes were blazing, though his voice remained calm.

"Wormtail and I did it. We had prepared the Polyjuice Potion beforehand. We journeyed to his house. Moody put up a struggle. There was a commotion. We managed to subdue him just in time. Forced him into a compartment of his own magical trunk. Took some of his hair and added it to the potion. I drank it; I became Moody's double. I took his leg and his eye. Emma arrived."

"Did she know who you really were?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry's insides clenched. Lillica's nails broke through the skin on his arm.

"No. I was able to block her from reading me. Another reason why I was chosen. It always had to be somebody who could withstand what the Dark Jewel could do. I was able to convince her that I was Alastor Moody. We had known that if I could do that, then, I would be able to convince anybody. I was ready to face Arthur Weasley when he arrived to sort out the Muggles who had heard a disturbance. I made the dustbins move around the yard. I told Arthur Weasley I had heard intruders in my yard, who had set off the dustbins. Then I packed up Moody's clothes and Dark detectors, put them in the trunk with Moody, and set off for Hogwarts. I kept him alive, under the Imperius Curse. I wanted to be able to question him. To find out about his past, learn his habits, so that I could fool even Dumbledore, as I had done with Emma.

I also needed his hair to make the Polyjuice Potion. The other ingredients were easy. I stole boom-slang skin from the dungeons. When the Potions master found me in his office, I said I was under orders to search it."

"And what became of Wormtail after you attacked Moody?" said Dumbledore.

"Wormtail returned to care for my master, in my father's house, and to keep watch over my father."

"But your father escaped," said Dumbledore.

"Yes. After a while he began to fight the Imperius Curse just as I had done. There were periods when he knew what was happening. It happened mainly when he was here at Hogwarts, with Emma. My master decided it was no longer safe for my father to leave the house. He forced him to send letters to the Ministry instead. He made him write and say he was ill. But Wormtail neglected his duty. He was not watchful enough. My father escaped. My master guessed that he was heading for Hogwarts. My father was going to tell Dumbledore everything, to confess. He was going to admit that he had smuggled me from Azkaban. He would deny Emma's involvement. He would still protect her.

My master sent me word of my father's escape. He told me to stop him at all costs. Told me that, if my Father told Emma anything, then I was to find a way to deliver her to him, as soon as I could. So I waited and watched. I used the map I had taken from Harry Potter. The map that had almost ruined everything."

"Map?" said Dumbledore quickly. "What map is this?"

Teddy and Lillica both exchanged a glance, and that's when Lillica must have realised what she was doing to Harry's arm, because she let go. She then noticed the blood, and jumped slightly. Harry shook his head quickly at her, and nodded towards Emma, who still hadn't looked up.

"Potter's map of Hogwarts. Potter saw me on it. Potter saw me stealing more ingredients for the Polyjuice Potion from Snape's office one night. He thought I was my father. We have the same first name. That's why Emma calls me by my middle name; 'Timus. A nickname, her special name, just for me. I took the map from Potter that night. I told him my father hated Dark wizards. Potter believed my father was after Snape.

For a week I waited for my father to arrive at Hogwarts. At last, one evening, the map showed my father entering the grounds. I pulled on my Invisibility Cloak and went down to meet him. He was walking around the edge of the forest. Then Potter came, and Krum.

I waited. I could not hurt Potter; my master needed him. When Emma showed up with one of her daughters, I knew that I couldn't hurt Emma, either. My master needs her. Potter and Teddy ran to get Dumbledore. Emma was getting my Father to fight off the Imperius Curse. She could tell straight away that he was under the control of somebody. She was getting my Father to fight it off, the same way that she had done for the half-veela traitor back in 1976."

"The eyes..." Lovota muttered again, shaking her head. "It's all in the eyes..."

"I couldn't let her do it. I Stunned both Emma and Krum when they weren't looking. I killed my father."

"Noooo!" wailed Winky. "Master Barty, Master Barty, what is you saying?"

Emma seemed to draw in a deep sigh then, and let it out, shakily. She still hadn't looked up.

"You killed your father," Dumbledore said, in the same soft voice. "What did you do with the body?"

"Moved it into the forest, with Emma. Covered them both up with the Invisibility Cloak. I had the map with me. I watched Potter and Teddy run into the castle. They met Snape. Dumbledore joined them. I watched Potter and Teddy bringing Dumbledore out of the castle. I walked back out of the forest, doubled around behind them, went to meet them. I told Dumbledore Snape had told me where to come.

Dumbledore told me to go and look for my father. Teddy told me that her mother was also missing. I went back to Emma, and my father's body.

Watched the map. When everyone was gone, I Transfigured my father's body. He became a bone ... I buried it, while wearing the Invisibility Cloak, in the freshly dug earth in front of Hagrid's cabin.

When I went back to Emma, I had my father's pocket watch and ring. The ring that was forged by The Old Magic. The pocket watch that he always carried. I was about to turn the pocket watch into a Portkey, to send Emma to my master then and there. But, somebody was already with her. He convinced me not to."

Harry was watching Emma, and noticed that she shifted slightly at these words.

"Did you know this person?" Dumbledore asked.

"No. He said that he had no ties to my master. But, he knew exactly who I was. What he offered up was an exchange. The pocket watch would be turned into a Portkey to send Emma to my master at a later date. The man had something that my master needed. He had the diary. It had a shard of my master's soul within it."

Harry and Lillica looked at each other, suddenly too horrified for words. Tom Riddle's Diary...

"I was able to get a nearby ally who was still loyal to my master to take the diary to him. She recognised the diary, she knew what had to be done. I carried Emma back into the castle, and said that I had found her. She was upset when she woke up. She knew that something bad had happened. I made sure to offer her support. She needed it."

There was complete silence now, except for Winky's continued sobs. Then Dumbledore said, "And tonight. . ."

"I offered to carry the Triwizard Cup into the maze before dinner," whispered Barty Crouch. "Emma was to come with me, but she had to leave me."

"Why did she have to leave you?" Dumbledore asked.

"There was a Boggart in the maze, as one of the obstacles. She had to get the half-veela traitor to take her back up to the castle after she came across it. The boggart had assumed the form of her greatest fear. It was an Inferius. An Inferius with long black hair and only one arm."

Lillica, Teddy, Lovota, and Professor McGonagall all looked horrified at these words.

"And?" Dumbledore said, quietly. "What did you do with the cup?"

"Turned it into a Portkey." Crouch replied. "My master's plan worked. He is returned to power and I will be honored by him beyond the dreams of wizards."

The insane smile lit his features once more, and his head drooped onto his shoulder as Winky wailed and sobbed at his side.

A small sound from Harry's left made him, Lillica, and Teddy turn.

Emma, with her head now in her hands, had begun to cry...