Chapter 11

Leading up to the first task was an interesting turn of events. The Daily Prophet did not print anything too sensational about him, but did comment on the many mysteries that Heir Potter seemed to have. They even speculated on other magical gifts he could have, which was quite amusing to Harry and Justin as they had read the article together.

Justin, irritated by some of the ridiculous things the prophet spewed said, "I am the only parselmouth alive known to Wizarding Britain. I wish they would quit trying to give you the only famous accreditation left to my name."

"Not happy enough with your Boy-Who-Lived moniker anymore?" Harry teased.

"Please. I'd rather be known for something I could at least remember. Though if the Creevey brothers ask for one more bloody picture I might just set his camera on fire." The young boy growled out.

This caused Harry to chuckle, as his brother was starting to take a little darker approach to his classmates. Just last week Justin had been snogging Susan in the astronomy tower, and Colin Creevey had the audacity to not just interrupt, but take a picture as well. It was lucky Susan got a hold of him before Justin did or the boy's thrashing might have been much worse. Justin swore to his brother up and down that he was inches from feeling his girlfriend's chest up for the first time, and the bloody 3rd year Gryffindor prat ruined it. It was of course hilarious to Harry, but he chose not to poke at his brother in his time of frustration.

The training between the brothers was going splendidly in Harry's opinion, and Justin's magical prowess didn't just improve but it jumped. It was clear to Harry that Justin didn't flourish under other teachers because they weren't willing to push him to dangerous levels. It was when the boy was on the edge of defeat that he performed his best magic. His core was very well developed for his age, and his on-the-fly thinking got better everyday. Harry had little doubt that if he had received the training that Harry had, and the intensity that came with that, then Justin would be only a little ways behind his brother in magical prowess. It was also about time for him to prove it to the world.

They were two weeks from the first dueling session, and Harry had named his brother co-captain, much to the displeasure of some of the other people he had chosen for the team. Most of this was silenced however when Justin took down both Percy Weasley and Penny Clearwater in back to back duels. After the boy had stunned the school to silence, Harry just grinned and asked if anyone else wanted to challenge his brother for the co-captain spot. Obviously no one did.

"What class do you have next anyway?" Harry asked.

"Potions with Snape…" The boy said with a twitch of his eye.

Harry grinned, "Well, I have to get to class with Mad-Eye, so I can't say I am doing much better."

Justin shook his head, "You did not just compare the greasy git to one of the greatest Aurors of the last century, barring dad."

"The man's lost his touch with reality. You should hear him go on about some things. I know the man is well versed in the dark arts with how long he has been fighting them, but there is just something weird about it." Harry said curiously.

Justin shook his head, "It is a little weird. He seems different from when we were younger. It's been quite some time since I spent any amount of time with him though."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Seems like the old codger is losing it with age.

Justin laughed, "How's the map coming anyways?"

Harry sighed, "I've managed to replicate it twice now, but each time I do something new to it the whole arithmantic formula just gets confused and breaks down. Mum and I are working on a few different things, but we are starting to think the Marauders were more lucky than they were skilled at building the map. We can't even get the clock on it right."

Justin sighed at the news, "We may just have to let the tournament unfold, and see what happens."

"Not good enough." Harry said sternly.

The boy nodded, but didn't look confident that they would learn anything new. The brothers said their farewells, and Harry trudged off towards Defense Against the Dark Arts with Cedric who had joined him on the walk.

Cedric asked, "Think we will get to see another first hand account of crazy?"

"At the rate we are going I am waiting to see him break down and confess that he regrets his time as a Dark Wizard catcher, and not being the Dark Wizard himself. With some of the ideas he has said out loud I certainly wouldn't be surprised."

This caused both boys to chuckle as they entered the class to see three times the number of desks that were usually in the room, and most of them were full. Harry saw Fleur and Aimee sitting next to each other in the front and he motioned for Cedric to follow him as they walked to join the empty two seats at their table, "Ladies. May we join you?"

Aimee looked over at Harry then Cedric and smiled widely, "Oh, yes please. You're tall, with nice hair and handsome. You can sit next to me, please?"

The girl batted her eyelashes at Cedric, and he swallowed audibly, and took the seat next to Aimee, while Fleur rolled her eyes. Aimee hopped a spot over so Harry could sit next to Fleur and be closer to Cedric, and when Harry took his seat he glanced at her questioningly, and she shrugged, "Dumbledore spoke with Madame Maxime and Headmaster Karkaroff and offered to allow us to join this special class of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Your Professor Moody is going to go over the unforgivable curses, and offer to cast the imperius on volunteers."

Harry looked surprised by this, "I am surprised anyone would want to join this class. It isn't a pleasant experience being under the curse."

Fleur looked questioningly at him, but he shrugged it off, "A necessary training tool I did a few years back. Hours of throwing off the curse over and over again. It's not a skill I usually share with people, but since Penny already told you girls I could do it, there's no point in hiding it now."

The girl nodded, but still looked curious. Lots of rumors had been going around about Harry, and the more she heard, the more interested she became in finding the truth behind them.

Alastor Moody entered from the office above the students, and peered over the crowd with a satisfied grin, "Quite a few of you. Good. The more of you that know what these curses look like, and see how to fight them, the better chance you have against these stinking dark wizards out there."

This caused a few of the Durmstrang boys to snicker, and Alastor roared at them, "Do I hear volunteers from Durmstrang to be held under the imperius curse first?"

This silenced them all. Alastor strode down the steps and stood in front of the classroom, "I am pleased that so many of you had the guts to show up to this lesson. I will be frank with all of you. It is an ugly one. I lost more friends, colleagues, and family members to these three curses, than every other curse combined. They are deadly, they are effective, and the wicked are not afraid to use them. I will start with something you should all know by your seventh year. Outside of a fight to the death these curses are completely unacceptable. You will be sent to Azkaban for life if you are ever caught using any one of these on a witch or wizard. I was given permission by the Minister of Magic himself to conduct this lesson as I did for all Auror cadets in the academy. It is strictly volunteer only. No one will be forced. Am I clear?"

Many nods went throughout the classroom, and he nodded, "Good. Let's start with demonstrations."

Moody opened a jar that was in the center of his desk and immediately a large spider came spilling out. Fleur flinched back a bit, and many others did as well. Harry touched her hand gently, but kept an eye on Moody the whole time. He felt the girl still, but refused to look anywhere else when Mad-Eye had a wand in his hand.

Moody levitated the spider into his hand and it stilled, "Who can tell me one of the three unforgivable curses."

No one raised their hand so Penny offered without raising her hand, "The Imperius curse sir."

He nodded, "Correct. This is likely the most malevolent of the three. It can make anyone do anything if they can gain control. Imperio."

The spider that was already still suddenly jumped onto Harry's desk, and the others beside him all flinched backwards, but he stayed completely still. A moment passed and he looked at Moody, and offered his hand to the spider. The little creature immediately crawled into his palm and began dancing, causing a few to laugh, but most to look disturbed, "Look, it's harmless. She's just dancing."

The way Moody said this made nearly everyone cringe, but suddenly the Spider leaped out of its hand and onto a nearby Slytherin's head who froze with absolute fear as it just sat on her head.

This caused a little more laughter, and suddenly Moody said in a jolly voice, "What on Earth shall I have her do next, jump out the window?"

The creature launched itself towards an open window, but Moody stopped it above a glass of water, "Drown herself."

The spider clearly began struggling trying everything it could to get to the water, but Moody didn't allow it. No one was laughing now. He summoned it back to his hand, "Scores of witches and wizards did terrible things under the influence of the Imperius curse, but here is the question. How do we sort out the liars?"

The bluntness of his statement shocked even Harry, but Moody didn't let the silence linger, "Someone else give me another."

Fleur spoke after several moments of silence, "The Cruciatus Curse."

Moody nodded, "The torture curse. Like the imperius, this curse can be defeated, but keeping your mind under such pain is near impossible. Crucio."

The spider immediately began writhing, and making sounds Harry didn't even know were possible for such a creature to make. It went on. Then it kept going. Finally Harry realized that something just wasn't right. Many people were pale and couldn't take their eyes off the creature, it went on so long that Harry growled out, "Enough."

Moody looked up suddenly and locked eyes with Harry, and looked more than a little surprised. To Harry it seemed the man forgot everyone else in the room. It was almost like watching an addict who couldn't control themselves, but Harry wasn't certain. Moody took the spider's creaking body and dropped it on the desk, "Perhaps Mr Potter you would like to give us the last of the three unforgivable curses. Your family is particularly famous for defying this curse. The only family in history."

Harry stared at the man as he rose to his feet. A pin drop could've been heard in the room as Harry continued to stare at the man. Faster than most could comprehend, a jet of green light lit the room, and many people yelped diving for the floor. The people at his table however were too shocked to even move. A wand was now in Harry's hand as he stared furiously at the man, "Avada Kedavra. Two words. A flash of green light, and then nothing. Except my brother. The sole survivor of the curse in the history of the Wizarding World."

Moody looked impressed, "You didn't even need the incantation."

"Like you said, my family is particularly famous for defying this curse. I have researched it since I was a young boy trying to learn how my brother could have possibly stopped it." Harry said clearly.

"The results of your research?"

Harry could tell the man was searching for an explanation in his eyes. The truth. He wasn't using legilimency, but Harry could tell the man desperately wanted to know. Too desperately, "Inconclusive. A fluke of magic. My mother is one of the head unspeakables, and they have tested it on thousands of things created from magic, but nothing has ever survived no matter the circumstances or protections. It is likely my brother will remain the only wizard in history to survive it. Whatever the Dark Lord did that night must have been caused by a cascade of impossible events for it to have happened."

Harry wasn't sure if everyone in the room bought into what he was saying, but he was certain that Moody didn't.

The man ripped his eyes away from Harry, and summoned the dead spider to his hand and easily dropped it into a rubbish bin. The casual taking of any innocent life perturbed Harry, and the suspicion was rising.

Suddenly the man turned with his wand in hand again, "It is time to begin the practical lesson. Who among you will be brave enough to volunteer."

Not a hand went up, and Harry after several moments stood up again wordlessly and strolled to the front of the class with all eyes on him.

"You've got your father's defiance in you. I enjoyed breaking his spirit in the academy, and I will enjoy breaking yours as well."

Harry's eyes narrowed. James Potter was an animagus, and it was particularly difficult to control an animagus with the Imperius. By the time James Potter became an Auror Harry was certain the man would've been able to repel it. What was going on here? Was this just a chance of Moody trying to goad him, and get him off balance?

The spell washed over Harry and its power surprised him, but he showed no indication. He heard a whisper in his head, "Bow to me."

Harry stared at the man blankly, and then Moody said it out loud, "Bow to me."

"No matter how hard the wind howls, the mountain shall not bow to it." Harry said, recalling an old movie quote.

The man stared in surprise, but many stirred. This time the man pointed his wand between his eyes and attempted to cast the spell a third time, but this time Harry flicked his wrist causing his Zouwu wand fell into his hands, and Moody to scoot backwards, "Don't ever put your wand that close to my face again, or I promise you will regret it."

The man stood looking angry, and Harry stared defiantly, now one hundred percent certain something wasn't right. Just when he thought spells would be traded the man laughed, "HA! You have twice the balls of your old man, Potter. Merlin, if you could see the faces that people are making behind you."

Harry said nothing as he stared at the man curiously, not putting his wand away. The man clearly saw through Harry's suspicion, "Take a seat, Potter, 20 points for Ravenclaw."

For Harry's part though he merely stared as he felt the strange pieces to a large elaborate puzzle fall together, and the picture was ugly, "Is that all you got, Mad-Eye? Test the other one on me. I have been throwing the Imperius for years, and now let's see if I can throw the Cruciatus."

Gasp went up throughout the room, and he even heard Penny say his name from behind him, but he ignored them all. Moody just stared, "Are you sure, lad? It's a completely different fight when under the agony of this curse."

Harry knew this curse couldn't just be cast. Moody would have to mean it, "You have my permission."

Silence fell throughout the room and Moody raised his wand, "Prepare yourself."

Harry merely stared, enforcing every bit of Occlumency he knew, and suddenly he heard the words, and then felt the pain. It was as if his whole body was being burned from the inside out. He fell to his knees immediately, but before he could succumb to the pain he roared out, "ENOUGH!"

The magical backlash threw everything backwards, and Harry was sitting on the floor gasping for breath, now knowing that this man wanted nothing more than to hurt him. He felt the hate behind the spell. This was not Alastor Moody. The imposter growled out, "I've only seen a handful of wizards with the power to throw that curse, Potter. That was damn impressive. 50 points to Ravenclaw."

Harry looked up to the man still feeling the shakes of the curse, but he bit his tongue as he rose to his feet. Moody asked, "What you all just witnessed was incredible control, but now we need another volunteer for the Imperius curse."

Harry however continued to stare at the man as he stayed on his feet directly in front of him, and Cedric finally spoke above the whispers, "Harry."

The young man snapped out of his glance, and looked to his friend who looked concerned. Harry said, "Do you trust me?"

People looked at the two in confusion, but Cedric nodded his head, "Of course, Harry."

"Go next." Harry requested.

The request clearly surprised Cedric, and he paled just a bit, but stood to his feet, and walked beside Harry. At this Harry walked calmly over to his desk where all eyes were still on him. He sat at his seat, and Moody finally took his real eye off him, but Harry could feel the magical eye still on him as he said, "Diggory. Are you ready?"

Harry however slowly pulled out a fair bit of parchment out of his textbook, and kept his eye on Moody the whole time. Fleur put a soft hand on his shoulder, "'Arry, are you okay?"

Harry said nothing however as he whispered the words, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

The suspicion was in his mind, but he needed proof. Somehow the pieces were still falling together in his mind. The names began to dance across the page as they appeared and Fleur's jaw dropped, and Harry heard Cedric quacking like a duck, and saw that Moody still did not have 100% focus on him. The power of the Imperius was more than it should have been, but when he felt the Cruciatus curse he felt the hatred, and Harry had never done anything to Moody to make the curse work that way. Moody wasn't just good at the curses either; he enjoyed them, and Harry sensed it from the moment it washed over him.

The names appeared and he slowly shuffled them to find dozens of names in the Defense class, but the two at the front of the class were what took his attention. One said Cedric Diggory, and the other said Barty Crouch.

Harry looked up slowly, "Mischief Managed."

The map never lies. The man before him was Barty Crouch, but why? How? This couldn't be Barty Crouch the head of International Magical Cooperation that made no sense at all. The man hated unforgivables, and while he may have some disdain for the Potter family it would be nothing like what he just experienced. That only left one impossible solution. The man in front of him was one of the four that tortured his Godmother, Alice Longbottom, into insanity.

Harry noticed Cedric had thrown the curse on his second attempt, but that was mostly because Moody was staring at Potter with a new look now, and Harry realized the gig was about to be up. He looked at Fleur who was still staring at the parchment that was once a great map with shock, but he said quietly, "You need to get all the Beauxbatons students out of here."

She looked at him in surprise as he stood to his feet looking for Penny, "Get all the students out of here now."

The look on his face must have been severe, and he knew she must've only seen this look after he killed Pettigrew, and when he returned from defeating the shade of Tom Riddle, because she immediately stood wand in hand, "Harry, what's going on?"

"DO IT NOW!"

He had never raised his voice at Penny, but she flinched, clearly terrified of him, and no one moved, clearly thinking Harry had lost his mind. Not even Fleur was moving now.

Growling out Harry summoned Cedric out of the way and shoved him backwards knocking him over two desk, and a curse came sailing at him, but with his spare wand he deflected it, and with the other he summoned a massive protection ward separating himself from the rest of the class, "You son of a bitch."

"What gave me away?" Crouch asked.

"Your power of the unforgivable curses. I will admit I have been suspicious of you, but I thought you were just an old Auror who had lost his mind in the last two wars he fought. Where is Alastor Moody?"

He couldn't hear what was going on behind the ward, and had no time to spare them a look with such a possibly dangerous adversary in front of him, "Soon dead, especially now that you have given me up. Do you know who I am?"

"A dead man walking. You put my Godmother in St Mungos for 13 years, and you are going to pay for the lives you took."

"Not a chance, Potter."

These were the last words that were exchanged, because a bolt of green light shot out of the man's wand, and his massive ward absorbed it, but at a cost as it shattered causing the screaming to enter the room at full force. Suddenly, before Harry could react, killing curses were being thrown everywhere, but Harry wasn't letting them go. Desks bounced into the air absorbing the curses, throwing debris everywhere, not even allowing what few people had lingered behind to give any sort of resistance. The next spell was solid black and it attempted to fill the room before Harry stopped it, but the shockwave threw everyone behind him to the ground, and the screams continued.

Harry roared out in anger unleashing both wands into a furious cacophony of curses. The wall behind the man was blown to pieces as the man weaved curses around him, but Harry was too fast as he caught the man with a blasting hex that threw him threw what was left of a wall, and down towards the castle grounds with the rest of the debris.

Harry only chanced a single look behind him to see injured students, but all appeared to be conscious and moving. Cedric ran to his side immediately as he walked towards the massive whole in the wall that looked over the grounds. Harry had hoped the man had been killed in the blast, but suddenly he saw the man hit the ground and begin running for the forbidden forest, and Harry growled in rage, but before he could jump off the side of the building Cedric grabbed his arm, "Harry, what the hell is going on?"

"Barty Crouch Jr. He is getting away. Cedric we are friends right now, but if you try to stop me from getting the man that nearly killed my Godmother, we won't be."

Cedric let go of his arm as if he had been burned, and Harry backed up a few steps, and with a running start jumped off the side of the building alarming everyone left in the room. The wind was whipping through his face as he fell, but he quickly transfigured his shirt into a wingsuit that allowed him to propel himself after the man. It didn't take long as he soared over the grounds, he dropped himself out of the sky probably fifty feet in front of the man, and a hundred yards from the Hogwarts ward line, "Going somewhere? If you're so powerful, Crouch, why leave?"

The man looked different from who he had seen a few moments before. This man was skinnier, and his facial features sharp. His face was completely devoid of markings, and the magical eye was gone. It was clear to Harry when he looked at the crazy dark haired man that the polyjuice had either worn off, or in one of Harry's curses he caused the effects to cascade into failure.

The man growled out, "No backup, Potter? I killed dozens of wizards and witches much older and more experienced than yourself. It was I that defeated both Frank and Alice Longbottom, do you really think you can beat me?"

"I like my odds."

With that, the deadly dance began as Barty released a massive jet of fire. Harry, who had been countering the elemental spells since he was 11, easily swiped it away with one wand, and the other threw a piercing charm so fast Barty didn't even have time to raise a shield. The man's throat immediately started pumping out blood, and Harry strolled over towards him attempting to close the distance, "Didn't even last two spells did you, Barty. Come on, surely you aren't done? You don't need your voice to cast spells do you?"

A green light sailed towards Harry, but he easily sidestepped it, and threw a severing charm at the man's hand, but his shield was quick, allowing Harry to fling a shield breaker, and the severing charm at the same time which made impact so fast Harry barely registered him letting loose a blood curdling scream. Harry stalked closer and closer to the man, "My Godmother probably screamed for hours when you and your Death Eater pals tortured her into insanity, and if I didn't think I would go to Azkaban for it I would give you the same experience. Then when you begged for Death in the end I would leave you, writhing, and screaming like the cockroach you are."

Harry grabbed the man's hair and yanked his head back causing blood to spurt in his face, but he didn't flinch as he rammed his fist into the man's face four times before releasing the man, "You disappoint me. All that talk, and we didn't even trade ten spells in the real duel. My fourteen year old brother does better than that. I wish I could kill you right now. You are only the second person who I actually had a choice to end their life, but I need information, and I am going to get all of it before you die. LEGILIMENS."

Harry entered the man's mind brutally tearing apart his defenses. He wandered around, destroying everything in his path searching for information on Voldemort. The location of the man's safehouse was protected by the Fidelius charm, and Crouch wasn't the secret keeper so couldn't reveal it. He then began searching for his old friends in the last war, and the names of the Death Eaters who got off. Harry took every bit he thought useful, and in the end when he pulled out of the man's mind he couldn't even make a sound as he fell to the ground still bleeding profusely, and Barty realized the effect of a magical oath was taking his life even faster than his curse through the throat did.

Harry summoned the man's wand, and began to walk towards the witches and wizards that were running in his direction. He saw Dumbledore had his wand drawn, and several other professors including the heads of the other two schools. When they were upon Harry he merely kept walking, talking with an even voice, "He's all yours."

Flitwick was the first to get to Harry though as he grabbed both his arms, "Harry, are you alright? You are covered in blood, is any of it your own?"

"I don't believe so, professor." Harry said shortly.

Dumbledore stood next to him, but didn't dare touch him, "The man in the forest, Harry, who is it?"

Harry looked at the man, and his senses were rushing to catch up with him before he spoke. They couldn't afford to let Crouch Sr get away, and he couldn't be tipped off by anyone here. Harry grabbed Dumbledore's arm, and the man nearly cursed him, but he held his wand pointing down towards Harry's legs clearly ready for anything, "We can't let this go unanswered, headmaster. I want to trust you this one time, but if you look any further I will never give you a second chance."

Dumbledore seemed to understand as they locked eyes, and he delved into his surface thoughts, and saw Crouch Jr, and the information that Harry had obtained. It was Voldemort's plan from the beginning. Both the Potter boy's name in the Cup to attempt a resurrection ceremony. Then he showed Dumbledore that Crouch Sr had performed the switch of his wife and son, and then held him under the Imperius for two years.

When they separated eye contact Dumbledore stared ahead shocked, "You're absolutely sure?"

"No one could've lied their way through something like that while on Death's door. It also violated an unbreakable vow, and that is currently what is taking the man's life." Harry said feeling calm, but feeling the adrenaline beginning to slowly leave his body.

"You broke into his mind so far you took a secret protected by an unbreakable vow…" Dumbledore said, looking slightly worried at him.

"We couldn't let this information go. Fudge would have had him kissed either way, and we can chalk his cause of death up to breaking the vow." Harry said carefully and changed the subject quickly, "The real Alastor Moody is up in a trunk in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and I am sure he is going to be right hacked-off that this lasted as long as it did."

It was clear Dumbledore did not agree with this, but dared not argue with him with such sensitive information on the table, "Very well."

Harry nodded, and saw Justin, James, and some Aurors from his squad running towards him, "Excuse me, Headmaster, I have to see my family."

(A/N) Guys this was one of my favorite chapters I ever wrote. Enjoy, and if you want to read through chapter 15 today, you can join my discord with the link below.

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