Chapter 6: Cursed

The second week of December put the Yule Ball into perspective.

Barty Crouch Jr was angry. There was a plan. The boy had to compete. He had to win. He had to get his grubby muggle-loving hands on the cup. His Lord and Master willed it. Barty Crouch was his most obedient servant. He'd been locked away in his own body for years. His sorry excuse for his father, his gaoler. It had taken years and a stroke of luck to escape. But that had been a sorry escape. And then his Lord came. And now the tables were turned.

Pettigrew was a weak minded, weak willed, terrified lackey. He had no soul. He didn't appreciate the power of their Lord and Master. The Dark Lord had belief. Barty would follow that to the end of the world. Barty had zeal. Barty had enjoyed taking out Alastor Moody. Pettigrew had been terrified. He'd been terrified of failure of the mission. Oh, don't mistake that terror. The Dark Lord's penalty for failure was terrifying. But Barty didn't act out of fear of failure. He acted out of zeal and joy of the act. He believed.

He believed in the resurrection of the Dark Lord. He believed in the theatre. He understood the importance of fear. It wasn't enough that the Dark Lord be reborn. No, the timing had to be right. Out of celebration and happiness of a grand tournament's win, there should be the fear and knowledge of the Dark Lord's rebirth.

That was why Potter had to win. For the Grand Plan.

Crouch had to make the boy compete. Dumbledore was thwarting the plan. The man had given Snape orders.

Barty was unsure about Snape. So was Pettigrew. The man was a closed book. On one hand, Snape could be their Master's most loyal servant. Remaining at his post, collecting information, faking loyalty to Dumbledore, ready to do their Master's bidding when he returned and demanded an account. On the other hand, Snape could be a traitor. Traitors must be punished. And Barty had no idea which he was.

Barty ultimately decided Snape's actions were irrelevant to his own. Snape could remain pretending to be on the boy's side, or on Dumbledore's side, or on his Master's side, but it didn't matter what was true. All Barty needed was for the boy to compete.

Force the boy to investigate the egg. Force the boy down into Black Lake. Either give him an advantage or hamstring the others, then the boy would enter the Final Task ahead. Remove the other three, then Potter would take the cup. Then his Lord would return.

And it started by making the boy investigate the egg. He could simply owl the boy and write the Merpeople's song down. But Barty enjoyed theatrics. There was something about doing a job properly.

Barty had learnt a lot from other Death Eaters. He'd been a keen learner. Especially curses. They were Art. Dark Art in fact.

"Harry, your trunk is rattling!" exclaimed Ron, running down into the common room, forgetting that he wasn't talking to Harry still.

Harry ran up to his dorm, wondering which arsehole had messed with his stuff. Ron wouldn't have, and he wouldn't play that kind of joke. Even though they weren't on speaking terms, Ron wasn't that kind of person.

Harry's trunk was rattling. He kicked it open. His egg was glowing. Harry didn't think anything untoward. He didn't have that kind of mind. He picked up his egg.

His scream brought everyone running. Ron and Neville were first through the door. Harry had dropped the egg. He was alternating between blowing on his fingers and shaking his hands. Ron approached the egg.

"No!" cried Harry, "It burns." The egg had begun to spin, its glow brighter.

"Oh, shit, RUN!" screamed Harry. Everyone piled back towards the door causing a jam.

"Dobby!" shouted Harry.

There was a pop. Dobby took hold of Harry by the arm, and with his other hand created a spherical bubble around the egg.

Dobby, Harry and the egg popped away.

They rematerialised in Snape's office. Dobby placed the egg, still contained in its spherical shield on Snape's desk. Snape moved away from his desk very quickly, wand out, creating a shield between himself and Potter and the egg.

"What's going on?"

"Egg. Glowed. Picked it up. Doing that. Called Dobby," said Potter, panicked.

"Professor Snape sir, there's Dark Magic here," warned Dobby.

The egg suddenly stopped spinning. A parchment materialised into existence within the shield and fluttered to the desk. There was silence for a moment.

"Dobby?" asked Snape.

"It is calm. Its magic is quiet."

Snape heard a whimper. He spun to Harry. Harry was looking at his fingertips. They were burnt. Not badly, not enough to blister, but they were raw. Snape reached into his robes for a vial. He held it up to Potter's lips and said, "Pain reliever." Harry swallowed. Snape reached into his robes again, "Antidote to Common Poisons." He helped Harry drink that. And again. "Healing potion." Harry took that too.

"Do you have a whole potions cabinet in there?" asked Harry incredulously.

He got no answer.

"Exactly what happened?" Snape asked, as he waved his wand over the egg. He agreed with Dobby. He couldn't detect any magic anymore. Without Dobby lowering the shield, Snape turned the parchment so he could read it. He was reading as Harry spoke.

"Ron said my trunk was rattling. I went up to my dorm, kicked open my trunk and the egg was glowing. I picked it up. It burned me. I dropped it. It started to spin. I was scared. I told everyone to run. I called Dobby. He brought us here."

Snape cast a silencing charm around himself briefly, created his Patronus and it went away with a message.

Snape put the parchment down, face down on the desk and ran another diagnostic charm on Harry.

"Dobby, can you leave that shield unattended but active?"

Dobby nodded, "Yes, sir."

"Mr Potter and I will be going to the infirmary."

Poppy came running at Severus' urgent call. She'd heard the telltale pop of a house elf and assumed a Potions incident, even though it was after lessons.

"Please run a full diagnostic on Mr Potter. I can't find anything wrong with him, but I'd like your expertise."

"Of course, Severus, anything in particular."

"No. Search for anything."

"Did it do something to me?" asked Harry.

"It is too early to tell, Mr Potter," replied Snape.

Poppy ran spell after spell but didn't detect anything wrong. She was running some final ones when Dumbledore came into the infirmary.

"Well?" asked Snape.

"The others are perfectly fine. Karkaroff was reluctant to let me look, but capitulated. I didn't say why, just that I wanted to make sure everyone's egg was fine. I'm sure he will complain to Crouch that I was in some way attempting to cheat. Minerva is investigating Mr Diggory's in detail as I speak. Where's Mr Potter's?"

"Still on the desk in my office. Potter took priority. House-elf magic is keeping it contained, however it appears stable. It created a parchment. Go read it. It's on my desk."

Albus left.

"What was written on the parchment?" asked Harry. "Does it have something to do with the task?"

"It is not part of the planned task, no. Hence our concern. I'm sure you know that from my reaction. As for what's on the parchment, at this time you do not need to know."

"Am I going to be OK?" asked Harry, worried.

"You should be," confirmed Snape.

"I don't know who to trust," said Albus. "I should be able to trust more than you, but I can't be sure. There is such a thing as the Imperius curse."

Flitwick nodded. "I know what you mean. I know I trust Aurora and Septima, and I trust Pomona with my life but I know what you mean. As for Alastor, life long Auror should speak for itself but… well, he's too new. And for this..."

Albus' office contained Albus, Severus, Minerva, Filius and Poppy.

Severus nodded. "The less people that know about this the better. It's easier to find who's responsible that way. We have to pay attention to who's watching who. Who's speaking to whom. Who says the wrong thing. This won't be obvious. Look out at breakfast. Check out every member of staff. That way we eliminate the Hogwarts staff. Then we move on to Karkaroff. When I find out who did this..."

"Anyone would think he's a snake instead of a lion, Severus," smiled Albus.

Severus glared.

"But it's not him the curse is going to affect, is it?" asked Minerva.

Severus sighed. "Only partially, given that second part of the curse. The first part could just as easily be one of us. Is the parchment safe to handle, Albus?"

"Yes, it is," said Albus, picking it up from his desk and passing it to Severus. "I take it there's nothing to be had from the handwriting."

Filius shook his head, "Standard magic lettering. The words were dictated onto it. Would you mind reading it again, Severus. Is there a tone, or language in it we can identify?"

Severus read:

You have been given a task yet you have the audacity to not compete. We can't have that. So here's a little incentive. You have until Monday 2nd January to work out the secret of the egg. If you have not done so by then, someone random to whom you have spoken about the tournament will die. After all, we wouldn't want you to die before your task is complete, would we? That would negate your purpose, boy.

Your temerity requires direct punishment too. Arrogant little sod, aren't you? Think you're above everyone? I read all about the first task. Dancing pineapples? How very showy. You need to be brought down a couple of pegs for your rudeness.

I believe a number of the Heads of House and the Headmaster of Hogwarts deal with rudeness in a very specific way. You won't be sitting for breakfast the next day, Potter. Otherwise, someone random to whom you have spoken about the tournament will die unless by the same date.

Be grateful I didn't decide to have you crucio'd.

The curse will know. Do as you are told. Compete.

"It's written by an arrogant son of a bitch," said Filius.

"I think that's a prerequisite for Death Eater, don't you?" asked Severus.

"It's designed to ensure he competes," said Minerva. "We can get a curse breaker in, but chances are that person won't have time to break it. Curses take months. We've got what? Three weeks?"

"I will contact Gringotts. They have the best curse breakers," said Albus. "There's something about money that creates a good curse."

"If we can't break it, he'll have to compete properly," said Filius.

"That's not entirely true," argued Severus, slowly, "Read the words again. The secret of the egg. Potter can take his egg for a bath, discover the secret, hear the Merpeople's words and leave it at that."

"That's a risk!" exclaimed Minerva, scandalised.

"No, it's not," squeaked Filius, "This is a curse. When it activated, Mr Potter should have felt pins and needles all over. Admitted he was busy dealing with his fingers at the time. But when any clause of a curse is fulfilled he will feel the same sensation. He will know when he's done enough. So long as he does it early enough to leave himself time to work out how to compete if needed, he can do bare minimum."

"And what's to stop the bastard who did this from doing it again when they realise they wrote a bad clause?" asked Severus.

"Nothing," said Albus. "But we can make it seem like he's doing everything he's supposed to.

"And… the second part?" asked Minerva quietly.

"We don't tell Potter about it unless we have to, and we get a curse breaker in," said Severus. "Mind you, being raised by muggles I don't think he'd see it the same way as say his pure-blood friend Weasley. I don't think Potter attaches the same loss of standing to bowing in public as others do. He might see it as embarrassing, even demeaning, but not to the same level of mortification as Malfoy would.

"I wish I had confidence in a cursebreaker, Severus," said Albus quietly, "But I agree, we don't tell him, and we don't show anyone this parchment."

"Thank you for being available at such short notice, Mr Weasley," said Albus, welcoming Bill Weasley into his office and offering him a seat.

"Anything, Headmaster" replied Bill, "Griphook wasn't forthcoming. He said that the Goblin Nation wasn't officially helping you. Wizarding stupidity he said, but that unofficially I am on leave until this matter is finished."

Albus passed him the parchment. "One of the competitors' eggs has been cursed. We need the curse lifted."

Bill read the parchment. "The curse activated and produced this?"

Albus nodded.

"Fairly standard format," he said in a business-like way. "That egg there?" he asked, nodding toward the egg now on Albus' desk.

Again, Albus nodded.

"May I?"

"Go ahead."

Bill used his wand to run some advanced charms on the egg.

"Well, the good news is it's safe to touch. The bad news is that the curse was activated. The person who touched this object first after the curse was set has been cursed. Who is that?"

"You will keep this information secret, Mr Weasley. All of this information. Everything about all of this, including the existence of a curse. Including from your family. Do you understand?"

"Of course, Headmaster," said Bill, remembering exactly why Albus Dumbledore was so downright scary at times.

"Harry Potter."

Bill looked up at the knock.

He'd been given guest quarters in the castle, but had been politely yet pointedly asked to keep out of sight. The corridor he was on had been warded to keep the students away, and they'd been told to stay away, but Bill had heard a couple of nights ago the whispered voices of his twin brothers outside his room. He'd summoned Dobby as he'd been asked to do if anyone tried to disturb him. He heard a pop outside as Dobby materialised, and another pop as Dobby disappeared again attached to both twins. Bill never heard anyone sneaking about again.

Professor Snape never looked happy. To be fair, even though Bill had done N.E.W.T.s Potions, Snape still terrified him. Bill always felt Snape could read his mind. Especially when he hadn't done his homework. Bill started to politely rise from his chair. Snape waved him down.

"You said you'd need two days to analyse the curse. Is it breakable in time?" asked Snape.

Bill sighed. "Probably not," he admitted. "But I can confirm it is exactly as it states. There are two clauses. There's a random element to the clauses. The dates are as stated. As curses go this is explicit. Just expertly done."

"That is only of minimal use, Mr Weasley," growled Severus.

Bill opened and closed his mouth a couple of times. Scary professor was back.

"Severus, that isn't helpful," said a stern voice from the doorway. Bill and Severus turned to the door.

Severus took a breath.

"I apologise, Mr Weasley. That was uncalled for. You are trying your best with the limited time and resources provided."

"No, no, I know you're all worried and on edge," said Bill graciously. There was a miracle right there. The Bat of the Dungeons apologised. Bill got a grip of himself. That wasn't a helpful attitude either.

"May I ask how long you might need if you think you can break it?" asked Severus. "Potter now has three weeks to solve the clue. He's not an idiot, but it will take him time. We still don't know if he only has to solve the mystery of the egg or whether he needs a plan for the task as well. Are you able to find that out?"

"May I keep it until the end of the week? Does Harry need longer than a fortnight?" asked Bill.

Albus nodded. "I believe Mr Diggory solved his in under a week. Apparently it was easy when he was literal about the instructions. We can hope that Mr Potter solving the riddle lifts the first curse clause. Then you can have it back so that there need be no second clause."

"Yes, absolutely. I will of course try my best."

The end of that week was the official end of term. There were a lot of ratty teachers. They enjoyed the holidays. Only the keen and polite students stayed over the holidays and there was usually a much more relaxed atmosphere. This year there was the ball to contend with. While many students were going home as usual (all of third year and below), there were more fourth year and above who were opting to stay until Christmas Day. Fortunately most students opted to go home and come back for just the evening of the ball, especially as it was Christmas Day.

Harry was staying, but he certainly wasn't about to have anything to do with the ball. Or anything to do with anything. Everything had got very screwed up.

On Wednesday of the last week of term Harry went as usual to his mentor session with Professor Snape. The Headmaster was in Snape's office when he arrived.

"Harry, we can now give you an update on your egg," said Dumbledore.

Harry looked at his fingertips and rubbed fingers into thumb. They'd hurt. "Don't care," said Harry.

"You're going to have to care, Harry," said Dumbledore quietly, ignoring the teenage attitude. Harry was certainly entitled to it.

"Why?" demanded Harry. "Neither of you have told me anything since Madam Pomfrey said I was fine and she dismissed me from the infirmary. On Monday you avoided the question," said Harry looking at Snape.

"And now we can give you an update, Mr Potter," said Dumbledore, the use of his surname indicating a slight amount of displeasure at the cheek.

Harry looked slightly abashed.

"You will remember what happened when you touched your egg. Do you remember Dobby telling Professor Snape there was dark magic?"

Harry nodded.

"Harry, there's no easy way to tell you this. Your egg was cursed."

"What?!" asked Harry.

"Someone has cursed your egg to force you to participate in the tournament. The curse is such that if you do not participate, specifically if you do not investigate your egg, then randomly someone will die."

Harry was silent. He had no words for that. He'd processed what Dumbledore said. He just didn't have any words.

"I'm sorry, Harry, that's a lot to put on you," said Dumbledore. "We have had one of the world's best curse breakers in for the last week trying to break the curse. He has confirmed the facts, but he cannot break the curse. Yet. He will keep trying. He has gone away for a few days to do some research. I am sorry this curse has happened, that our security has failed, but I am not sorry I supported you avoiding as much of this task as you can. The goblet has allowed you to be lazy about research in this task. That was our goal. I was not expecting human interference."

"So, what's next?" asked Harry, dully.

"We have confirmed your egg is perfectly safe now. Once activated, the egg itself is no longer harmful to you or anyone else. I'm sorry, Harry, but you must investigate your egg. And, in order to prevent someone from dying, you must be successful before the day the school returns from their Christmas Break."

"Will I be able to do it? Alone? I presume I'm not allowed help?"

"The 'not allowed help from your professors' clause is a stipulation of the tournament itself. So yes, you must do it without our help. The deadline is a clause of the curse," said Snape.

"I believe Mr Bagman gave you your egg on your way back up to the castle after the first task, Mr Potter. What did he say to you?" asked Dumbledore.

"He said I had to solve the clue inside it."

"Did he say anything else?" asked Snape.

Harry thought back. Bagman had been a bit weird now Harry thought about it. Furtive even.

"He said I needed to keep it with me everywhere I went. It'd help. But surely he just meant that I… couldn't just stuff it in my trunk and forget about it," answered Harry.

Neither professor spoke, but they both had very similar pointed expressions. Dumbledore passed Harry his egg. Harry took it gingerly, giving it the merest touch the first time he put a finger near it.

"Everywhere. Right."

Harry received a letter from Sirius the next day.

Harry,

I really am worried about Karkaroff and Snape. It's the holidays soon. You'll be staying. Get out of the castle one day and meet me. I need to see you're OK.

Sirius

Harry couldn't deal with that right now. He shelved it for later.