AN: Everything happens for a reason. Everything.
BROMBROS: He may, or he not, we shall see won't we?
Moonreaper666: Unfortunately, not yet, but there are good reasons for it not happening.
Chapter 13 – End of Year
The crowd was silent as Harry's words and the sight of Mr Diggory crying over the body of his dead son.
"W-what did you say, my boy?" Dumbledore asked him with his gaze firmly on Harry.
"You heard me Dumbledore, Voldemort has returned by using a dark ritual."
Albus' eyebrows furrowed in deep thought as he began to think of the plans that he had set up and how they needed to be enacted now that the dark lord had returned, but before he could question Harry more, the Minister's voice rose up above anyone else's.
"AUROR'S! ARREST THAT BOY!"
Everyone watched as several Aurors stepped forward towards Harry, wands out with what they considered a placating manner of stance.
"On what grounds may I ask that you have called for my arrest Minister?" Harry queried as he prepared himself for another duel.
"For murder Potter! You have clearly murdered the poor Diggory boy to win the contest and you have brought back the evidence of your crime! Auror's, arrest him immediately!" Everyone saw the spittle fly from the minister's mouth as he kept crying out for the arrest of the fourth champion.
Everyone in the crowd held their breath, waiting to see if the Aurors would actually continue to follow the minister's orders and arrest Potter, but as the Aurors began to close in again, Harry once again called out to the minister.
After spending the minutes in shocked silence, Dumbledore finally regained his voice and showed his anger towards the minister.
"Cornelius! How dare you accuse one of my students of murder against a fellow student. You will do no such thing as arresting Mr Potter because there is no proof of the matter."
Fudge sputtered once more at being reprimanded by the headmaster but whatever he was going to say next was interrupted by Harry.
"So because I come back with the body of my fellow champion, I must be guilty? I am more than willing to submit my wand for review to see if I actually did cast the curse that murdered my friend here. Because isn't that what the Auror force is required to do? Find evidence to arrest the correct person, yes?" At his words, the Aurors that were closing in on him began to hesitate slightly, clearly thinking hard about his words.
Fudge swivelled his head around and saw that the crowd, all three of the nationalities, were glaring at the Aurors and whispering to themselves.
With his face turning a brilliant red, Fudge ordered the closest Auror to take the boys wand and look at the previous spells used. 'Anything at all to bring Potter down a notch' he thought with a snarl.
As the crowd watched the Auror cast several spells over his wand, no one in the crowd, even those from the ruinous cause, noticed the small glow that flowed from Harry's eyes.
Harry suppressed a smirk as he continually warped the reality of what the Auror what attempting to find, whether they be spells or anything that Fudge could use against him, he would always fall back onto his teachings and have a backup plan for the backup plan.
After several more minutes of intense reviewing, the Auror gave Harry back his wand with an almost disappointed sigh that escaped his mouth and turned back to the Minister.
"His wand is completely clean Minister, no sign whatsoever of any unforgivable, let alone any spells of dark nature. I even doubt he has enough power to cast the killing curse. So Potter, after the extensive and thorough inspection of your wand and further lack of evidence, you are free to go."
Harry repressed the smirk the threatened to form on his face as he looked from across the area to see the minister's face turn a deep red in anger and disappointment at the failure of attempted arrest but took a deep breath and calmed down somewhat.
"Very well then Potter, as the Auror has said, you are cleared of the charges, for now, Dumbledore we shall discuss this talk of nonsense later on," with that Fudge turned and walked away, with those nearest to him hearing muttering from him until he disappeared from view.
As the crowd began to disperse, with the Diggory's taking the body of their son away, Dumbledore walked over to Harry with a serious look on his face.
"Is He really back my boy? Has Voldemort returned?"
"The enemy has returned Headmaster; you must've seen the same signs as I have."
Dumbledore nodded his head with a sombre look as he looked back towards the castle.
Meanwhile, Harry watched as Moody kept looking side to side, as if he had something to hide and slunk away, clearly planning to do something.
"If you'll excuse me, Headmaster, I must give Professor Moody my thanks for his help in this tournament," without looking back, Harry began to shadow Moody with an intense look in his eye.
Scene break
As soon as he got back the office, Barty began to wave his wand, spelling everything to clean itself up and pack in their respective trunks.
'I have succeeded! With the dark lord returned, he'll surely reward me with more favour over that rat and precious Lucius. But first, I need to get out of here before Dumbledore figures out, not likely though since he doesn't even realise that I took one of his closest ally's form for a year.'
With each item in his possession that zoomed into the seven-tiered chest, Barty's heart began to beat that little bit faster, fearing that at any moment he would be discovered, taken to the minister and locked up again before he was rewarded by his master.
As the last item in his possession entered the chest and the chest lid closed, he began to sit down to take a breather and to gather his thoughts for a few moments but was interrupted by a knock on his door.
"Yes? Who is it?"
Before he could ask who it was again, the door began to open and through the doorway, Harry Potter's head popped in.
"Professor? I was wondering if I could have a few moments of your time before you left?"
Barty regarded the boy standing in front of him with a critical eye, judging whether or not the risk of being found out was worth it as opposed to stunning the boy and taking him back to his master.
"I swear Professor, this won't take long, I promise."
Harry walked into the room with his head down, eyes glued to the floor to give the imposter the sense that he was in control of the situation.
Barty waited for the boy to speak for several moments, but to his irritation, Potter stayed silent, eyes glued to the floor with his head down.
"Well, what isit boy?"
Scene break
"Severus you must've noticed something this past year, anything at all? Perhaps something discussed with the Slytherins or something Igor?"
Severus watched as Albus paced back and forth across his office, eyebrows furrowed in deep thought as he kept trying to grasp at the shadow that kept slipping away.
"Albus, I have heard not a word from my Slytherins that pertains to any significance, all they talk about classes, inner power struggles and the seemingly ever increasing insanity of Moody," Severus responded in his usual drawl.
"Yes Alastor can be a bit overbearing at times but that is only because of his…" Severus noticed Albus go silent and furrowed his own eyebrows as he thought on the headmaster's words.
´Moody has been somewhat more insane this past year.'
Severus snapped his head up as Albus raced past him and out the door with a stormy look on his face.
As he tried to follow the headmaster, Severus tried to call out to him to get him to slow down and explain what his thoughts were.
"Severus my boy, remember what you told me about what Igor told you about the dark mark? With it suddenly becoming darker and more clear? With this happening, I asked Alastor to keep an eye on things around this place and inform me of anything suspicious. With the end of the third task and Voldemort returning, Alastor would've come straight to me to make plans."
"And the conclusion you have made Headmaster?"
"The conclusion my dear boy is that someone is impersonating Alastor and as such, is an imposter!"
Scene break
"Well you see Professor, because of the help that I've had in this tournament, I want to pay back that help with a gift, so to speak." At Potter's words, alarm bells went off in Barty's head, warning him that something wrong was happening but he ignored them for the time.
He watched as the boy slowly walked into the centre of his office, still with his head down but now with his hands clasped behind him.
"Before I give you this gift, I just wanted to say, you made a mistake entering me into this tournament Barty."
Barty's eyes widened as he heard the boy say his name, but before he could snap his wand out into his waiting hand, he was briefly blinded by a flash resonating from the boy, before his world was engulfed in pain.
Harry watched as the whirling mass of chaotic energy swirled around Crouch Jr and coalesced around him. 'Like a cocoon, waiting for the day when the beauty emerges' Harry thought before the screaming of flesh, bone and power came to a grinding halt, leaving only a puddle of flesh and blood.
"Whoops, oh well."
Harry took out his wand and cleaned vanished the remains of what once was Bartemius Crouch Jr, just in time before the door was blasted open by the emerging Dumbledore, with Snape coming in behind him.
"Harry! Harry my boy, where is he? Where is Professor Moody?" Dumbledore's words came out in a rush as he swept the room with his eyes, trying to peer in every shadow that might conceal a foe.
"Why? I something wrong with him headmaster?"
"Just answer the question Potter! We don't have time for your stupid questions and nonsense," sneered Severus.
"Headmaster insults aside, all I know is that right after I came to thank Professor Moody for his assistance, he suddenly got up and practically ran from this room, muttering to himself about needing to leave quickly."
Dumbledore cursed to himself silently and began to look around the room, wand still in hand, at anything and everything that might've seen out of place.
As Dumbledore stopped near the imposter's desk, Severus' voice called out him to bring him over.
"Headmaster, the chest."
At the headmaster's nod, Severus cast a spell towards the chest, causing it to slowly open, revealing not one chest but seven compartments.
With each compartment, both Albus and Severus crept closer, until the last and smallest compartment opened up, only to reveal a deep hideaway and the real Alastor Moody at the bottom.
Scene break
After the school had mourned for the loss of Cedric Diggory at the end of year feast, Harry found himself sitting in the courtyard, overlooking the black lake with his hands on the railing.
"Your presence within the warp is growing my champion. Just as the champions of old, you have changed the fates of untold numbers from what they were before."
"The traitor will return, though, whether it be in a year's time or ten, I and the followers of Tzeentch will be there to burn the vermin."
"Yes, as the followers of Chaos grow in number and power, so shall the influence of the warp begin to sway others, perhaps the French champion will be the first?"
Harry smirked slightly as he remembered the interactions with the French champion as she chose to talk with him after the second task.
*Flashback Starts*
"Monsieur Potter, may I 'ave a word?"
Harry's conversation with Luna and Daphne went silent as they turned their heads towards her and to her anxiety, their cold blue eyes unnerved her slightly.
"Of course Miss Delacour. Luna, Daphne, we shall continue our conversation later shall we?" Harry led Fleur away from the two and towards a little area that gave them some privacy.
As the two of them stopped, Fleur looked at Harry and froze slightly as she stared into those eyes, his words echoing at the back of her mind from down in the black lake.
Harry watched as his fellow champion stiffened slightly as her eyes glazed over slightly as if remembering something but she quickly shook herself out of it and took and deep breath in.
"Monsieur Potter, I wish to apologise for my words back at ze start of ze year, I was wrong to say such words and as such, I ask for your forgiveness."
Fleur waited nervously as Harry stared right at her, as if into her very soul, seemingly searching for something before her thoughts were interrupted.
"There is something else isn't there? Something…hidden."
Fleur could only nod nervously as Harry kept growing closer to the second, hidden, reason.
"Could it be about what happened in the black lake? Just before I left?"
Harry guessed correctly as Fleur lowered her eyes to the ground in shame at how easy he had read her.
"Oui Monsieur Potter."
"Why? Why want what I offered?"
Fleur's eyes snapped back to his as she took in his, what she thought, were words of refusal.
"Ze reason why I want zis is because I want to stop people from judging me constantly, looking at me with a guarded eye as if I am going to ruin their boyfriends!" Fleur took a breath to calm herself down before she began to rant even more and alienate someone who could help her.
"Miss Delacour, Fleur, you don't need my help of attaining this power. What you need is on shelf nine, row six, seventh book down, right next to two books that have the numbers eight and eleven on the spines." Harry smiled as he watched the French champion go through several emotions at once, starting with anger at his refusal, resignation at his words and finally confusion at the end.
"And what would I find at zis specific locale?"
"Think of it as a compendium Fleur, a book through which you can go down four paths but only three are open to you."
"Why would zis fourth path be locked from moi?" Fleur narrowed her eyes at him, almost daring him to take away this opportunity.
"Because of what you are Fleur. No, not a veela, yes I know what you are, but because you are a magic user. But because time is growing short, I shall leave you here and say this; the book is big and will seem unending, but it will further your knowledge." With that, Harry turned and left Fleur to find this supposed big book.
Fleur walked through the library towards the ninth shelf, walked down the gap until she found the seventh book on shelf number six, right next to the strangely ordered numbered books.
'Mon Dieu! 'E was not kidding about ze size of zis book.'
Fleur grabbed the large book from the shelf and with a strain, lowered it onto the desk in front of her.
As Fleur looked the book over, the multicolour features jumped out at her immediately as the blues, reds, greens, even pinks and a black/white mix was present, but what caught her attention most was the pictograph on the front.
'An eight pointed star?'
*End Flash Back*
For an untold time, Harry stood there, unmoving, unflinching, while at the same time making sure he wasn't interrupted as he stood there.
Before long, his thoughts were interrupted by his friends and allies, who took their spots in the arches next to his.
Harry felt more than looked as the different energies of the warp flowed around, the ever-changing power of Tzeentch, the enticing power of Slaanesh and the sickening feeling of the power of Nurgle.
"So what do we do now Harry?" Hermione asked as she kept an eye on both Harry and Neville, watching for any sudden movements made from either of them.
Harry stared into Neville's eyes as he regarded Hermione's question, 'What do we do indeed dear sister?'.
"As you and I have done during the time before this year Hermione, I suspect Neville has done the same, correct?" Neville nodded in agreement as he revealed that had also been recruiting for his patron.
"Well then we continue doing what we have done, but this time, we go further; tell your followers to do their own recruiting, show them the power of chaos!"
Harry turned away and looked at the departing schools, hearing his fellow chaotic champions stand next to him, he whispered the final words of what had been an eventful year.
"War is on the winds, and even the greatest is nothing without followers."
With Harry proving his innocence against the accusations of Minister Fudge, will it come back to bite in the future? Or will it be an unforeseen boon for him? As Harry dealt with the imposter Moody in his own special way, did the real Moody hear anything from down below in the chest? Will Fleur fall down the slippery slope of Chaos? Who shall she turn to? Find out next time of The Affliction!
Give it a good read, possibly even give a review as they are always welcome and it tells me if you're liking the story and you have yourself a very good day :)