Authors Note: Okay, you all have my deepest apologies. I am soooo sorry for not updating in such a long time, I can't really begin to express how sorry, so I'll just tell you whats happened from my last update till now. First off, you all know I went on holiday, and just in case you're wondering, it was great thanks. A lot of travelling and that kind of stuff, but I survived. Oh! And second of all, I got a new laptop. : ) Which meant I had to wait for internet connection plus I had to find the time to transfer my files from the old one onto here...which wasn't easy, I tell you, lol. Third off, I've had a lot of family issues for the past few weeks ever since I returned from Austria, mostly to do with divorce and stuff. (Don't worry, its not my parents.) But theres been a lot off pressure and stuff, and I've been supporting people. sighs But thats life I guess. But I've tried, believe me, to get this up and running again. I never expected it to last this long until an update, but because it has I'm just hoping you all remember this story. grins Just as a reminder, I have SATS, options and a GCSE this year, so updates won't be quite so regular, but still around the usual times hopefully. I'll be doing updates at weekends most of the time, which might mean longer chapters as well, so y'all might get lucky, lmao. pulls back curtain I now present, the next chapter in the story. See? I promised I wouldn't leave it:P Enjoy and forget any grammatical errors. : )

Mentally counting them, Harry worked out there to be at least thirteen dementors, noticing this with dry irony as his wand arm shook slightly. Thirteen? How in the name of Merlin was he meant to get out of this one? A dull throb in his head was what was now left of his mother's screaming, and as he backed away he nearly tripped over an unforeseen root beneath him.

The dementors glided around most of the exits or routes he could possibly take, and he cursed them all under his breath, the chill air making his words form small clouds as he did so. Deciding to take a risk, he pointed his wand at one of the closer dementors that was already swooping towards him and in a loud voice bellowed out the spell he hoped would work.

"Expecto Patronum!"

His words, clear, cut through the eerie silence of fear that was almost engulfing him, making his wand shoot out a strand of silvery light, the brightness of it beginning to grow as it expanded into a shield-like structure around him. Harry concentrated on everything happy he could think of, refusing to let himself be beaten by just one dementor already. Which was an understatement as almost five other ones began to glide towards him. Eyes widening as the tattered, dark cloaks began to invade his vision, his wand arm faltered slightly for a moment. This was what the dementors seemed to need.

Almost at once the spell broke, much to Harry's surprise, and he lifted his wand again, only to manage to stutter the first half of the spell out as they surrounded him closely, still not touching him. But it still felt horrible. A suffocating intoxication made itself apparent to Harry as his worst past memories felt like they were being relived. The dementors relished in this fact, and Harry's eyes were now full of tears as his parent's and Cedric's deaths were fresh in his mind. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment to try and bring back his past determination.

Cedric's lifeless eyes bore into his, the boy's pale face a reminder of what he had done. What Harry had done…

"…no…." murmured Harry, frowning and shaking his head as more cloaks seemed to gather round him.

His mother's scream as she had protected him from death. The sound of her body falling on the floor, the gleam in her eyes now distinguished forever…

"I said NO!" yelled Harry, wary of what he knew these creatures were trying to do to him. He wildly shook his head, feeling slightly courageous as he stood fully upright, his eyes ablaze. Lifting his wand, he summed up all thoughts of his friends and family, and yelled the spell once more, this time aiming for all of the dementors.

"EXPECTO…PATRONUM!"

This time he got what he wanted. The shield he had owned last time was now morphing into a proud looking stag, the white gleam of it fending off the creatures, forcing them to move backwards and away from Harry. Feeling slight hope as he looked upon the magnificent animal, Harry smiled slightly at it, as it ran around the area a few more times, the dementors cowering from its light.

Knowing that he was wasting time, Harry wrenched his gaze from it and into the darkness of the nearest exit to the right. Swallowing the urge to stay with his patronus, he willed his legs to run that way, jumping over rocks and roots in his way. His hair now messy from that debate flew in every direction, and he kept his wand arm out carefully as he ran. The dementors could come back. And who knew what else was in here.

He hoped he'd chosen the right route.

After leaving the slightly commotion, and running non-stop for a few minutes, he glanced back, and on seeing nothing, skidded to a stop from his running to take a deep breath. Leaning on another bush, he caught his breath back and for once, was glad for the mask. It was making sure his glasses weren't falling off. At least he had found a use for it.

The darkness in this area of the maze was exceptionally black, and Harry, after a moment or two, swore quietly to himself for being afraid, and uttered 'lumos' to illuminate the pathway. The light travelled quickly around, and he checked each way, hearing no movement and feeling better than before.

No dead people. No dementors. Good. This was good.

He lowered his wand and raised his eyebrows as he was yet again faced with the decision of choosing another path. Hopefully a path that wouldn't lead him to certain death or destruction. Glancing to the right again, the pathway seemed to be more significantly clear than the left one, and Harry stumbled forward to walk down it.

As his footstep's down it echoed through the silence, he let his thoughts wander for a while. The dementors hadn't tried to take his soul. He knew he should have been pleased…but he wasn't. Only suspicious. They had had him. He had been defenceless for a moment, swamped in his darker memories. They could have easily given him the dementor's kiss, but hadn't taken the chance to. He pondered this for a moment, shoulder's drooping as he realized only one person that could have warded them off.

Voldemort.

He shuddered, and carried on walking. If this, all of this, was a test, then Harry was sure he was either doing badly, or going mental. Cedric…kept appearing. His mother's scream wouldn't leave his thoughts undisturbed. And on top of that he kept on hearing-

Something rustled again, ahead of him this time. Harry instinctively reached for his wand again, and held it out cautiously.

"Right, I don't know who the hell you are, but either leave me alone or come out here and fight."

His voice sounded more confident than how he felt on the inside, and he warily took a step back from the noises, eyes squinting through the darkness. His wand still lit some of the way, but not all of it, leaving dark patches here and there all around him. This was….what? The third time he had been irritated with this. But the last time it had happened…

He shivered, blanking his apprehensible thoughts. Cedric.was.dead. The person he had seen before…had….been a figment of his imagination. That was it. Of course, just his imagination. Something was tugging at the corner of his mind, but he didn't know what it was, and he clenched his fists tightly in frustration, still tense and cautious of what might be ahead.

In a short moment, he jumped forward wilfully, waving his wand out. The rustling was from a nearby bush…and after a moment or two; a mouse scampered out from underneath it, it's tiny eyes cowering from Harry's light. Harry froze and stared at it for a moment as it ran away, before the corner's of his mouth tilted upwards in amusement. Inwardly laughing at his stupidity, he assured himself that he was all right and was being too jumpy, and shakily lowered his wand. As he did so, the shadows seemed to darken slightly, and with a gust of cold air, the light on his wand flickered and died.

"Boo." A voice whispered behind him, it's breath tickling his neck in the pitch black darkness.

Albus Dumbledore couldn't say that he was particularly happy about Sarah going 'undercover' but he knew deep down that it was one of the only possible solutions at that moment in time to widen the search for Harry. It had been too long, and he knew that there should have been more than just once clue as to where Harry was now. Sighing, he stroked his beard for a moment, his thoughts lingering on the argument Remus and Sirius had brought up about the whole idea. Of course, Dumbledore had thought of everything that they had thought of. He had worried about everything that they had worried about. But he knew that in the end, this was one of their last remaining hopes, and it would work as long as there was protection available for Sarah.

He scratched his head for a moment, before realizing that the door of his office was opening. Glancing up with mild interest, he watched carefully as Remus made his way forward to his desk, dressed quite differently from his usual wear. The man wore a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and smiled sheepishly at Dumbledore as he watched the headmaster look at his clothes. Motioning to them, he spoke.

"Sirius finally managed to force me to dress a bit more…casual. I'm sorry if it offends you."

Albus chuckled.

"Not at all, my friend, not at all." He said, eyes twinkling. "And what may I help you with?"

Remus tilted his head and averted his gaze for a moment, gathering thoughts, before looking up again.

"Look, Albus, I know it may be rude of me to ask, but I would like to know who Sarah's brother is."

Remus crossed his arms with determination, watching as the headmaster sat back in his chair, gaze still on Remus.

"And why do you want to know this, Remus?"

"Because," Remus spoke slowly, speeding up as he went on, "Sarah's brother could be anyone of the Death Eaters. And surely you know as well as I do that there are different ranges of them. There are the brutal killing types and then there are the terrified, weak ones. We don't know how safe she's going to be there, especially if its with a brother who absolutely loathes her."

Dumbledore watched and nodded as Remus spoke, respecting the man's inquiries into the identity of the brother. Pushing his spectacles further up, he relaxed and spoke back to Remus.

"I can assure you Remus that me and many others have concluded that Sarah will be in a safe environment. But I am sure she would appreciated your interest into her protection, but things are perfectly fine." He said.

"Things can't stay perfectly fine and under control, Albus, especially if this brother breaks the bonds between himself and his sister. What if he speaks to Voldemort? Surely Voldemort isn't likely to trust someone who has just joined them out of nowhere."

"We have supplied Sarah with a history different to her real one. We also have protective spells and tracking spells on her…she will be-"

"Something can happen! Anything can happen! James and Lily died because of that man, and they were thought to be safe and protected! How can we be so sure Sarah is going to be fine? We can't!" Remus ranted, frowning.

"James and Lily died quite a while ago…" said Albus gently, trying to calm the man, "Spells have changed since then. Aurors have undertaken new methods of training. The ministry have become more responsible."

Remus raised his eyebrows and shook his head.

"Fudge is not responsible. He doesn't even want to search for Harry! We're basically on our own looking for him. How can we be sure to find him with no support from the rest of the wizarding world?"

"The ministry," started Dumbledore, face grave, "is being controlled by Fudge, a man devoid of any mental talent or intellectual thoughts. We can't blame him for not believing us, he never has trusted us. Although I am probably the reason, it seems he has dragged Harry into this as well. If he doesn't want to search for him, it is his choice, although I shall continue to argue with him until something happens."

Remus chuckled coldly, before turning to Dumbledore with an accusing look.

"Albus," he started. "Please. Tell me who the brother is. It'll put my mind at ease."

"I'm sorry Remus. It is a confidential matter between myself and Sarah and-"

Remus took a step forward, frowning angrily.

"Please Albus. You know I don't trust any of this, and neither does Sirius. This is meant to be a search for Harry, and we want to be informed of everything. We deserve to be informed of everything! For Merlin's sake, I'm prepared to go out there and fight Voldemort one-handed, just to see whether or not he has Harry. Being kept in the dark about this is only making it more suspicious to me and Sirius."

He stopped and his shoulder's drooped slightly with anticipation , as he swallowed all emotion that had almost threatened to rise within him in his small speech. Saying that he missed Harry was an understatement. He needed to see Harry, and wanted to now. Feeling angry that he couldn't see Harry only made him more emotionally driven to get out there and find him. He knew Sirius felt exactly the same way, and had left Sirius in the Gryffindor common room to go and see Dumbledore only a moment ago.

Looking back at the wizened man, he watched as the great wizard sighed deeply and turned to look into the fire crackling in his fireplace, before turning back to Remus, his spectacles gleaming as the dancing flames reflected in the lenses.

"It's important to know that the brother who I mention was not always the way he is now. And that your opinion will not affect Sarah from going."

"Yes, yes…" said Remus, nodding.

"Very well. Then I will tell you, but you will only tell Sirius if you wish to spread this. No-one else."

"I understand, Albus."

"Good. Then I shall inform you that her brother is in fact, Barty Crouch Junior."

The breath on his neck lingered as the cold voice made itself apparent in the still dark maze, causing Harry to freeze for a moment. He tried to make himself move, but his limbs felt stuck in that position, and he listened with attentive ears as a figure from behind him walked forward. Harry guessed it was now stood in front of him.

"Who….who are you?" he asked cautiously, the happy feeling from earlier now rapidly dissolving.

The coldness around him seemed to strengthen, and the tension in the air tripled as Harry's drew a shuddering breath, his throat almost constricting on the inside. Then, without warning, a memory hit him hard and he stumbled onto the ground.

Cedric's body falling with a thump on the ground beside him. Harry watched in fear and disbelief as the life in the boy's eyes went out, the personality, the past all distinguished in a second. Cedric was dead.

Harry pushed this memory away, and opened his eyes, only to find himself on the ground, tears streaming down his face. Cedric had died because of him. And now, so had his father. He had wiped out their family. It was Harry who had become the monster.

"You killed me." A voice rasped beyond the darkness. "And you killed my father."

Harry shook his head. No, he couldn't believe this. A minute ago it had been his imagination. This was still his imagination. It had to be.

In an act of desperation he managed to croak out a few words.

"Lu-Lumos."

His wand light flickered on, illuminating Cedric's face, and Harry stared in horror as the boy seemed to glide towards him, his finger pointing directly at Harry. The pale features gazed down upon him in accusation, and Harry threw himself to the side, not wanting to come in contact with him.

"You aren't real." He said slowly.

"I think you'll find I am." The voice rasped, the only problem being the voice sounded alien to what Cedric had sounded like. Harry winced with the formality of the words and shivered slightly as he backed into a bush, wanting to be as far away as he possibly could from the boy.

"You…can't be real." He said, frowning, his eyes wide.

Instead of answering him this time, Cedric came towards him, an eerie smile tugging at his lips as he held out his hand towards Harry. Harry shrank from it, his hand tightening round his wand, tears stinging his eyes.

Then, all of a sudden, the hand lunged forward, making contact with his arm. Harry cried out as an icy pain spread up from his elbow and into his heart, crumpling onto the ground as all of the world around him seemed to waver for a second. He looked up dizzily, seeing Cedric's form still above him, his darkest memories flooding into his head as his vision blurred.

Not seeing where he had dropped his wand, he rolled onto his side, but Cedric was already bending down and picking it up. Groaning as tears continued to fall down his cheeks, he tried to sit up, and failed, finding that the pressure in his mind was now beginning to hurt. His vision became even more fuzzy, and he began to sink down onto the ground, losing control of his body as he did so.

This was how he was going to die…

A massive shriek wrecked apart the deathly silence, and Harry turned to try and look, not being able to see what had made the sound. It was soon followed by large thud and a groan, this time not escaping Harry's lips but someone else's….

Cedric's.

Sighing partly in relief, Harry gathered his strength, his vision beginning to grow back as he did so. Sitting up shakily, his thoughts quivering, he managed to look up only to see a hippogriff sitting beside him, and Cedric a few yards away, face-down on the ground.

His eyes widened as he looked upon the beast, happy to see it again, happy that he was still alive. He stood, wary that the hippogriff might not like him, but it acknowledged him with its huge eyes, and made no move to stop him as he walked over and bent down by Cedric, prying his wand from the cold, bony fingers.

A little warm burst of magic spread through him as his fingers curled tentatively round his wand, and Harry smiled as he held it. Switching his attention from it to the severely wounded Cedric, he looked down at the non-moving form for a moment, before a hissing sound filled the peace.

Raising his eyebrows, he took a step back as he realized this sound was coming from the boy, and watched in fascination as the body turned to a black, shadowy colour, before slowly vanishing into thin air. The cold air around him seemed to disappear with it, and Harry stared at the space for a moment before spinning round to face the hippogriff.

"Boy, am I glad to see you…" he murmured soothingly as he walked towards it, his mind now full of questions.

What the hell had that thing been? It…it couldn't have been Cedric. But if not, then what? And what had it done to him when it touched him?

He gingerly rubbed his arm, perfectly content on staying with the hippogriff for a moment. He would concentrate on these things later.

Barty ran hurriedly towards the entrance of the maze, his Death Eater robes billowing out behind him as he did so. His hair dishevelled from the constant running flew about in all directions, and his wand was held out at the ready as he looked for the way in.

He needed to get in there. Harry wouldn't have gotten through it. He wouldn't have survived.

"Barty, stop!"

A voice made him pause from his running, and he turned cautiously only to meet the gaze of the person he knew to be Lucius Malfoy. The man behind the mask seemed to sneer at him, and he stepped forward in annoyance, only to be stopped when Lucius held out his hands.

"Listen to me, Crouch. Harry was fine. I've been watching him with the rest. You missed what happened, there's no need to go in there."

"Like Merlin there isn't!" growled Barty, frowning.

"The hippogriff he met earlier attacked the…thing. This broke the spell on Harry, which killed it. He's all right."

"Are you lying to me?" asked Barty suspiciously, hair flopping in front of his eyes as he took a threatening step forward.

"Now…why would I do that?" smirked Malfoy, causing Barty to raise his wand. "The Dark Lord wants to see you now anyway."

Harry…was all right.

Barty felt himself relax slightly, and he nodded awkwardly to Malfoy before beginning to walk back to the Death Eater group, taking a short-cut through the forest.

Barty would see Harry soon. That's all that really mattered.

Authors Note: Well there it be, lol. I apologize for any errors and stuff, I wrote most of it today in a hurry for you, out of guilt mostly: ). But please, review, I love hearing from all of you, and I've missed it loads. Hoping to hear about your xmas and how the new year is doing for you as well. :P