Chapter 4

Harry peered out above the supply boxes to see what Professor Moody was doing. He saw him reach into a small case holding many vials filled with a repulsive looking liquid. He refilled his neck flask with it and then moved over to a large chest in another section of the office. He opened it up and seemed to give it a couple of insults. Harry thought this odd since you didn't usually talk to your luggage if you're sane. Then he heard a grunt which meant that the teacher was holding someone captive in the chest.

After checking on his captive Moody left the room to go confer with the officials on the next contest. Harry figured he would be gone for a while. That gave him enough time to figure out who he had kidnapped. He immediately headed over to the chest. Inspection showed that Harry would be able to unlock it with a spell. As he tried to think of the spell in his head he decided to check out the liquid. He was able to open the old and tattered case with no problems. The contents looked and smelled quite repulsive. He couldn't imagine drinking as much as Moody did during the day.

Once he was done there he moved on to the chest. This also looked quite battered no doubt after all the years of teaching and auror work he had done. He pulled his wand from his pocket to open the long series of locks. "Alohomora!" They all popped upon and Harry grabbed the lid and lifted it up. At first he didn't see anyone because the bottom of the trunk was right there and there was no one. Then Harry realized it was a fake bottom to turn off anyone who might hazard a glance at it, but since Harry knew there was someone in the trunk he was able to pick out the false bottom.

After the false bottom was gone he could see that the trunk was charmed to hold a hundred times more space than a normal one its size. There sitting in the very bottom was a man tied up and gagged. You could see that Moody had been pulling his hair out for something. Harry decided to see who the man was even if he was a Death Eater he could handle him. So he used a levitating spell to bring the man out and into the office.

Then he yanked the gag out of his mouth in case he was dangerous. As soon as the gag was out he began to speak.

"Exactly who are you boy? Why did you take me out of my humble abode?" He asked me. It was quite obvious he was being sarcastic; no doubt he thought Harry was helping Moody.

"Hey, I'm not helping Moody. The name is Harry Potter. I'm just trying to figure out why he kidnapped you for?"

"Boy, I am Alastor Moody! That guy's an imposter. He is a Death Eater trying to get to you Potter! He was going to trap you with Voldemort after the last task. That's why he has been helping you win! I would never have helped you cheat."

"Well then I suppose we should take this to the authorities. They can figure out what their going to do with the other Moody. Let's get out of here before he shows back up for more of that potion he sis using to impersonate you." After this the two left one to go back to class and the other to Dumbledore's office. Harry thought they had a good plan and even if he personally didn't like Dumbledore he would be able to help Moody.

Harry just barely made it to potions on time but he would have been yelled at any way since it was Professor Snape. He still didn't see why just because his father had been a Gryffindor he had to treat him horribly. By this time he shrugged it off as something he would never find out. He sat down at a table with Blaise. They talked today about making potions to tell the truth. Harry imagined the real Moody and Dumbledore torturing the Death Eater in Dumbledore's office. Nah, they didn't have the guts, he thought. They would probably just rely on a bottle of this veritaserum stuff Snape was talking about at the moment.

Once class was over and they were out of earshot of the rest of the Slytherins Harry told Blaise about his inspection of the imposter's office. The other Slytherin was surprised that Harry had believed the man without much proof for his case. Harry knew that it was probably that Potter trait of trust and honesty coming out. He hated it.

At dinner Harry noticed that Moody wasn't at the head table tonight neither was Dumbledore. They were probably still trying to sort out the situation. Suddenly half way through dinner the doors to the Great Hall slammed open to reveal Moody. Harry didn't know which one until he limped to the front of the hall to the podium. "Students, the Defense against the dark arts professor you have had this year was an imposter. He kidnapped me and used my hair and a Polyjuice potion to look exactly like me. Soon he will be occupying a cell in Azkaban if all goes well. Ladies and Gentleman this man was trying to get to Harry Potter. If he had sprung his trap he would have succeeded in bring back Lord Voldemort. Yes, yes it would have been terrible, but he didn't. So you now have your real teacher." After the speak a small group of people clapped and then went on with their dinner. Harry knew deep down in his heart he had done something good for once…