Chapter 17

Draco was definitely not at Headquarters. He was quite sure of that. He was in a dimly lit hallway, much like the one at Headquarters, but it wasn't the same. He heard voices coming from a nearby room. He followed them and found two men gathered in what looked like a neat little bedroom. It was nighttime and there were a few candles burning.

They paid no attention to him. He went closer to find out who they were, and was shocked when he saw their faces. The two men were Barty Crouch Jr. and James Avery, but they looked much younger. Crouch looked like he was about eighteen and Avery looked only slightly older. This made no sense to Draco at all, since the Crouch Jr. and Avery that he knew were both in their mid-thirties.

Crouch looked less stressed. He was still thin, but he appeared to be much healthier. Avery looked about the same, although his face was less lined and scarred. Crouch turned to face Draco, but acted as though he hadn't seen anyone.

"You know I'm going after them," said Crouch in a hushed voice.

"Don't," hissed Avery. "I doubt that they'll be attacked. They're experts when it comes to committing these sorts of crimes without getting caught."

"How can you be sure of that they won't be attacked?" asked Crouch.

Avery hesitated before saying, "Alright, I don't have any proof of that, but if you go after them and there is an attack, you're not going to be a huge help. You're not going to help anyone by you getting yourself killed."

"I can try to warn them," Crouch said. "The area that they're planning on going to is crawling with Aurors at every corner. I can try to convince them not to…"

"They've probably already began by now," said Avery, glancing up at a clock that was hanging on the wall. "And everywhere is crawling with Aurors now. You know Bellatrix. Once she had her mind set on doing something you can't talk her out of it."

"Rabastan was in my year at Hogwarts," said Crouch. "I've let Evan die, and I've let Wilkes die. I'm not letting Rabastan get himself killed too."

"You didn't let anyone die, Barty," said Avery in voice that sounded slightly sympathetic and slightly exasperated at the same time. "How could you have possibly known that Mad-Eye was going to show up at Evan's house that day? How could you have predicted that Wilkes would decide to try to spy on the Order that night? It's the same with Rabastan. If something does happen to him, it's not your fault."

"It's not the same at all!" snapped Crouch. "I know where Rabastan is and what he's doing because you told me!"

"And that's something that I regret doing," muttered Avery.

"How can you possibly expect me to just stay here and act like nothing is going on when I know that one of my childhood friends is doing something so dangerous?" snapped Crouch.

"Keep your voice down," hissed Avery. "Barty, the Lestranges have done plenty of risky things in the past few years without getting seriously injured. Right now, no one knows the truth about you. As far as the Ministry is concerned, you're innocent and there's no reason to accuse you of being a Death Eater. Right now, the Ministry is completely unaware of everything. If you go and try to stop the Lestranges, you could be discovered."

"Well, maybe I don't really care about being discovered!" said Crouch. "Have you ever thought that maybe there are some things that matter more to me than being discovered?"

"Do you want to go to Azkaban?" asked Avery, sounding more and more frustrated.

"Of course I don't," said Crouch. "But I can't believe that you are so afraid of Azkaban that you are just going to abandon the Lestranges and Evan's poor family and Mulciber and…"

"Who said that I'm going to leave Mulciber to the dementors?" snapped Avery. "He's like a brother to me. It's always been that way. I hope that he doesn't get arrested, but for now, he's fine."

"If he got arrested, you'd still keep your little job at the Ministry," said Crouch coldly. "You wouldn't even try to defend him. You wouldn't try to defend me if I got arrested. You just care about keeping yourself out of Azkaban."

"You're being ridiculous, Barty," said Avery. "I wouldn't leave either of you to the dementors. I'm just trying to keep myself out of Azkaban because I have responsibilities. I need to keep my family safe from the Order. If I go to Azkaban, I'm sure that the Order will kill them. You need to think about these things also, Barty. You need to think about keeping Sky and Jen safe…"

"I know that Sky would want me to go warn the Lestranges," said Crouch. "And Jen is staying with Mulciber. I'm going to try to avoid being caught, but I have to do this."

"Barty, I'm not going to let you go," said Avery. "I'm sure that the Lestranges are fully aware of the risks."

"Try to stop me then, you coward," murmured Crouch.

He grabbed his wand, which was lying on a nearby table. Avery whipped out his wand to stop Crouch, but in an instant, there was a soft pop and Crouch disappeared. Draco was left staring at a distraught Avery, wondering where he was and what was going on.

The next chapter will be posted soon!