The Family Name

Year Four

By Elbereth in April

Chapter 15

Draco owled Hermione to share what he'd discovered about Moody's potion, then found Artemis to update him and show off his animagus form. Their dorm room was empty, so he locked the door so he could transform privately.

"Well?" Draco tried to say, but of course he couldn't speak so it came out as a wild-sounding neigh.

"What did you do? You're invisible," Artemis said in surprise.

Draco frowned and looked down at himself. No he wasn't. He was a horse—he could see himself. His coat was black, and his tail and mane, which he could see whipping around him when he moved, were a light gray. He was larger than an average horse, and very thin—in fact, quite skeletal. And he had wings like a bat's. He flexed them, stirring up a breeze. They felt powerful; he couldn't wait to try flying! He let out another excited neigh.

Artemis stared in concentration. "You're an invisible horse… you're a Thestral."

'Oh,' Draco thought. 'That explains a lot.'

He transfigured back into his human form. Artemis blinked. "That is a handy thing to be able to do."

Draco laughed. "So no one can see me unless they've seen someone die in front of them. That's cool."

Artemis looked a bit jealous. "Well, it looks like I'd better become an animagus, too. Someone will have to keep you in line."

"I'll show you what all I did," Draco promised.

"We should find out more about thestrals, as well."

"I want to try flying this evening, after dark."

"I suggest you fly around the Qudditch pitch. That would be a good practice area. I'll come under the Cloak and watch."

"Oh, and hey, I have fangs!"

"Heaven help us all."

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The first after-holidays Hogsmeade trip, Hermione reported to Artemis that Bagman had been seen in town, saying Crouch was ill or missing, and hadn't been showing up for work. Ginny owled Percy to try to get more information.

The next morning Ginny came forward with another tale. "So Potter was about after hours and eavesdropped on a conversation between Moody and Snape," Artemis summarized. "Snape's office has been broken into, and Moody at some point has searched it. Moody spotted Potter and instead of giving him detention, rescued him from being found by Snape, rescued his Map, and then borrowed it. According to the Map, which Potter told Moody about, it was Crouch who broke into Snape's office. Moody claims Crouch is as obsessed with catching Dark Wizards as he is himself. The implication being that Crouch is faking illness while he pursues a dark wizard at Hogwarts."

Ginny nodded. "Percy just said Crouch was feeling under the weather but was so impressed with Percy's work he was confident to stay at home and have my brother take care of things at the office. He sends in instructions every morning."

"Not dead then, unless the instructions are fakes," Artemis mused.

"Snape's on his second chance, Moody said. Don't know what he meant."

"Moody and Crouch both need to be watched more closely than ever."

"Sounds like somebody should be watching Snape, too."

"Don't worry. Butler and Sirius are."

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The evening before the Second Task, Potter sought out Artemis in the library where he sat with Draco and Blaise, and dragged him off to a private spot in the stacks. "I need to know how to breathe underwater before the task," Potter told him in a panicked voice. "Can you help me?"

Artemis raised an eyebrow, so Harry continued, "The merpeople in the lake are going to steal something valuable of mine and I'm going to have to go into the lake and get it back."

Artemis rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Gillyweed. Eat a handful, wait a couple minutes, and you'll sprout gills. It should last just over an hour."

"Where do I find gillyweed?"

"Well, Professor Snape would have some in his supplies—in fact, that could explain the break-in of his office. Some other Champion may have had the same idea."

Harry groaned. "I don't want to face Snape's wrath."

Artemis sighed. "Potter, they sell it at the apothecary in Hogsmeade. Send your godfather out for some."

"Oh! Thanks, okay."

"You may want to read up on merpeople while you're at it."

SSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Everyone gathered to watch the Second Task, sitting on bleachers around the lake. Crouch was absent; Percy Weasley was sitting in for him. The Champions had one hour to retrieve their most valued from the lake.

"The water's got to be cold," Draco murmured to Ginny and Greg.

"Swimming would be easier if he took off his robes."

"Well, this will be pretty boring if we just sit around staring at the water for an hour."

"Yeah." They waited, keeping an eye on the people they were supposed to be watching. The hour was almost up when Fleur appeared, breaking forth out of the water with a strange bubble around her head. She had been attacked by grindy-lows and was injured. Madame Pomfrey fixed her up, wrapped a blanket around her, and gave her a potion. But when she tried to return to the lake, Madame Maxime stopped her, saying her round was over.

"But Gabrielle," she kept saying, getting more and more frantic. "I must save her!" She struggled, but her Headmistress restrained her.

"What's that all about?" asked Crabbe, who had gotten there late.

"The judges said the Champions each had a treasured person taken from them by the merpeople and were told they had to save them in one hour or they'd be left down there forever," Millie explained.

"Would they really do that?"

Eva shrugged. "It's doubtful Dumbledore would allow it, but… they did say this tournament had a high death toll so I guess it's possible."

Vince thought about it, then shook his head. "They'd never."

"Fleur seems to think they would." The girl was nearly hysterical by now. "Rather cruel, either way."

At one hour and one minute, Diggory popped up, pulling along Cho Chang. She seemed to have been asleep, but revived as her head cleared the water. The Hufflepuffs broke into tremendous applause.

A few minutes later, a figure with the head of a shark and the body of a human burst into view, with an arm around Hermione.

"Well, well," Draco said with a smirk. "Krum's that gone on her."

"He looks disturbing like that," Goyle said.

They all made their way to shore, to receive the same blanket-potion treatment from Nurse Pomfrey.

A few minutes after that, Potter finally arrived, towing both Ron and a little girl Draco assumed was Fleur's sister. "So Potter's not the best for once." He sounded quite happy.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "At least Fleur's calming down now." The two sisters were hugging. Then Fleur kissed Harry and Ron on both cheeks. "Hey!" Even from the stands they could see the two boys blush.

Dumbledore conferred with the merpeople, who reported what had happened underwater, then spoke with the judges. Then Bagman announced the results. Fleur and Diggory had both used Bubble-Head Charms, and received 25 and 47 points, respectively. Krum got 40 points.

"Karkaroff is such a smug git," Blaise observed.

"And Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect. Although he returned last, the Merchieftainess said he reached the hostages first and his return delay was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not just his own."

"He really has a hero complex," Marie commented.

"Most of the judges," Bagman gave Karkaroff a nasty look, "feel this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However, Mr. Potter's score is 45 points." Which meant Harry and Diggory were now tied for first place.

"They are so biased," Draco complained, frowning. "Everything's always judged in his favor."

Artemis looked over at Draco. "Interesting, indeed. Also, as everyone assigned to watch Moody was underwater, it's a good thing I was observing him."

"There, you see, Potter thought the threat was real. The Weasel was scolding him over it," Vince said.

"Well, look at it from Potter's perspective." Millie shrugged. "He's been nearly killed every year here. I imagine at this point he takes death threats pretty seriously."

"The third and final Task will take place at dusk on June 24th," Bagman concluded. "The Champions will be notified of what is coming one month before."

"None of the other Champions used gillyweed," Artemis mused. "So why was Snape's office broken into?"

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

One week later, Blaise, Artemis, and Pansy were sitting in the library, two tables over from the Fab Trio. Artemis and Hermione were slowly working their way back to friendship, if a somewhat overly polite one. Artemis still studied alchemy, although he was not as single-minded about it. Currently, Artemis was reading up on the Sorcerer's Stone, while Zabini was eavesdropping on Potter and Weasley's increasingly outrageous predictions for Professor Trelawney's homework.

"Impaled by a merperson's vengeful spear while walking by the lake," Potter wrote, reading it aloud to Ron.

"Drowned by giant squid when I attempt to rescue Harry from merpeople," Ron wrote cheerfully.

"If only," sighed Pansy, who was partly eavesdropping and partly working on her Charms homework.

"They are creative," Artemis admitted, shaking his head.

Zabini grinned. "I'm getting some good ideas. I'm going to be hospitalized by a spell from Granger for inciting the merperson against Potter."

Draco entered the library then, and to the shock of both tables, threw himself down in a chair next to Hermione. "Something has to be done about that Rita Skeeter woman. She just contacted me for an article she's doing for Witch Weekly on you, Miss Granger."

"I told you not to annoy her!" Ron burst out.

"It's ok, I handled it, but it was pretty obvious what she was planning on writing about you from the questions she asked me."

"Which was?"

"How you broke Potter's heart," a jerk of his chin in Harry's direction, "by first dating Artemis, then me, then moving on to Viktor Krum. How you obviously have a taste for famous men. And how you could be snagging our affections when—her words—you couldn't be doing it based on looks."

To the boys' surprise, Hermione burst out laughing.

"Too bad she didn't contact me," Pansy sniffed, keeping her eyes on her work. "I would have told her you had to be using a love potion."

"Did Krum invite you to visit him in Bulgaria?"

"Oh—well, yes, he did. How could she have known that?"

"What?!" Ron exclaimed.

"Shh!" Madame Pince called over to them. They scrunched down, trying to seem apologetic.

When her attention turned elsewhere, Blaise asked, "So how did you handle it?"

"Told her I was owling my lawyer, my public relations man, and her editor. She backed down." Draco smirked. "Plus she's got a rival, Emagine Siedel, and I'm giving her an exclusive."

"Who would want an exclusive on you?" Ron sneered.

Draco gave him a look. "How is the infamous rich boy dealing with the tragedy of his father and his new last name? Hello, I'm big news right now."

Ron shrugged. "Not for anything good."

"Accidentally poisoned by Slytherins in a cup meant for Ronald Weasley," Blaise wrote.

They were interrupted by Butler, signaling for Artemis's attention. Artemis conferred with him for a moment, then called over to Draco and Hermione. "I had Butler put up a video camera in Snape's supply closet," he told them quietly. "It's been broken into again. By Moody."

They looked at each other. "What did he do there?"

"Stole a number of ingredients, namely boomslang skin."

"That's the key ingredient in Polyjuice Potion."

"Why would he do that?" Hermione puzzled. "Why not buy his own?"

"Only if he doesn't want anyone to know he's brewing it."

"Could it be some kind of Auror business?"

"He's not an Auror anymore."

"That wouldn't stop him from acting on his own."

"Maybe he's spying on people, too. He is quite paranoid."

"I'm leaning toward something more sinister than that."

"Just because he's creepy doesn't mean…"

"He called him the Dark Lord." Talking stopped as they turned to regard Draco.

"What?"

"Moody—in his office, when he talked to me last week. Didn't use You-Know-Who or even Voldemort—he called him the Dark Lord."

"So?"

"So," Draco answered, "the only ones who do that are Death Eaters."

"He's not Alastor Moody." Artemis ordered Butler, "Get Black and Lupin. It's time to question our professor."

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

They decided Moody would be too alert that evening, in the dark, and they didn't want to approach him in his own rooms. So they planned to ambush him in the corridor on the way to breakfast the next morning.

Since that gave him time that evening, Harry went to visit Hagrid. On his way back to the castle, Krum stopped him to ask if Hermione was serious about Malfoy, what Potter's relationship with her was, and if he thought there was a way for himself, Viktor, to win her heart. Harry was still standing in somewhat appalled shock when a person staggered out of the forest. His clothes were shredded and bloody, his face was scratched and pinched with exhaustion. He was talking to someone imaginary, as well. With a start, he recognized Mr. Crouch.

"Vosn't he a judge?" Krum asked, staring.

Harry nodded, then cautiously approached the man. It took several tries to get his attention, and just when he had, Crouch fell over.

Krum had followed him into the trees. "Vot is wrong vith him?"

"No idea. We'd better get a professor…"

Crouch suddenly grabbed Harry's robes, pulling him closer. "I've done… stupid… thing. Must tell… Dumbledore…" The man looked mad, eyes bulging, drool coming out of his mouth.

"Get up, Mr. Crouch. I'll take you to him!"

Crouch finally met his eyes. "You're not… his?"

Harry's forehead scrunched up. "No."

"Dumbledore's?"

"Yes, I'm a student."

"Warn… Dumbledore…"

"Let go of me and I'll get him." Harry tried to disengage the adult's fingers, but he was too strong.

Crouch looked over at a tree. "Thank you, Weatherby, I would like tea. My son has recently gained 12 OWLs, I'm very proud…" He let go of Harry.

"Stay with him," Harry instructed Krum. "I'll get the Headmaster."

"He is crazy." Krum just kept staring dubiously at Crouch.

"My fault…" Crouch whimpered. "Bertha… dead… my son… the Dark Lord… stronger… my fault… tell Dumbledore…"

Harry hurried away. When he reached the hall outside Dumbledore's office, he ran into Snape. "What are you doing here, Potter?"

"I need to see Professor Dumbledore! Mr. Crouch is out in the forest…"

"What?" Snape did not look like he believed him.

"Crouch—he's out of his mind—"

Fortunately, Dumbledore came out of his office before they could get into an altercation. Dumbledore did not ask questions, just said, "Lead the way."

Harry did, but when they got back to where he'd left them, Viktor was lying unconscious on the forest floor and Crouch was gone.

Dumbledore examined Krum. "He's been Stunned." The Headmaster summoned Hagrid, then woke the boy up.

"He attacked me from behind!" Krum muttered, feeling for bumps on his head.

"Hagrid, I need you to get Professor Karkaroff. His student has been attacked. Then alert Professor Moody—"

"Moody!" Harry blurted. The Moody they were planning on ambushing in the morning as a suspected Death Eater. Should he alert Dumbledore? They hadn't wanted to speak to the headmaster without having actual proof.

But he was too late. Moody himself was limping toward them. "I'm here," he said. "Snape said something about Crouch…"

"We must find him," Dumbledore told Moody.

"I'm on it," Moody growled. He pulled out his wand and tramped off into the forest.

"Professor…" Harry began, biting his lip. But what could he say? 'We've been spying on teachers and Ministry officials. We caught Moody in Snape's office on a Muggle device that shouldn't even be able to work at Hogwarts, except Fowl the genius did something to it. Moody referred to Voldemort as the Dark Lord. We think that makes him guilty of something.' How could he say any of that? Especially in front of Viktor Krum?

So he kept quiet, and Karkaroff arrived and took Krum away, and Hagrid scolded him for walking with Krum in the first place, and Harry was relieved to get back to the Tower and report to Ron and Hermione, who immediately owled Fowl.

Artemis told Butler, who conducted his own search, and consulted with Dumbledore and Moody. "He disappeared," Moody said. "I looked on Potter's map—how did you know I had it?"

"Miss Granger was trying to be helpful."

"Well, he wasn't on the map. He's vanished."

Butler simply nodded and left. He'd checked Artemis's map and Crouch wasn't on it. They'd wait and find out what all the imposter was not telling them in the morning. Their chances of catching him off guard were still best then.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

So they ambushed him in the corridor on the way to breakfast. Sirius and Remus stunned him and Butler drug him into an empty classroom, where Artemis, Draco, and Harry were waiting. Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Greg, and Vince crossed the hall from a different classroom and joined them there.

"Now what?" Goyle asked.

"We bind him and take his flask. It's all he ever drinks from, so the Polyjuice must be in there."

Sirius did the binding charm. Harry took the flask and gave it to Hermione. She opened it up and she and Draco peered inside. "Polyjuice, all right," she pronounced.

"So we just sit around and wait for it to wear off," Ron said cheerfully, sitting at a desk.

They all found seats. The house-elf Tassie suddenly appeared at Draco's shoulder, startling most of them. "Would you all be wanting breakfast brought? I gots muffins, croissants, toast, jam, tea…"

"That would be great," Draco replied, giving her a smile.

She blushed and disappeared. Then she reappeared with Dobby, bringing food in baskets, cups, and a teapot. They all dug in.

"Right, Potter, the orange marmalade is mine," Draco said firmly, snatching it from his hand.

"I had it first!"

"I have it now."

"Too bad you're not that fast to the Snitch."

"Boys, don't argue, this is serious business," Lupin scolded, licking apple butter off his fingers.

"No, he's Sirius," Ron joked, pointing to Black.

"Oh, that was bad," Ginny complained.

"You hang around these people voluntarily?" Draco asked Hermione, shaking his head.

Forty-five minutes and one devoured breakfast later and Moody began changing. As they watched, his face reformed, his leg re-grew, the magical eyeball popped out and rolled away as a new eye replaced it.

"Who is he?" Ginny asked, regarding the pale man with straw-colored hair.

"That's Barty Crouch, Jr.," Sirius replied, recognizing him.

"Now the Veritaserum," Artemis instructed, holding out the truth potion. Butler propped the man up and force-fed it to him. "And so." Artemis pulled out his wand. "Enervate."

Barty opened his eyes.

"You supposedly died in Azkaban," Artemis began. "How did you escape?"

Barty's eyes flickered, then he answered in a flat, expressionless voice. "My mother saved me. She was dying. She convinced my father to rescue me as a last favor to her. They came to visit me. They gave me Polyjuice potion. My mother also took Polyjuice. We assumed each other's appearance and switched places.

"Dementors are blind. They sensed one healthy, one dying person entering Azkaban and the same leaving. My father smuggled me out. Shortly after, my mother died in Azkaban. She kept up my form til the end and was buried under my name. Everyone believed her to be me. My father later staged my mother's death."

"What did you do, when you were free?"

"Winky nursed me back to health. But once I was healthy, my father wanted me to be concealed and controlled. He put spells on me to subdue me. All I wanted was to find my master and return to his service."

"Did he use the Imperius Curse?"

"Yes. I was forced to wear an Invisibility Cloak day and night. The house-elf was my keeper and caretaker. She persuaded my father to sometimes give me treats for good behavior."

"How did you escape the Curse and your father?"

"I grew stronger. I was starting to fight the Curse. There were times when I was almost myself. Winky convinced my father to take me to watch the Quidditch World Cup. I fought off the curse long enough to steal a wand from a boy. We heard the Death Eaters—the ones who had never been to Azkaban, who never suffered for my master. They had turned their backs on him. They were not enslaved as I was—they could have sought him out but did not. They were merely making sport of Muggles. Their voices awoke my mind. I was angry. I wanted to attack them for their disloyalty. So I cast the Dark Mark.

"But a Stunning Spell from a Ministry wizard hit me and my father found me while I was unconscious. Once again he put me under Imperius and took me home. But then… then…" He gave a crazy, disturbing grin. "My master came for me.

"He arrived at our house one night in the arms of his servant Wormtail. Bertha Jorkins, his prisoner, had once discovered me. My father put a Memory Spell on her, but under torture it broke. She told him about me, about the Tournament, about Moody teaching at Hogwarts. So my master knew that I was still his faithful servant. He came up with a plan.

"My father was placed under the Imperius Curse by my master. Now he was the one controlled and imprisoned. My master forced him to act like nothing was wrong. And I was released. Awake and alive as I hadn't been in years."

"What was Voldemort's plan?"

Barty hesitated, struggling. "He wanted a faithful servant at Hogwarts. One who would watch Harry Potter. I entered Potter into the Tournament. I gained his trust by helping him through the first tasks. For the Third Task, I was… I was…"

"What?"

"To kidnap him." Barty panted, eyes slightly wild. "In the Third Task."

Harry scowled at him.

"To deliver him to Voldemort?"

"Yes, turn him over to the Dark Lord. I would be his dearest supporter… closer than a son…" His voice grew dreamy. "My greatest ambition is to serve him, to prove myself—to risk everything for him…"

Ron and Hermione exchanged looks. "He's psycho," Ron mouthed to her.

"Where are you getting Moody's hair for the potion?"

"Wormtail and I kidnapped him from his house. We forced him into a compartment of his magical trunk. I needed to learn about him well enough to impersonate him. He's still in the trunk."

They looked around at each other, horrified. "We'll get him out in a moment," Remus said.

"Your father is missing. Do you know where he is?"

"He fought off the Imperius just as I had done. He escaped from Wormtail, who was watching him in his home. My master knew he would head for Hogwarts, to confess everything to Dumbledore. My master sent me word to stop him at all costs. So I waited and I watched. I had Potter's map. Finally he turned up. I put on my Invisibility Cloak, waited for Potter to leave, Stunned Krum, and then killed my father."

"What did you do with his body?" Artemis didn't react, though the others were looking more and more distraught.

"I Transfigured him into a bone and buried it, wearing my Cloak."

"I see." Artemis looked at Harry. "So when Potter returned with Dumbledore, Crouch was already dead."

"Yes."

"Why did you give Draco that potion? Did you know what would happen?"

"I knew the Malfoys used the old ways of insuring obedience, just like my father. I was sure if I removed the spell his son would react against him in some way, just as I rebelled against my own, disappointing father—I knew it could only lead to Lucius Malfoy's eventual downfall. I admit it turned out faster and even better than I'd imagined."

"One last thing. Where is Voldemort now?"

Barty frowned. "Traveling. Still in Romania? I don't know. My master comes to me."

"Very well." Artemis nodded. "We should re-Stun him and take him to Dumbledore, have the Headmaster fetch the Aurors, and free poor Moody from his trunk."

Barty's eyes betrayed insanity now. "No!" he screamed, thrashing in his bindings. "My master's plan is not yet complete! I must deliver Potter to him—I will be honored by him beyond the dreams of wizards!"

Before Sirius could Stun him, Butler simply clocked him in the jaw. He was knocked out cold.

"Good job. Bring him."

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

They delivered Moody to Professor Dumbledore, told their story, and were, of course, promptly sent away. Sirius, Butler, and Lupin got to stay.

"They always make us leave," Hermione complained. "We may be 'just kids' but we're the ones who always solve the mysteries."

"Don't worry. Our agents on the inside will report," Draco said. "We were just looking for the villain out of curiosity, anyway. It's not like we actually care what they do with Crouch Jr."

"My life's at stake!" Potter protested with a growl.

Draco smirked. "As I said…"

"We have to inform the rest of our spy network," Ginny pointed out. "The twins are going to whine about being left out."

Crabbe shuddered. "The Slytherins won't be happy, either."

"I'll tell them," Artemis said. "We simply couldn't have that many people for an ambush. Not successfully. Plus the room would have been quite crowded."

It was several hours before Butler reported back. The Slytherins were in the common room, hanging out by the fire. Butler looked grim.

"What happened?"

"The Aurors didn't come. Fudge did. He brought a dementor with him, supposedly as protection. They went into the room where Bartimus was being held and the dementor—"

"Killed him," Draco finished, looking queasy.

"Yes."

"So the only information we got out of him was what Artemis asked him?"

"Yes. Dumbledore didn't have time to question him personally."

Artemis shook his head. "Wizarding law has serious shortcomings."

"It gets worse. Fudge doesn't believe Voldemort is really about. He thinks Crouch cracked and was just raving."

"That figures," Zabini snorted.

"I want all of you to be careful," Butler warned.

"At least I can quit watching Maxime," Pansy smiled.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

A/N: Long chapter to make up for the fact that so much of it was taken from Goblet of Fire. None of the events of the Second Task or the background of Crouch Jr. would have been affected by Artemis or Draco too much.