Fourth Year Part 2
A/N: Hey guys, this chapter is the very definition of the good, the bad, and the ugly - so get ready for a wild ride. ENJOY R&R PLZ!
Hermione reopened her folder, "So Harry completed the first task and got a reasonable score to boot so naturally that meant a party in the common room."
"Everything means 'party in the common room' Mya," James said it like it was fact.
"No that was just you guys," Lily rubbed her temples in memory of those raucous parties. "I think the worst was when you celebrated James's 100th rejection from me."
"What? Why would you celebrate that?" Hermione was trying very hard not to laugh.
"Mya, Mya, Mya," Sirius said very much like Lockhart, "any ole bloke can turned once or twice, something three times by the girl of his dreams but to get shot down one hundred times and still be ready take on more? That's takes guts, courage, -"
"Bare-faced stupidity," Lily slotted in.
Sirius shrugged, "I was going to say determination but to each their own I suppose."
"Moving on," Hermione declared. "At the party, we convinced Harry to open the egg which contained a clue about the coming task in February. He pried it open and it was completely empty but this awful screeching came from it."
"A banshee?" Remus suggested.
"Somehow I don't think it would be that obvious Remus," Sirius quickly looked at his friend.
"Well no one knew what to make of it but we had other, more easily understood things to worry about. Rita Skeeter was on the prowl for her next story, her target – Hagrid."
"That woman better not mess him," James warned, the other Marauders nodded.
"She came to our Care of Magical Creatures class and fed Hagrid some lie about wanting to know more at the Skrewts who had developed the ability to suck, sting, and burn simultaneously." Not surprisingly simply no one had a comment for that. "But we also found some friends. I had gotten it out of the twins how to get into the kitchens and went down there where I met Dobby and Winky."
"I liked Dobby," Lily smiled. "A little misguided but his heart was in the right place."
"Let's just hope he doesn't get Harry killed trying to save him," James joked but Hermione choked up. Dobby had gotten himself killed trying to save, not just Harry, but all of them from Malfoy Manor. That little eccentric elf had come to mean a lot to them, losing him was hard.
"Well Dobby had been searching for work but couldn't find any because he wanted to be paid and wear clothes. In fact, when I brought Harry and Ron down to meet him, he was a wearing a tea cozy on his head, a tie, and a pair of shorts."
"Huh, an elf who enjoys his freedom and has style?" Sirius bobbed his head, "I'm really starting to like this one. Sounds a damn sight nicer than Kreacher anyway."
"So Dobby went to visit Winky and discovered she had been freed too. Together they came to Hogwarts and Dumbledore took them on. He even agreed to pay Dobby, the elf and our headmaster bargained until they reached one galleon a week and one day off a month. Dobby enjoyed his freedom but preferred work. Now while Dobby was completely happy, Winky was terribly upset. She never recovered from Crouch firing her and was depressed. She cried loudly almost the entire we were there except for when we tried to assure her Crouch was fine by saying he and Bagman had been coming to the castle. She got mad and said Bagman was a bad man but because she felt she was still under Crouch's employment, she kept his secret and wouldn't tell us why."
"Bagman is just a beater," Remus's brows knitted together. "What on earth did he do?" Everyone, including both professors, groaned a little and chanted, "later."
"Nice to see you're all with the program. Remus dear do try to keep up," Hermione added in an almost Molly-ish tone. "So remember the fun Harry mentioned earlier? Well it turned out that that Christmas we would be having the Yule Ball."
"A DANCE!" crowed the marauders gleefully.
"Oh this should be good," Sirius rubbed his hands together.
"Harry was told by our dear Professor McGonagall that as a Hogwarts champion he was expected to find a partner and open the dancing."
"Uh-oh let's hope he didn't inherit James's second left foot," Remus ribbed good-naturedly.
"I'm more focused on his date for the evening," Lily tickled her baby's tummy. "I hope my boy treats her right."
Hermione bit her lip as Parvati's rant in the girls' dorm slashed through her mind. The young Indian girl had not been pleased at having been ignored for most of the ball but being a Triwizard date nonetheless and the Durmstrang boy softened her mood considerably. "Harry first choice was of course, Cho. Only thing was he didn't have the nerve to approach her."
"Well that's a 180 from his father," Lily noted. "Thank heavens for that, the poor girl might've never gotten a moment's rest otherwise. Didn't anyone ask him though?"
"In fact three girls whom he had never met in his life asked if he would take them but he turned them down. In the meantime, Hagrid had his interview with Skeeter. Shockingly she wasn't all that interested in the Skrewts but wanted dirt on Harry instead. Obviously Hagrid didn't' give her any and she walked away disappointed."
"I know that this isn't the last we've heard of her," McGonagall scoffed.
"Not by a long shot Professor. So the holidays were right around the corner and Ron and I got into a minor argument because he and Harry still didn't have partners and they didn't want to, and I quote, 'end up with a pair of trolls'."
"That boy is so tactless, kind of like someone I know," Lily ruffled James's hair.
"Finally Harry screwed up the nerve to ask Cho only…"
"Aw Mya say it ain't so," James already knew what was coming.
"Yep she had to turn him down because she was already going with Cedric Diggory."
"Yikes, double ouch!" Sirius flinched. "That's like the James/Lily/Amos triangle all over again."
Hermione huffed quietly, the triangle would come with Harry, Ginny, and Dean. "That wasn't nearly as bad as Ron who asked out the part-Veela Fleur. He sort of shouted it out at her and may have scared her so he just took off without an answer. Finally fed up, Harry asked Parvati Patil to go with him and he got her sister to go with Ron. Not bad, they were the prettiest girls in our year."
"Alright Prongslet," Sirius cheered.
"Who did you go with Mya?" James asked suggestively.
"Funny you should mention that. Ron asked me to go with him because he had finally noticed that I'm a girl, obviously I said no to that, Neville asked me too before that but I had to say no to him too because I had already found a date but wouldn't tell them who."
"And you won't be telling us," Remus concluded.
"A girl's gotta keep things interesting. Don't worry you have to wait long. The ball was taking place on Christmas. The morning of, Dobby visited Harry to give him a present and Harry improvised one on spot, socks, which the elf loved. Turned out they were his very favourite clothes probably because it was with one that Harry had gotten him his freedom. He even gave some to Harry that he made with wool he had bought with his wages. I gave him a copy of Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland, Ron gave him Dungbombs, Sirius sent him a magical penknife, and Hagrid gave him sweets in addition to Mrs. Weasley's typical package." Lily noticed Hermione had skipped her sister's family but said nothing. There was no use bringing that up again. "Before long, it was time to get ready for the ball. Poor Ron had these god awful second-hand maroon robes that were covered in lace. He managed to get rid of the lace but it didn't help much. Harry had these nice bottle green robes that Mrs. Weasley picked up for him in Diagon Alley."
"Please tell me you have pictures," Lily begged.
"Of course I do. The Triwizard champions had a sort of entrance and that's where I come in. I was Viktor's partner."
"Now I REALLY want to see these pictures," Lily bounced a little in her seat.
"We better check him out this time gents," James said seriously. "Have to make sure he treats our Mya right."
Hermione rolled her eyes, "He treated me fine." Better than fine Hermione thought, holding back a blush. "Ron wasn't pleased though but we'll talk about him in a minute. Percy was at the ball in Crouch's place. I think I forgot to mention he worked for Crouch but the man had become ill so Percy had been promoted to personal assistant. Harry sat with him at dinner and Percy said Crouch was at home, sending instructions via owl and enjoying a quiet Christmas."
"Crouch take a sick day? Crouch stay at home and not go to work?" Sirius's jaw dropped. "Impossible, madame! Preposterous!"
"I can assure you sir, I speak the truth." Hermione managed keep herself calm but none of them would ever forget the hell Barty Crouch Sr. had gone through and no one else would know until a long time after he was gone. "And now time for the moment everyone has been waiting for – DANCING! Words could not do justice to the look on Harry's face while trying to lead Parvati – which is why I got pictures of that too. Thankfully it was a quick dance and Harry ran off as soon as possible. Padma didn't dance with Ron period. Neither sister was pleased so they ended up spending the rest of the evening with a couple of Durmstrang boys."
"HARRY! RON!" Sirius looked like he was ready to die of embarrassment. "Not only did you lose your dates but you lost them to blokes from another country!"
James took his son from his wife and lifted him to eye level, "You young man are going to have some serious lessons on dating. You have your father's and godfather's reputation to uphold."
"How would that work?" Remus wondered aloud, "If he's like Sirius had multiple girls while James obsessed over one girl to the point of being her stalker. So mixing the two would mean every year Harry would stalk a different girl. That ought to be interesting."
Lily clapped a hand on her forehead, "Lord please let my child have a normal love life and not become the creeper of Hogwarts."
"I'm sure he won't Lily," Hermione assured her. "Ron and I got into a fight because I was fraternizing with the enemy by showing up with Krum. He figured the only reason Krum asked me out was to either get information on Harry or help with his egg."
"Well that's cold," Lily frowned.
"I know so I stormed off and Harry and Ron went for a walk out in the courtyard."
"They should've been doing that WITH – THEIR – DATES!" Sirius complained.
"Sirius you can fix Harry's ladies skills in fourteen years. This is really important because they overheard Karkaroff and Snape talking. Karkaroff was very worried about something getting clearer and clearer and he was ready to run but Snape wanted to remain at Hogwarts."
"That has to be their dark marks," James set Harry down to lean on his legs, "The stronger Voldemort gets the more darker and clearer it gets until it burns and summons them."
"Then they heard Hagrid talking to Madame Maxine about being a half-giant. Harry and Ron didn't know about it. Madame Maxine denied it, saying she was simply big-boned and left Hagrid by himself. Of course the guys didn't want Hagrid to know they were there too so they left quietly. Right before they left to go to the tower, Cedric caught up with Harry and told him to go to the Prefect's bathroom with his egg and take a bath. Harry didn't quite know what to make of this but he had other things on his mind about right then. Somehow Rita Skeeter found out about Hagrid and published a huge article about in the Prophet."
"Oh poor Hagrid," Lily moaned.
"Hagrid was distraught, he didn't come for any meals and had stopped teaching his classes. He wouldn't even answer the door for us when we came round to see him. Then in Hogsmeade Bagman offered Harry help for the tournament yet again but he declined. Right after we saw dear Rita, this time she was on about Bagman, and we confronted her about Hagrid. I got into it with her and she went off to concoct her lies elsewhere and we went back to Hagrid's. Professor Dumbledore was there and together we managed to get Hagrid to pull himself together and come back."
"Good for you lot," Remus beamed. "Hagrid should never be ashamed of who he is."
"You could stand to learn that lesson too Remus," James fixed his friend with look.
Remus sighed, "The situations are different, Hagrid is harmless, I'm not. People have genuine reason to fear me." The others knew they could not sway him on this so they dropped it for the time being.
"With Hagrid's situation dealt, Harry's focus returned to the task, literally, at hand. The second task was a couple months away and Harry decided to test Cedric's clue. He took his egg to the bathroom where he met Moaning Myrtle."
"What in the name of god was Myrtle doing that bathroom?" Sirius gulped fearing the worst.
"Do you really want to know?" Hermione gave them a pained, yet humorous expression. The marauders looked as though a bomb was about to go off as they nodded ever so slowly. "She apparently had a habit of visiting the bathroom and spying on its occupants."
Sirius swallowed again trying to remain composed, "So Myrtle may or may not have seen me naked when I used to sneak in there. No big deal, I've got nothing to be ashamed of, right gents?"
James and Remus were also struggling to keep it together –
"Yeah right, totally fine."
"It's nothing, just a little harmless spying, and she is a girl after all so that's not so bad."
Hermione just started talking again, "She told Harry she had seen Cedric when he was there and that Harry should put the egg in the water. When Harry did, there was this odd singing coming from it."
"It's mermish," Lily exclaimed.
"The song basically said to come to the Black Lake because they'll have taken something very dear, something they would miss the most, from the champions with only hour for them to retrieve it. Harry left the bathroom and was on his way back when he saw on the map Barty Crouch in Snape's office. Not paying attention, he got caught on one of the trick steps dropping his egg and the map. The screaming brought Filch, and then Snape who claimed someone had broken into his office, then Moody. Fortunately Moody got to the map before Snape could. Still Snape suspected Harry but a few well-placed words from Moody and he left. Moody pulled Harry out and Harry told about what he saw on the map and everything that was going on, they both agreed something was wrong. Then Mad-Eye asked if he could borrow the map and Harry figured it was small price to pay for Moody letting him get off with no punishment so he agreed."
That doesn't sound like Moody at all, James thought. He would've at least given Harry a reprimand, something, given all the activity that was happening. This sort of stuff should have had Moody on red alert. He wasn't the only one who was thinking this, Lily and Remus's thoughts were also in line with him. This time Lily had been ready for it, this sort of behaviour didn't work with the Mad-Eye she knew either. She may not have taken auror training but he did give the Order practical duelling and hand-to-hand combat lessons, especially the women. Women and children, he had said, they're always the first to get targeted so they should be the first to be prepared. Moody had expressed concern for Harry's safety when he was born saying he was target because of his parents. He personally put extra charms around the nursery and suggested a secret second door from their room to the nursery for easy escape. How is it that that man, once so cautious, could be so blasé about sneaking around in times like that? Remus was thinking about all of that as well, something was definitely off with Mad-Eye. Hermione could tell the wheels were turning in Lily, James, and Remus's heads
"Wait a second," Remus interrupted their musings. "What on earth was Crouch doing in the Snape's office at that hour?"
"All Moody would say was that Crouch was obsessed with catching death eaters. But there was really nothing to go on. So we got to work trying to figure out how to breathe underwater for an hour;"
"How exactly does someone breathe underwater for an hour?" James asked.
"Easy, use the bubblehead charm," Remus shrugged. Then something occurred to him, "But that's not a fourth year spell is it?"
"Nope," Hermione shook her head once, "we had no idea what to do. We spent hours in the library with no results. Ron and I were summoned to McGonagall's office and we had to leave Harry alone. He tried to keep looking but he fell asleep and was woken up by Dobby. Dobby explained the task was about to start and gave him Gillyweed because he had overheard some professors speaking about it. He didn't want Harry to lose his 'Weezy' meaning Ron. He was what had been taken from Harry so Harry sped off to lake, barely making it in time. The Gillyweed worked perfectly and Harry got to the hostages first. Ron was there, so was Cho, and Fleur's little sister Gabrielle, and – me." Hermione hung her head waiting for it to start.
Sirius was quick to deliver, "So let's see… Ron is Harry's best friend, obviously Fleur would be coming for her little sister, I'd hazard a guess that seeing as how they were dates to the ball Cedric would get Cho, so that leaves little miss Mya for -" Sirius faked gasped, "KRUM! Really? You don't say…"
"What happened to 'there is nothing to tell'?" Lily crossed her arms.
"There IS nothing to tell," Hermione couldn't keep the whiny note out of her voice.
"I bet Krum would say differently," James goaded.
"Can we focus please," Hermione begged. "Your son is currently at the bottom of the Black Lake surrounded by merpeople."
"Correction," James said smugly. "My son is currently seated in front of me surrounded by toys, attempting to eat his own foot." There was unison eye-flick down to Harry who dropped his foot to smile at everyone.
"Okay okay, we'll deal with the Krum issue later," Hermione grimaced. "Cedric came and got Cho, then Krum retrieved me, but Fleur was nowhere to be seen. The song had threatened to keep whatever it was they had taken should the champions fail and, being in the midst of a swarm of merpeople, Harry believed it. So he rescued Ron and Gabrielle and brought them back."
"Aw my boy is such hero," Lily cooed.
"He's better at being a hero than a ball date," Sirius griped still not over the embarrassment by association.
Lily let her head roll on her neck, "For heaven's sake Sirius, it was his first date. He's new at this, it's not like any of us were there to teach him." Lily trailed off feebly, this more than anything else had brought the mood down. James frowned, he always imagined Harry would owl him and Sirius for his first date begging for advice. They would get Remus and the three of them would sit down and reminisce about past successful dates and ones that were an utter failure. They would compile a list of do's and don'ts and send it Harry with the demand for a detailed report after.
James shook his head to clear it, "Remember your first date Pads? You spilled your pumpkin juice all over the girl's new robes then when you tried to clean it, you ended up setting them on fire."
"We laughed about it after," Sirius said crossly.
"Yeah, after she hexed you with boils the size of eggs," Hermione grinned. "Remus told us that story one Christmas." That was during their fifth year when Harry revealed to his godfather and uncle about his kiss with Cho.
Sirius glowered at Remus who raised his hands, "Haven't done it yet. But I will." Remus winked at Mya.
Hermione winked in return, "Back to the topic, because of his heroics, Harry arrived well outside the time limit. Professor Dumbledore spoke to the Merchieftaness about what had happened and the judges minus Karkaroff decided that that showed great moral fibre and awarded him full marks tying him with Krum for second place."
"Two down, one to go," Lily breathed out. "Why do I get the feeling the last one won't be this easy to handle?"
Hermione couldn't bear to dodge the question so she said in feeble voice, "It's not. But we still have other things to discuss first. Ron became an overnight celebrity whereas I was teased constantly about being the thing Krum would miss most. To add insult to injury, dear old Rita had apparently eavesdropped on our conversation and published yet another article, this time just about me. I was made out to be playing Harry false with Krum even going so far as to suggest that I was using a love potion. Of course the Slytherins showed it to us in potions where Snape confiscated it and read it aloud to the class."
"That git," James spat.
McGonagall looked more severe, "That is no way for a teacher to behave, especially in the classroom."
"Then Karkaroff showed up and Harry hung back to listen in. It was the same thing as before, something was getting clearer and Karkaroff was panicking big time."
"Fear and guilt together can take away any disguise or façade and reveal the truth of someone," Albus said sagely. "Karkaroff must fear Voldemort more than Severus, one has a guilty conscience, the other does not."
"He must have done something to really tick off Voldemort," Remus commented.
"My question is: why ISN'T Snape scared?" Sirius asked. "Maybe Karkaroff did something or not but wouldn't all the other free death eaters be in the same boat? They all had to lie about why they entered his service. They all had to denounce him. What could make Snape not care about Voldemort at all?"
Hermione discreetly bit the edge of her tongue. She may not be particularly fond of the man but she did have an immense amount of respect and admiration for Snape and what he did. He loved Lily so deeply, so completely that even death couldn't stop him. But his story would come another time. "Sirius you're jumping ahead again. Plus you're really going to like this part, you're in it. Sirius had asked us when our next Hogsmeade visit was and then sent us a note to be at the stile past Dervish and Bangs and to bring food."
"Of course," Remus and James laughed.
"We met with him in his dog form and he led us to a cave in the mountains. Harry was worried about anyone seeing him but the only ones that knew he was there was us and Dumbledore. He had been living off rats prior to us getting there so he pretty wolfed down the bread and chicken and pumpkin juice we brought." James looked at his best mate with sadness and gratitude. He was going to suffer so much and still find it in himself to go through more for Harry. "So we told Sirius about what happened at the World Cup and Winky. Sirius suggested that whoever had conjured the mark had stolen Harry's wand in the Top Box. We tried going through suspects but we didn't have much to go on. Then we got on to the topic of Crouch and we learned it was him who gave Sirius to the dementors with no trial." Sirius clenched his fist so tight his knuckles turned white.
"That is just awful," Lily said disgustedly. "By law, we're supposed to have a trial for anyone convicted of any crime worthy of Azkaban!"
"I honestly don't know much about the direct aftermath of the war but Crouch was the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement – you know that already – and he started making radical decisions – you know that too – I suppose his zero-tolerance policy for death eaters made him more fanatical about putting them away. He was actually tipped to be the next Minister."
"Then how did Fudge get the job?" Remus asked.
"Crouch's son was found with a group of death eaters, trying to restore Voldemort to his former glory. Long story short, there was a trial but he essentially threw his own child to the dementors and Azkaban."
"How could someone…" Remus looked a little sick. "As bad as it is to say, I hope the son WAS a death eater, at least then he would have deserved the punishment. Otherwise that is just…"
"He was put in a cell near Sirius's, but he was pretty sickly. Crouch and his wife were allowed a deathbed visit then, then after about a year of imprisonment he died. Crouch never claimed the body, he was buried outside the fortress." At this point every person in the room looked sad and sick at the same time. Hermione could feel the bile gather in her mouth even now she wasn't sure what about this disgusted her most. "Not long after that Crouch's wife died as well. All of it was a big hit to Crouch's popularity so Fudge ended up with the minister's job and Crouch went to the Department of International Magical Co-operation. Then talk turned towards Snape and his office's break-in and his connection to Karkaroff, no one really knew what to make of it, it was all very shady. Sirius asked Ron to write to Percy to see if he could find out anything about Crouch or Bertha Jorkins. It was time for us to go, Sirius reminded us to call him Snuffles if we spoke about him."
"Snuffles," James quoted, lifted from the miserable mood momentarily. "Oh are we going to have fun with that."
"What the hell was I thinking?" Sirius muttered leaning away from angelically devilish looks his best friends were giving him. "Rover, Bruno, Spot, even the Grim is better than that."
"Um why not Padfoot or Pads?" Hermione finally got to ask after all those years.
Sirius became thoughtful, "You know, I have no idea. I suppose it was too recognizable."
"Pads could easily be short for Paddy, a human name," Remus pointed out. "But I like Snuffles so much better."
"Oh god that is never going away," Sirius bemoaned.
Hermione laughed, "Guess not. We sent an owl to Percy just as Sirius had suggested then went down to the kitchens to see Dobby and give him some socks as a thank you for his help. Harry decided to get some food to send to Snuffles. We checked in with Winky who was not doing well at all. She was drinking now and very depressed. She kept saying Crouch needed her, couldn't manage, not only for housework, but with his most important secret. But she still would not say what it was then passed out. I got into it with elves and we had to leave. The next day, hate mail started to arrive for me. Thanks to Rita's article, a lot of people believe that I was playing Harry false. One person sent me undiluted Bubotuber pus so I had to go the hospital wing. I missed Herbology and almost all of Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid showed the class Nifflers and they had a contest of sorts. Hagrid had dug up a patch of earth in front of his hut and they all chose a Niffler to dig up some leprechaun gold. Ron won. When it was over I showed up, Hagrid told me to just throw the letters away but the Howlers made the whole school aware of this supposed love triangle. I became obsessed with trying to figure out how Skeeter had done it. I asked Moody and he said he didn't see her anywhere near us at the task and she definitely wasn't in the courtyard when Hagrid spoke about his mum."
"Ooh I hope she gets what she deserves," Lily ground out furiously.
"It wasn't until Easter that Percy wrote back. He insisted that Crouch was just ill and taking a break. He was supposedly sending daily instructions and to that, Percy swore it was Crouch's handwriting so nothing came from there. Then precisely one month before the third task the champions were asked to go to the Quidditch pitch and find out what they were facing. When they got there the pitch was covered in hedges. The champions were told that they had to find their way through a maze filled with traps, enchantments, and creatures. Their objective was to the get to the centre where the cup would be first."
"Finally a clear task," James breathed. "Insanely dangerous yes, but at least they have a better idea on what to do to prepare for it."
"Something about this is giving me the chills," Lily shook her head. "That maze will be completely isolated. It would be the perfect time for someone to attack Harry then make it look like a trap gone wrong."
"I'm sure they'll have security or something to ensure the champions' safety," James soothed her.
"Yeah like the measures they had to ensure no under-age wizards competed in the Tournament," Lily replied darkly.
"Then as they were walking back, Viktor pulled Harry aside to talk to him about me and everything Skeeter had written about the two of us."
"Aw he was jealous," Sirius teased.
"Well he did deserve answers and I couldn't talk to him without half the school starting fresh rumours," Hermione sighed. "Anyway while they were talking Barty Crouch came half-running out of the woods."
"Talk about unexpected appearances," Remus remarked.
"He was in an awful state. Half delirious, he was talking to Percy and then to someone it seemed in the past. The only sensible thing he said was he needed to see Dumbledore. He also rambled about something being all his fault and Bertha being dead and the Dark Lord getting stronger. So Harry left Viktor with him and took to get the headmaster only Snape intervened. He wouldn't let Harry go and get him and stalled him for a bit."
"God that idiot," Sirius's fist clenched and unclenched in frustration. "Can he not tell it's an emergency?!"
"Dumbledore came down personally and they went immediately to where Harry had left Krum and Crouch. Only Crouch had disappeared and Krum had been stunned. Dumbledore sent a message to Hagrid and asked him to get Karkaroff. Then Moody showed up, claimed Snape told him and he went to find Crouch as soon as possible. Right after, Karkaroff showed up with Hagrid and he was furious, he even insulted Dumbledore. Hagrid didn't take too kindly to that but the headmaster just told him to take Harry back to the tower where he told us everything."
"How could Crouch know Bertha was dead unless he had contact with someone involved in it?" Remus asked.
"The only people involved would be the rat and Voldemort himself. So he would have to have been with them, not only that but they would have to be fairly unguarded around him like they were together constantly." Lily reasoned. "But that would mean…"
"Crouch was never ill," James said in hushed voice. "He was being held prisoner or something like it. That's why he stopped coming to work, he saw Voldemort so they held him to make sure he didn't talk. But he got away… I'm going to go out on a limb and say that was Pettigrew's fault. The other servant we know nothing about but the rat is definitely incompetent enough to let a weakened old man escape and get all the way to Hogwarts."
Hermione had to admit they didn't see it like that, "We were more focused on Crouch's quick disappearance given his state. We sent a letter Sirius first thing the next morning, arguing over possible escape methods and ran into Fred and George having their own dispute. They seemed to be blackmailing someone."
"Oh no, not the twins," Sirius wailed. "Pranksters should not be embroiled in dark dealings."
"All we knew was that they really wanted to start that joke shop but we'll have to leave them for the time being. We met Moody later on in the day and he admitted he couldn't find Crouch anywhere. He even used the marauders map and nothing. Again we tried to think of ways he could have escaped or left but still they were only speculations. Moody warned us against playing detectives this time and to forget Crouch and focus our efforts into getting through the third task. Sirius wrote us the next day, he was pretty upset that Harry had gone off with Krum during dangerous times and made Harry promise by next letter to never do that again. He too told us there was nothing to be done for Crouch and that we needed to work on the task. So we did, every available moment was devoted to learned jinxes, hexes, and spells that might help Harry battle his way through the maze. But we still had to go to class. In Divination Harry fell asleep and had another dream."
"This can't be good," Sirius whispered.
"Voldemort was telling the rat that he was in luck, 'he' is dead and that Nagini would out of a dinner that night apparently." Hermione, wisely in her opinion, decided not to mention the bit about feeding Harry to the snake. "Then Voldemort tortured the rat just as a reminder not to fail again. That was when Harry woke up. He had been yelling and clutching his scar, Trelawney was convinced that Harry was having some great vision but he managed to get out of there and went straight to Dumbledore."
"Crouch is dead but how?" Remus was extremely confused.
"The servant," Sirius snapped his fingers. "Wormtail is with Voldemort so the only other person is the faithful servant Voldemort wanted at Hogwarts in the first place. He's there, he took care of Crouch. But then why not attack Harry?" No one had answer for this except Hermione who became visibly grim but did not comment.
"Harry arrived outside the headmaster's office just as Moody, Fudge and Dumbledore were discussing what happened to Crouch. Fudge was inclined to believe it was Madame Maxine on a count of her being half-giant but Professor Dumbledore wouldn't hear it."
"Of course not," McGonagall said indignantly. "Professor Dumbledore would never set store by blood prejudice. A person cannot be blamed for what is in their veins, they didn't ask for it. It's what they do with themselves that matters." At this she gave Remus a long pointed look as if to say I hope you heard that clearly.
"Moody could see Harry standing on the other side of the door and let him in. Dumbledore had to leave and go with Fudge and Moody to inspect the grounds where Crouch was but promised to come back. Harry saw that Dumbledore had left his pensieve cabinet open but he didn't know what it was so he accidently ended up in a memory. He was in one of the courtrooms, listening to Igor Karkaroff give up the names of fellow death eaters to get out of Azkaban himself."
"Well that's one mystery solved," Sirius half-laughed. "No wonder Karkaroff is so terrified of Voldemort coming back, he sold out his own team."
"That's the price for being a traitor," James shrugged. "You're not wanted by either side and you're a liability to both. Who did Karkaroff sell out?"
"Antonin Dolohov, Evan Rosier, Travers, Mulciber, and - this was the one that earned him his freedom - Augustus Rookwood of the Department of Mysteries." This was the first piece of evidence relevant to their time since Pettigrew and again everyone had the overpowering urge to go hunt down the bastards now. Lily dug her fingers into the seat cushions while James hit his head lightly with his fist. Sirius tried taking a few calming breaths and Remus pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyes squeezed shut. The professors outwardly handled the news well but there was some rigidity in their postures. Dumbledore felt sad more than anything else, he had seen some of those named go through Hogwarts. It was something he had resigned himself to since Voldemort became powerful; some of his students would join the dark side. But to actually hear where they would end up hurt him in a unique way. Hermione could tell her companions were having a hard time dealing with this and hurried on, "Then the memories shifted and he was in a different trial. This time Ludo Bagman was being accused of passing information for the otherside. He had been implicated because he was a part of Rookwood's network to get Voldemort information. Only Bagman didn't know that he was passing for the wrong side so they let him off. The memories shifted again…to the trial of Crouch's son. He was with Bellatrix Lestrange, Ropolphus, and Rabastan."
"He must be a death eater," Sirius frowned. 'There is no way you get mixed up by accident with that lot."
"It gets worse. In addition to trying to bring Voldemort back to power, they were also charged with torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom into insanity because they thought the Longbottoms knew where Voldemort was."
"Oh god Ali," Lily began to cry. James pulled his wife into his arms, rubbing her back soothingly. Over her head, he nodded for Hermione to keep going.
"Dumbledore found him there and pulled him out. Harry told him about the dream but the headmaster didn't really have any idea on what that was about. Well at least no idea he was prepared to tell Harry."
"Typical," James nearly snorted, still trying to calm his wife. "Cryptic to the very end." Hermione almost snorted herself; James didn't know how true that statement was.
"Harry told us everything save for Neville's parents but we didn't have any answers either. So we just continued to practice until Skeeter struck again. She wrote another article about Harry but this time she made him out to be this deranged maniac. She somehow found out about his fit in Divination, and his Parseltongue so he was called unstable and mad."
"That evil woman," Lily hissed furiously whipping out of James's hold. Her wet eyes were wide and bright. "How dare she do that to my child?! I will get her, I swear to god, if she tries that this time, I will take her down personally."
"Easy there," James was crossed between being concerned and proud.
"Don't worry Lily, the whole thing caused me to have another brainwave and I figured out how she doing it. But I have to save that for the end. Harry pretty much ignored the article right up to the day of the task. Bill and Mrs. Weasley came to support Harry in the third task since it was highly unlikely the Dursleys would show up. The task was to take place at night so we all had dinner together then went down to the pitch. The champions entered the maze in order of points. Cedric first, Harry and Krum together second, and finally Fleur. Harry managed to get past most his obstacles with little difficulty."
"Well done," Remus cheered.
"Then he heard Fleur scream somewhere, -" The marauders and Lily went pale.
"You don't think the servant is in the maze?" James gulped.
"He found Cedric who was being attacked by Krum but Harry could tell something was off so they subdued him then signalled the professors who were patrolling around the maze to come and get him. He and Cedric separated and Harry met a sphinx and actually solved the riddle."
"Good job Har," Lily reached down to pick her child and hold him in her lap.
"Then he ran into Cedric again, this time they were attacked by a giant spider. They were only metres from the cup so they agreed to take it together but when they grabbed it, it turned out to be a portkey and it took them far away from the task."
"Oh no," Lily and James huddled together. Hermione turned the page but was silent for a long moment.
"Mya…" Sirius broke in finally.
"There isn't a note from Harry, there are just…" Hermione shook her head slowly. "There are no words." With that thought she started, "When Cedric and Harry landed, they were in a graveyard somewhere completely unfamiliar. But they weren't alone, someone was there in the shadows. It was the rat and Voldemort ordered him to 'kill the spare' so he killed Cedric."
"The spare," Sirius echoed in pure disgust. "How is an innocent human being a spare?"
"What about Harry? He's all alone with them," Lily clutched her child dearly.
"That was when Pettigrew came out carrying what looked like a baby in blankets. The rat gagged and tied Harry to tombstone then dragged in a huge cauldron filled with some kind of potion and lit a fire underneath. When it was ready, Pettigrew opened the blankets to reveal all that remained of Lord Voldermort and dropped him into the cauldron. Now for the remaining ingredients, first he summoned a bone from the grave Harry was bound to, then he – he – " On to this day, Hermione could not understand why Pettigrew had done it.
"He what?" Lily demanded. "Please Mya, I get the feeling this won't be easy to retell and I understand but you can't stop. This is why we're doing this, we need to know so we can change it. Just remember we're right here."
Hermione nodded and bravely ploughed on, determined not to let what she was saying affect her. "He cut off his right hand straight into the potion. Finally he took some blood from Harry and when he added that, the magic took effect. Lord Voldemort had been resurrected." She paused for moment, there was just no way one could just continue after such a pronouncement. No one said a word, all of them were trying to digest what they had been told. "Voldemort immediately summoned what remained of his death eaters, at least those who could return and were brave enough to do so. While he waited, he told Harry that the grave belonged to his muggle father, whom he had murdered yet Frank Bryce was blamed for it. The truth is Voldemort is actually a half-blood whose dad walked out on his mum when he found out that she was witch. That was when the death eaters arrived, he began by criticizing the fact that none of them ever came to his aid. In fact, he was well aware most had denounced him and claimed to on the side of good. Then one of the death eaters, Avery, decided to beg for mercy and he was tortured as punishment. Wormtail, for his service, was given a new steel hand and told to never let his loyalty waver again."
"I've got a hunch that has some significance," Sirius whispered to Remus as he watched the werewolf take careful notes. Remus agreed with him and placed a star next to that point.
"Lucius Malfoy was there, so was Macnair, Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott."
"That's not many at all," Lily said with something akin to relief.
"Well the Lestranges were in Azkaban but Voldemort was sure they would come back to him after the dementors joined with them. Three were dead, one was too scared to return – I think we all know who – one he believed had left him, and then just one more, his faithful servant who was already stationed at Hogwarts and was the reason Harry was there that night. Lucius asked how Voldemort managed to return and the Dark Lord explained everything. Starting with Quirrell and his attempt at the Philosopher's Stone, then when the rat came back to him following fellow rodent reports of a strange presence in forests of Albania. He briefly discussed Bertha, how the rat lured her and took her to him and how she had revealed the existence of his faithful servant. Wormtail was able to help generate a rudimentary body for Voldemort so he could travel back to England and begin work on his real regeneration. He needed his father's bones so they had to come to that graveyard, and they had the flesh of a servant on hand (no pun intended) but the last thing was the blood of an enemy. Remember Wormtail tried to get Voldemort to use someone else but the Dark Lord wanted Harry so he could take Lily's blood protection and being able to harm Harry without any adverse effects on himself. The faithful servant went to Hogwarts, entered Harry in the tournament and made sure he got to the cup first. Voldemort tortured Harry a bit before having Wormtail untie him and give his wand. They were going to duel."
It seemed as though the whole ordeal had rendered the room catatonic. No one could speak even if they knew what to say. Hermione took a second to calm down, she needed to tell this right for so many reasons. "The death eaters circled Harry and Voldemort as they prepared to duel. The Dark Lord forced Harry to bow and, before he could recover, he was shot with another Cruciatus curse for a longer time than before. He tried to make Harry plead for it to stop but Harry wouldn't give in and managed to break his Imperious."
Sirius got up to sit on the arm of the loveseat the Potters were on. "Atta boy Harry," he said quietly.
"He managed to dodge another torture curse and hid behind a tombstone. It took a moment but he gathered his strength and shot a disarming charm while Voldemort used the killing curse. The wands became connected by this golden beam and the two were raised into the air, away from the death eaters. They settled a clear space some distance away and a web formed around them, blocking the followers out. Then these beads appeared on the original connection and Harry sent them into Voldemort's wand. They made ghosts and echoes of Voldemort's previous spells come back. Including impressions of Cedric, Frank, Bertha, and you." She gestured to the Potters.
"Priori Incantatem," Dumbledore sighed and looked to the others. "The wands are brothers. If they're forced to battle one will regurgitate their previous spells."
"What did these echoes do?" McGonagall inquired.
"They spoke to him, particularly Lily and James, told him to stay strong and get ready to make a run for the cup while they distracted Voldemort. Cedric asked that Harry take his body back so Harry broke the connection and ran straight for it. He summoned the cup and it took him back to Hogwarts." Hermione half-expected, half-hoped for some expression of relief but she got none and she couldn't blame them.
James and Lily didn't have it in them for any kind of emotion. Their child had just escaped Voldemort by a hair much like how they did when they fought him. More to that, he saw them, spoke to them, but it wasn't actually them. Just ghost like replicas. It was like the Mirror of Erised all over again, they were there but they weren't. But at least their baby boy knew they would always be on his side and protect him, no matter where they were. Remus just stared at his infant nephew morosely. He knew what it felt like to experience great horrors at a young age. It was not something he could have wished for this child, or any child for that matter. Sirius couldn't even think right then, his deadened face spoke nothing of the wild mix of emotions he felt on the inside. The only thing that stuck in his mind was that they all swore when Harry was born to make sure his life was filled happiness and love. It seemed as though that promise would be shattered before they could even begin to keep it.
Hermione moved on with the story, she knew they were listening. "When Harry arrived back at the grounds with Cedric's body there was an immediate uproar. Dumbledore was the first to get to them and Harry told him Voldemort was back straightaway. Dumbledore wanted Harry to stay by his side but he was led away by someone. Mad-Eye Moody."
"Alastor would have never done that," Dumbledore said in that tone, the one where you don't exactly know what he's thinking.
"No he wouldn't," Hermione answered calmly. "Moody took Harry to his office and gave him some Pepper-Up potion while Harry recounted what had happened in the graveyard. Through the course of talking, it came out that he was the one fired the Dark Mark at the Quidditch Cup. What's was more, it was Moody who put Harry's name in the Goblet. He was the one responsible for everything. He helped Harry get the past dragons. He was the one who initially told Cedric how to solve the egg knowing Cedric would repay Harry's favour. Harry had worn the socks Dobby had given him to the Yule and Moody had asked about them. So he knew about Dobby's friendship with Harry and staged a conversation about Gillyweed and the task for the elf to overhear. He volunteered to put the Cup in the maze and turned it into a portkey. He did all of this because he was not Alastor Moody. Dumbledore burst into the room with McGonagall and Snape and stunned the imposter. They found Moody in his trunk, Stunned and Imperioused but alive all the same. The imposter had been using Moody's habit of drinking only from a hip flask to conceal the fact he was really drinking Polyjuice Potion. Snape was told to bring his strongest truth potion and Winky while McGonagall went to escort a dog to Dumbledore's office."
"Have to admit, those are some interesting instructions," James's mouth twitched.
"It took some time but eventually the effects of a Polyjuice Potion wore off revealing Barty Crouch Jr."
"But he's dead," Sirius said dumbfounded. "Wasn't I the one who told you lot he died in Azkaban?"
"You didn't see what you thought you saw Sirius. Barty Jr. was awakened and fed Veritaserum to make him tell the story. What happened was that Crouch's wife begged Barty Sr. to get their son out of prison so they devised a plot using Polyjuice Potion. Mother and son took on each other's appearances and swapped places in prison during the death bed visit. She was careful to drink the potion right to the end and because the dementors are blind, they wouldn't have noticed the difference when they buried the body."
"That's why Crouch didn't claim the body," James nodded comprehendingly. "He didn't want to take the chance of a person seeing it."
"Then Crouch staged his wife's funeral and placed his son under the Imperious curse. He was made to wear an invisibility cloak and placed under the care of Winky. He wasn't allowed to leave the house and no one was to ever see him."
"So then how did Bertha find out about him?" Remus asked.
"She used to work for Crouch and came by the house with some papers. She overheard Winky talking to Junior under the cloak and figured out who it was. She confronted Crouch about it and he placed a memory charm on her, permanently damaging her mind. As for the Cup, Winky persuaded Crouch to let his son go. She took pity on his condition and tried to get him occasional treats. They planned so that it would look like Winky was saving Crouch a seat while his son sat there, and watched the match. Unfortunately the Imperious was starting to weaken and he stole Harry's wand, he hadn't been allowed one since Azkaban. Then when he heard the Death Eaters, he became worried and actually attempted to leave the tent. Winky used her own brand of magic to bind him and took him into the woods. Somehow Crouch managed to fire the mark before being Stunned by the ministry wizards. That was the real reason Winky had been dismissed. Then it was just father and son until Voldemort came. Crouch Sr. was now under the Imperious while they freed his son and sent him and Wormtail to Moody's home. They accosted him and Junior took Moody's appearance, made a few dustbins move around, and claimed he had heard an intruder when Arthur arrived. He came to Hogwarts, stealing ingredients from Snape to keep making his potion. That's why Harry saw him on the map that night and probably why Moody was so keen to keep the map away from Harry."
"So then what happened with Crouch Sr.?" Lily prodded.
"He too started to fight the Imperious curse at which time Voldemort decided to force him to write and say he was ill and send instructions. But Wormtail messed up and Crouch got away. It took Crouch a week to get to Hogwarts but by that time his son was waiting for him, using the map he saw when his father arrived and when Harry ran to get Dumbledore, he Stunned Krum and killed his father. He hid the body in the woods then doubled back to the others, Snape hadn't told him anything. When he was sent back, he went to the body, Transfigured it into a bone and buried it in Niffler patch in Hagrid's yard."
Lily looked like she was going to be sick, "Please tell me they didn't leave it there."
"No of course not," Hermione assured her. "Dumbledore went the next morning and set him right. They even went and got his wife's remains from Azkaban and the two are buried side by side. Finally the portkey - he volunteered to take the cup to centre of the maze and charmed it there. The result: Voldemort's rebirth and the start of the second war." The whole room was left speechless. It sounded impossible and yet it had happened – would happen – and it was down to them to fix it. The weight of their task suddenly felt incredibly heavier. How on earth were they supposed to account for all these variables without messing with time entirely? Everything was so entwined, how could they fix one thing with destroying another?
"Guys I'm not done yet," Hermione announced apologetically. "Dumbledore took Harry back to his office where Sirius was waiting for them. The headmaster requested Harry to tell him everything that happened in the graveyard. It was then that Dumbledore explained what happened with the wands. Afterwards, Harry was taken to the hospital wing. Myself, Molly, Ron, Bill were there and Sirius was going to stay with him in dog form. He was given a potion for dreamless sleep but he wouldn't get much rest. He was woken up a little while later by Fudge and McGonagall arguing in the wing. She had been guarding Crouch Jr. since Dumbledore had left and the minister was supposed to come and interrogate the imposter as well. However Fudge felt that he needed to bring a dementor along with him for safety but upon entering the room that thing administered the kiss on the death eater. Dumbledore arrived and he and Fudge fought over what happened. Fudge refused point blank to believe Voldemort had returned, ignoring what everyone said and he would not take any measures against the impending war. It turned out that he had bought into Rita's lies and thought Harry was deranged. So Fudge gave Harry his prize money and left with the promise to come back and discuss the running of the school."
"He wouldn't dare…" McGonagall rumbled.
It took a lot of effort for Hermione to not make a face at that. "It seemed as though Dumbledore was somewhat prepared for that kind of attitude and jumped into action. Bill would go to Arthur to see if they could get in contact with people who could believe what had happened. The headmaster asked McGonagall to arrange a meeting with Hagrid and perhaps Madame Maxime. Then Dumbledore asked Sirius to become human again and actually made Snape and Sirius shake hands."
"That'll be the day," Remus remarked while James laughed and Sirius became disgruntled.
"Anything for the cause," the dog muttered sourly.
"Well the happy moment didn't last long as Dumbledore sent Sirius to alert Remus, Arabella, and Mundungus."
"He's recalling the Order," Lily looked relieved then her brows knitted. "Please tell me there are more original Order members than that."
"I have it written in the fifth year notes, I don't know off the top of my head." Hermione really did not want to admit how many original Order members did not make it to second war and she absolutely dreaded having to speak about how many would survive/die after it. "Molly tried to comfort Harry unfortunately I had to interrupt the moment but you'll find out why later. The next morning, Harry met with Diggorys and they believed him at least. We visited Hagrid who said he and Madame Maxime had a job to over the summer but wouldn't say anything more. At the feast, Dumbledore toasted both Harry and Cedric and told the school what really happened despite the ministry not wanting them to hear that. Then it was time to go. Karkaroff had fled when the dark mark burned but his students knew how to get home. We said goodbye to our new international friends and boarded the train. On the way, I revealed to the boys that I had finally got one on dear old Rita. I figured how she was spying on us. Our beloved Ms. Skeeter was an unregistered Animagus, she could turn into a beetle."
"How apt," Lily sniped. "Did you turn her over to the Ministry? I would've made sure to send her the article about her downfall."
"It was tempting but no. I went one step further and caught her in bug form. That was why I interrupted the others in the hospital wing."
"Hold it," Sirius jumped in. "She stooped so far as to go to the hospital wing after a clearly traumatic experience?"
"There is very little that Rita Skeeter would consider beneath her Mr. Black," McGonagall fumed. She too was outraged at Skeeter's behavior although not surprised at all.
"Well I trapped her in a jar and I would let her out in London only if she swore not to write anything for a year otherwise I'd turn her in. While we were discussing it, Malfoy and his cronies showed. Obviously he had no problems believing Voldemort was back but for all the wrong reasons. He taunted us and even made a slight on Cedric so all three of us cursed them but we weren't alone. The twins had come to see what was going on and the mix of spells had very interesting effects on the slytherins. The guys just shoved them out of the way and the twins joined us in our compartment. Fred and George explained the whole blackmailing thing had to with Ludo Bagman. The twins had placed a huge bet with him at the Cup, all their savings in fact, that Krum would get the snitch but Ireland would win. But Bagman cheated them and paid them in leprechaun gold. They tried writing him and meeting with him but he avoided them. Apparantly Bagman was broke and owed the goblins a lot of money so he made an even bigger bet with them if Harry won the tournament."
"Which is why he wanted to help Harry so much," Remus cottoned on.
"But the goblins are clever. They bet that Harry would draw with Cedric whereas Bagman thought he'd win outright. Technically speaking, Harry and Cedric drew for it so Bagman had to make a run for it. Leaving Fred and George with no money."
"Rotten luck lads," James said sympathetically. "They probably wanted the money to start their shop."
"Well actually it worked in their favour because as we were getting off the train Harry held them back to give them his Triwizard winnings, a thousand galleons!"
"Aw that was generous of him," Lily smiled. "Now the twins can really go into business. That sounds like some fun parts in the making."
"Oh you have no idea," Hermione was grateful to end on a slightly happy note. "And that concludes fourth year."