Chapter 16: Voldemort Returns
"So, the three of us spent the next few days discussing what had happened. Crouch had told Harry that Voldemort was getting stronger. We then went to send a letter to Sirius and met the twins. They kept talking about starting their own joke shop."
"Brilliant." Breathed James and Sirius.
"If they do that in this time I will definitely help them out." James grinned.
"Oh lord." Lily groaned.
"We can give them tips Prongs." Sirius grinned. McGonagall buried her face in her hands.
"Why are all the troublemakers in my house?" She sighed.
"It takes Gryffindor bravery to risk your wrath." Remus quipped. Everyone burst out laughing. Just then Dumbledore emerged from the flames and seated himself in a vacant chair next to Flitwick.
"My apologies." He smiled at Hermione.
"As Moody helped search the grounds we decided to ask him if he had found anything."
"Of course you did." Remus rolled his eyes.
"Just like your mother." McGonagall told baby Harry who waved at her.
"Moody told us to let it go. Sirius wrote back next day telling Harry to swear he wouldn't stray out of bounds." Lily gaped at Sirius.
"Who are you and what will you do to Sirius Black?" She asked in astonishment.
"I'm all for breaking rules and sneaking out Lilypad, but not when it's my Godson's life on the line." He told her seriously. (Pun intended.)
"Maybe you are a reasonable choice after all." She conceded. James beamed at her and Sirius looked shocked.
"The next few weeks were spent helping Harry master spells and jinxes. Stunning, disarming, things like that. Unfortunately, it meant him practicing on me and Ron. During Divination Harry fell asleep."
"Who doesn't?" Sirius snorted.
"People who actually learn things in class." Remus sighed.
"So...nobody." James grinned. Lily smacked him on the back of the head. "Ow." He complained. Harry gurgled with laughter so Lily did it again. "Hey!" James cried and Harry laughed again. "Thanks a bunch, son." He grumbled.
"He dreamt that Peter was with Voldemort. Something had gone wrong and Peter had made a mistake."
"Naturally." James snarled.
"An eagle arrived saying the mistake had been fixed so Voldemort didn't feed Peter to Nagini,"
"Shame." Sighed Sirius.
"his snake, instead saying she could have Harry." Hermione continued.
"She can not." Lily growled.
"Harry decided to go and tell Professor Dumbledore, so he left his lesson to go to him. As he approached he heard Moody and Fudge in his office. Fudge was trying to blame Madam Maxime because she was also half giant and he is prejudice. Moody saw Harry through the door so he went in, saying he hadn't seen Madam Maxime anywhere and she would have had trouble hiding."
"Good boy." James smiled, ruffling Harry's hair. "You show those ignorant people." Remus beamed over at the pair.
"They left Harry in the office while they went to search the grounds. Professor Dumbledore had left his pensive open and being Harry, he saw it and went to investigate. He saw Karkaroff's trial. He was giving a list of death eater names to free himself from Azkaban. Snape, Rosier, Travers, Mulciber, people like that."
"All of whom were in Snape's little group at school." Snarled Sirius. Lily looked down at her hands sadly and James wrapped his arms around her in comfort.
"Then, he saw Bagman at a trial. Apparently he had been passing information to death eaters. Bagman claimed it had been a family friend and he didn't know."
"They all claim things like that. However, I can't see Bagman as a death eater." Remus frowned.
"Me either." McGonagall agreed.
"He got off. He then saw a trial with Mr Crouch's son in. He had been caught with Bellatrix Lestrange and a couple of other death eaters. They were accused…" Hermione took a deep breath. "Of using the Cruciatus curse to torture Frank and Alice Longbottom into insanity." She said the last part in a rush, as if that would make it less unpleasant.
"No!" Gasped Lily, her hand flying to her mouth. McGonagall paled and even Dumbledore looked both stunned and upset. James just gripped Lily tighter to him as she cried on his shoulder. Frank had shared a dorm with the marauders and they were all close friends.
"A fate worse than death." Dumbledore breathed to himself.
"Poor Neville." Remus breathed. Lily began to cry harder at that. McGonagall drew a handkerchief to dab at her eyes. Hermione let them grieve for a minute.
"They were sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban. Professor Dumbledore then found Harry and took him out of the pensive. Harry then told him what had happened in his dream. The Professor said he had also been writing to Sirius and knew Harry's scar had hurt over the summer. And then we started practising for the third task again. Sirius had begun writing daily."
"I'm glad he has you Padfoot." James smiled at his best friend.
"Me too." Sirius said earnestly.
"Yes. Sirius was a marvelous help to Harry." Hermione smiled. "One morning another article emerged about Harry collapsing in Divination, saying he was probably disturbed."
"How did she find out about that?" Lily asked angrily, drying her eyes. Hermione gave a mischievous smile but didn't answer.
"I suddenly had an idea about how she could be doing it so I ran off to the library. While I was there, Professor McGonagall came over to Harry and told him the champion's families would be gathering just off the hall after breakfast. Harry wasn't going to go because he knew the Dursleys wouldn't turn up."
James and Lily exchanged sad glances. Sirius also looked miserable because he couldn't visit Harry as the closest thing to family as he was still a fugitive. If only he hadn't been so damn hotheaded and gone after Pettigrew.
"Cedric came out and told Harry they were waiting. It turned out the Weasley's had come instead."
"Aww. Bless Molly." Lily snuffled, her head resting on James' shoulder.
"They had a great day touring the castle together. At dinner Harry had to explain that I wasn't his girlfriend because Mrs Weasley had been reading witch weekly."
"Hmph." McGonagall snorted in disgust.
"That night was the third task. The maze." Everyone exchanged worried looks. "Harry and Cedric were tied for first place so they both entered together. For the first part Harry didn't meet anything. That bothered him more than meeting obstacles."
"I'm not surprised. They wouldn't go very far without putting something in his way." Remus said, looking pale.
"He was using the 'Point me' spell to go in the right direction."
"Good choice." James smiled, patting his son on the head.
"He then met Cedric who had just escaped Hagrid's blast ended skrewts."
"They let those things into the maze?" Lily asked, looking horrified. Hermione just nodded solemnly, which made them all more scared for Harry.
"Soon after that he met a Dementor. He conjured a patronus before realising it was a boggart. He got rid of that fine."
"Thank Remus." Lily heaved a sigh of relief. Remus beamed that his teaching was now really helping Harry in dangerous situations.
"Then he met a patch of golden mist. He heard Fleur scream and decided to run through it. When he went through it it turned the world upside down. He tried lifting his foot which righted everything and ran on."
"Very good, Potter." Flitwick complimented.
"Next he met a blast ended skrewt. He managed to use the Impedimenta jinx on its soft underbelly to get away without a scratch. As he got away, he heard Krum use the cruciatus curse on Cedric."
"My god!" Gasped Lily. All the teachers looked horrified. Sirius and James looked murderous.
"Harry forced his way through the hedge and stunned Krum. Then he sent up red sparks so a teacher could come and collect Krum while he and Cedric carried on."
"Two down, if Fleur screamed and hasn't been heard of since. Just Harry and Cedric for the cup. Harry can do this." Sirius encouraged to all the scared faces around him. They all smiled weakly at him.
"They both split up again. Harry then met a sphinx."
"Bloody hell." James groaned while Flitwick smiled.
"He got past just fine, James." Hermione assured him.
"Thank god he got his mother's brains." Remus smirked. Lily laughed.
"He could finally see the cup but Cedric was ahead of him. Suddenly a giant spider came onto the pathway in front of them. Cedric hurtled past it and Harry tried casting stunning spells on it."
"Won't work on an acromantula." Remus groaned.
"It didn't. The spider picked him up. He tired disarming it, which worked, but it meant he got dropped twelve feet onto an already injured leg which crumpled."
Lily and James clutched each other closer while Sirius grabbed baby Harry as if to check he was still ok.
"He and Cedric stunned it at the same time which did work and it was stunned. They then both argued over which one of them would take the cup. Cedric wanted Harry to have it for helping him with the egg and saving his life in the maze."
"Hufflepuff sense of fairness." Lily smiled.
"Harry said Cedric had helped him with the lake task and they fought the spider together so they were even. Cedric had gotten there first so he should take it."
"Harry's odd sense of fairness." Sirius commented dryly.
"Given how he grew up, Harry is a remarkable boy." McGonagall agreed with a smile. "I'm proud to have him in my house. You too Miss Granger."
"I'm proud to be in your house." Hermione told her, returning the smile. "They agreed to both take the cup together as it would still be a Hogwarts victory."
"Great idea boys." Remus beamed. Hermione tried for a smile, but couldn't do it. This next bit would be the hardest yet and it was only going to get worse. Sirius noticed her expression and grew worried. He knew it wouldn't be as simple as getting the cup and getting out.
"When they took the cup, it transported them to a graveyard."
"A portkey?" Dumbledore asked. Hermione nodded. They drew wands and saw a figure. Harry's scar burned and a voice said 'Kill the spare.' Cedric was murdered." She said, holding back her own tears.
"Good god." McGonagall exclaimed, clutching at her robes in shock. Everyone was staring, horrified, at Hermione.
"The spy at Hogwarts. Whoever put Harry's name in the cup was leading up to this." Sirius whispered.
"The figure tied Harry against a headstone and he saw it was Pettigrew." James, Sirius and Remus paled in unison and their face grew to identical masks of rage.
"I don't care if he is in custody, I'm going to murder the bastard." Sirius growled, but his voice was drowned out by James.
"HOW DARE HE! We looked after the scum all through school and this is how he thanks us. Betraying me and Lily and now killing an innocent boy." James' voice was met by deafening silence. Remus was silent, but his face gave away his anger and hatred. James and Sirius were on their feet, wands in hands before anyone could blink.
"Sirius. No!" Hermione cried. "He hasn't done this yet. Harry is just fine." She reminded him, pointing to the baby on Lily's lap.
"I don't care. He has already joined them, the damage has been done." Sirius growled.
"Think about it, Black. If a prisoner, already in custody, is murdered there will be a full investigation. If they prove it was you, you will lose your place in auror training and go to Azkaban. Do you really want that?" Lily asked him.
"Mrs Potter is correct." Flitwick said. "You cannot murder him."
"Permanent, serious injury?" James asked with the ghost of a grin.
"Or a permanent, James injury?" Sirius replied with a quirk of his lips. The teachers all shook their heads.
"So, Wormtail put something in a cauldron, then added a bone, apparently from Tom Riddle's father. He then cut off his own right hand as 'Flesh of the servant willingly given, you will revive your master.' The whole room gasped in shock.
"He literally gave his right hand for the man?" James asked, his tone full of disbelief. "Peter we know, who cries at a papercut, sliced his whole hand off?" Hermione nodded grimly.
"That's…" Sirius began, but he was lost for words. How could they have drifted apart so much that they didn't even know what their old friend was capable of?
"Disgusting? Vile? Unbelievable?" Offered Remus.
"All of the above." Lily muttered, looking slightly green
"He then used Harry's blood to complete the job." Dumbledore's eyes flashed with victory and worry in equal measure.
"Peter took my son's blood to bring back that evil bastard?" Lily snarled. She drew her wand, conjured a dummy and blew it to smithereens. Everyone edged away from her slightly.
"Language…" Sirius started, trying to lighten the mood. Lily just waved her wand at him and his mouth became glued shut.
"With the potion complete, Voldemort had a new body of his own." Hermione stated. The room seemed to darken of its own accord.
"My fourteen year old son, just had to watch the world's darkest, most evil wizard, be resurrected. He even played a part in it?" James' voice was a strangled whisper. He clutched Harry tightly against his chest and enveloped Lily in a huge hug as she sobbed into his shoulder.
"My poor baby." She whispered.
"That poor boy. Most fully grown wizards wouldn't be able to handle that." McGonagall exclaimed, looking sickened and horrified. Sirius and Remus just sat, blank faced, gaping. Suddenly they both got up and joined the hug with James, Lily and Harry. All five of them clung to each other, four making sure Harry was ok.
"Voldemort put on robes and Wormtail gave him his wand. He then summoned his death eaters, and finally greeted them all. He gave Wormtail a new silver hand."
"He what?" Dumbledore asked sharply. Hermione repeated what she had said and they all looked angry.
"Should have left him with a stump." Sirius growled through gritted teeth, once Hermione had removed the spell on him.
"He then wanted to duel Harry." Everyone stared at her open mouthed. The now familiar look of horror was on everyone's face.
"Remember what I said when Harry bought his wand." Dumbledore reminded them and everyone relaxed very slightly.
"He refused to bow to Voldemort and threw of his imperius curse when Voldemort tried to make him."
"He threw off Voldemort's imperius?" Remus asked in awe.
"My son is absolutely incredible." James said, his voice held the same amount of awe that was written on everyone's face.
"Even fully grown wizards can't do that." Sirius grinned down at his godson and ruffled his hair. "Atta boy Prongslet."
"As Voldemort went for the kill," Everyone flinched. "Harry tried disarming and the spells collided. A golden net or something erupted around them and the wands were connected by a line." Everyone glanced at Dumbledore, who smiled. "Voldemort's wand began emitting shadowy figures. Cedric, Bertha Jorkins, a muggle that Harry saw in his dream at the start of the year, and you two." Hermione looked over at James and Lily.
"Priori Incantatem." Dumbledore said simply.
"Are they ghosts?" Sirius asked.
"No. Neither ghost or living. An echo of the last spells the wand performed. They were the recent murders of that wand." He explained.
"Cedric asked Harry to return his body to his parents. Lily told Harry to break the connection and the echos would distract Voldemort long enough for Harry to get away." It worked. He broke it, ran to Cedric's body, summoned the cup and got transported back to Hogwarts."
"Oh thank goodness that's over. I can't believe my poor boy went through that all alone." Lily was sobbing into James' shoulder again.
"When he got back, it took everyone a few seconds to realise Cedric was dead. Harry immediately told Professor Dumbledore that Voldemort was back. Harry doesn't remember much, it was a confusing blur. Everyone was frantic because of Cedric and in the confusion Moody led Harry away."
"He took him from my side?" Dumbledore asked. "Alastor would never."
"The spy? Moody? That's impossible." Sirius said.
"Well, Harry told him that Voldemort was back, and part of what happened in the graveyard. Moody gave him a pepperup potion. He then told him that Karkaroff had fled. After the names he had given in, he would not be welcome back. Moody made him realise that it had been him who put Harry's name in the Goblet. He told him how to get past the dragon and suggested to Cedric how to work out the egg so he would tell Harry."
"No. This can't be happening." Sirius growled. "Moody would never."
"Moody had been patrolling the maze that night and blasted a lot of the obstacles out of Harry's way. He put the imperius on Krum so he would attack Fleur and Cedric. He was about to kill Harry for Voldemort when the door blasted open and Professor Dumbledore came in."
"Thank you." Lily gasped gratefully.
"My pleasure." Dumbledore gave a tight smile.
"They waited a few minutes and he began to change. It wasn't Moody. He had been imprisoned at the bottom of his trunk the whole year. It was Barty Crouch junior drinking polyjuice potion."
"I thought he died?" Remus asked.
"I don't care, the kid needs to go to Azkaban now." James hissed in anger. "He almost got my son killed throughout the year. He made sure my son was used to resurrect Voldemort." His voice died off, trying not to think.
"The Professor gave Crouch veritaserum. He then told them how his father had smuggled him out of Azkaban, disguised as his mother as Mrs Crouch's drying wish. He kept his son under the imperius curse and at home. Winky looked after him. He began to fight the curse. At the world cup, he was in the seat supposedly saved for Mr Crouch, under an invisibility cloak. He stole Harry's wand in the top box."
"Forget Azkaban. I want to kill him with my bare hands." James' face was red with fury. His glasses lopsided on his face and he looked scary.
"James calm down. You are scaring Harry." Lily told him. He immediately looked contrite and sat back down, taking Harry into his lap to sooth the crying baby. Hermione took Sirius' hand and squeezed it gently.
"Soon after, Voldemort came to the house. Bertha Jorkins had seen him in the house. Mr Crouch had wiped her memory, but while she was in Albania, Voldemort broke through the spell. He found out about the tournament and that his faithful servant was still alive. He set Crouch junior free and put Mr Crouch under the imperius curse."
"And nobody noticed?" Asked Lily incredulously. "Percy was joined at Crouch's hip wasn't he? How did nobody noticed he was under a curse?"
"I don't know. The Ministry infiltrated and not one person could tell the difference." James said in disgust.
"Then, he went to Moody, kept him in the trunk so he could keep making polyjuice potion for the year."
"Poor Moody. Bet that didn't help his paranoia." Sirius muttered.
"Not at all." Hermione gave him a half smile. "He then put Harry's name in the cup and helped him through the tournament. When he took the map from Harry, he saw his father when he arrived at Hogwarts. It had been him stealing from Snape's store, but the map showed his true name, not Alastor Moody."
"It's good like that." James said fondly.
"Impressive magic." Lily told him.
"Thanks Lilypad."
"Don't call me that." She snapped.
"When Mr Crouch came to Hogwarts, he waited until Harry ran off, stunned Krum, and then killed his father."
"He killed his own father?" Lily gasped.
"Professor McGonagall stood guard by Crouch as Professor Dumbledore took Harry to his office."
"No!" You can't question him about that tonight. You can't make him relive that again." James cried. "He is just a fourteen year old boy Professor."
"It would be best for him to do that straight away. Then, he can never have to relive it again if he doesn't wish to. It is better than leaving him and making him do it in the morning." Dumbledore explained.
"Sirius was waiting in the office,"
"Thank goodness he has you." James heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank you Padfoot."
"Anytime. I wouldn't miss being with Harry for this." Sirius told him sincerely.
"Sirius argued that Harry should just go to bed, but Professor Dumbledore made him retell the story. Then he took him to the hospital wing, where the Weasley's and I were waiting. Sirius stayed with him in dog form." Sirius grinned at her.
"About time I was some use." He sighed.
"You were a lot of use." She told him. "Harry was given a potion for dreamless sleep. Later he woke up to hear Professor McGonagall yelling that Fudge had allowed a Dementor onto school grounds and it had kissed Crouch Junior."
Dumbledore looked furious.
"The fool just destroyed crucial evidence." Flitwick cried.
"Yes he did. Fudge didn't believe that Voldemort had returned. He believed Skeeter's articles and thought he was unhinged."
"No!" Hissed James and SIrius.
"How can he not believe it?" McGonagall asked, incredulous.
"I knew Skeeter was too much trouble." Remus growled.
"Everyone tried to argue with Fudge, but he just refused to believe his perfect world was shattering."
"The power hungry, idiot fool is going to get us all killed." McGonagall cried in horror.
"How did he ever become Minister for Magic?" Lily asked in shock.
"I'm still not sure." Hermione answered with a grimace. "He gave Harry his winnings and left. Professor Dumbledore sent Sirius to start alerting the Order and Snape back to Voldemort. He also wanted to see Hagrid and Madam Maxime about a mission. Just before Harry went to sleep I finally managed to complete my mission."
"What mission?" Sirius asked. The last few minutes had driven everything from their minds.
"About Rita Skeeter. Next morning, Harry spoke to the Diggorys and we saw Hagrid. At the end of term feast, Professor Dumbledore told everyone what had happened to Cedric. We all said goodbye to the foreign students."
"Did Krum say goodbye?" James asked, wiggling his eyebrows. Hermione blushed.
"He invited me to visit him in Bulgaria." She admitted. Sirius felt another stab of jealousy. "Ron finally got his autograph. On the train I finally admitted how I caught Skeeter. She is an unregistered animagus. She could turn into a beetle and listen in on private conversations. She could also talk to and get false interviews with the Slytherins."
"Smart, but annoying." Sirius sighed.
"I threatened to expose her unless she stopped writing." Hermione grinned. The teachers looked torn between amusement and stern, while the marauders all beamed.
"Atta girl." Sirius chuckled.
"Harry forced the twins to take his winnings to help start their joke shop."
"No!" Cried McGonagall. "They don't need help causing trouble. Or helping other cause trouble.
"Good boy Harry." James congratulated.
"Well done." Sirius grinned.
"End of our fourth year." Hermione announced.
"One hell of a year. I still can't believe it." James said in a hoarse whisper.
"That is crazy." Sirius agreed. Hermione grimaced, realising that when she recounted their fifth year she would have to explain that Sirius died. Definitely a problem for tomorrow.
"I know that was crazily, mentally exhausting, but can we start fifth year?" Hermione asked them. Everyone nodded warily. They knew it was only going to get worse.