Chapter 39
Veritaserum
KIARA
I felt myself slam flat into the ground; my face was pressed into the grass, the smell of it filled my nostrils. I had my eyes closed while the Portkey transported me, and I kept them closed then. I did not move. All the breath seemed to have been knocked out of me; my head was swimming so badly I felt as though the ground beneath me was swaying like the deck of a ship. To hold myself, steady, I tightened my hold on the two things I was still clutching - the smooth, cold handle of the Triwizard Cup, and Georgia's body. I felt as though I would slide away into the blackness gathering at the edges of my brain if I let go of either of them. Shock and exhaustion kept me on the ground, breathing in the smell of the grass, waiting ... waiting for someone to do something ... something to happen ... and all the while, my scar burnt dully on my forehead ...
A torrent of sound deafened and confused me, there were voices everywhere, footsteps, screams ... I thought I heard Sian screaming for her mother in the midst of my confusion, but I couldn't be sure ... I remained where I was, my face screwed up against the noise, as though it was a nightmare that would pass ...
Then a pair of hands seized me roughly and turned me over.
"Kiara! Kiara!"
I opened my eyes.
I was looking up at the starry sky, and Susan Crighton was crouched over me, with Sian knelt next to her. The dark shadows of a crowd of people pressed in around us, pushing nearer; I felt the ground beneath my head reverberating with their footsteps.
I had come back to the edge of the maze. I could see the stands rising above me, the shapes of people moving in them, the stars above.
I let go of the Cup, but I clutched Georgia to me even more tightly. I raised me free hand and seized Crighton's wrist, while Crighton's face swam in and out of focus.
"She's back," I whispered. "She's back. Zira."
"What's going on? What's happened?"
I saw Sian give an "I-told-you-so" look to her mother, as the face of Cornelia Sweets appeared upside-down over me; it looked white, appalled.
"My God - Diggs!" it whispered. "Crighton - she's dead!"
The words were repeated, the shadowy figures pressing in on us gasped it to those around them ... and then others shouted it - screeched it - into the night - "She's dead!" "She's dead!" "Georgia Diggs Dead!"
"Kiara, let go of her," I heard Sweets' voice say, and I felt fingers trying to prise me from Georgia's limp body, but I wouldn't let her go.
Then Crighton's face, which was still blurred and misted, came closer. "Kiara, you can't help her now. It's over. Let go."
"She wanted me to bring her back," I muttered - it seemed important to explain this. "She wanted me to bring her back to her parents ..."
"That's right, Kiara ... just let go, now ..."
Crighton bent down and, with extraordinary strength for a woman so old and thin, raised me from the ground, and set me on my feet. I swayed. My head was pounding. My injured leg was no longer supporting my weight. The crowd around us jostled, fighting to get closer, pressing darkly in on me - "What's happened?" "What's wrong with her?" "Diggs' dead!"
"She'll need to go to the hospital wing!" Sweets was saying loudly. "She's ill, she's injured - Crighton, Diggs' parents, they're here, they're in the stands ..."
"I'll take Kiara, Crighton ... I'll take her ..."
"No, I would prefer - "
"Crighton, Alesha Diggs' running ... she's coming over ... don't you think you should tell her - before she sees - ?"
"Kiara, stay here - "
Girls were screaming, sobbing hysterically ... the scene flickered oddly before my eyes ...
"It's all right, lassie, come on, I've got you ... come on ... hospital wing ..."
"Crighton said stay," I said thickly, as the pounding in my scar made me feel as though I was about to throw up, and my vision was blurring worse than ever.
"You need to lie down ... come on, now ..."
Someone larger and stronger than I was, was half pulling, half carrying me through the frightened crowd; I heard them gasping, screaming and shouting as the woman supporting me pushed a path through them, taking me back to the castle. Across the lawn, past the river and the Uagadou sub; I heard nothing but the heavy breathing of the woman helping me walk ...
SIAN
Sian was standing there, listening to the sounds of the frightened crowd, and lost in her own thoughts. She was sad that Georgia, who was so good, and did not deserve to die so soon and so young, was dead; she felt sorry for Kiara, who did not have to see someone die - especially at such a young age. But Sian knew that everything was going to change from this moment on, and that this was the moment that their childhoods had started to leave them, and that the crueller, harsher world of adulthood was fast approaching.
Sian then thought of her mother, and of the warning she had given her just after Kiara's name had been pulled from the Goblet. Sian knew something bad was going to happen, ever since the Death Trail had been seen at the Quidditch Friendly, and was amazed that she had been the only one to see the dangers of Kiara being entered. Well, at least Ma'll start taking me more seriously from now on, Sian thought, satisfied by this.
She was brought out of her thoughts by Alesha Diggs' heart-wrenching screams as the poor woman knelt by her daughter's dead body. She felt her eyes start to sting, and felt her heart go out to the woman who would never see the great person her daughter would have become. But then, Sian's tears stopped, as she was brought to the attention of her Scanner, which had started beeping madly again. Ever since Grumpy's first appearance in the school, her Scanner had been going haywire, which was why she always turned it off before she went into one of Grumpy's classes. But when she impatiently pulled it out, looked at the screen and saw what it said, she gasped aloud, shocked by what she saw. She then wondered, for a brief moment, whether the Scanner was lying to her, but Sian quickly shook her head at the thought, for she knew her Scanner never lied. She then jumped as she felt her mother's hand on her shoulder. Sian looked up into her mother's face, and saw her mother's eyes were fixed on her Scanner.
"So, Professor Grumpy isn't who she seems to be, after all?" Crighton said thoughtfully.
Sian sighed, and said, "I'm sorry, Ma. I didn't know - "
"It's quite all right, my darling," her mother said gently. "It wasn't just you she fooled, after all."
Sian smiled up at her, grateful that her mother wasn't angry, either. Her mother's eyes sparkled, before she turned to Professor Darbus, Professor Triphorm and Cornelia Sweets.
"Cornelia, it seems I have an issue with one of my staff that needs to be attended to immediately. Could you please ask Spud to talk to Georgia's parents while I deal with the problem?"
Sweets looked taken aback, but did as Crighton asked. Sian then watched as her mother turned to Darbus and Triphorm.
"Deidre? Tiana?" Crighton said to them. "I need you both to come with me, now. I'm afraid to say that Professor Grumpy isn't who she said she is, and I believe that Kiara is in danger. Will you help me?"
Sian saw Darbus and Triphorm look shocked and slightly confused by what her mother has said, but was relieved that they didn't ask questions, and agreed to do whatever Crighton asked of them. Crighton smiled at them, and then turned back to Sian. Sian didn't give her mother the chance to speak. She just pulled out her wand and said, "I'm right behind you, Ma." Mother and daughter smiled at each other in understanding, and then they led the way back to the castle, with Darbus and Triphorm bringing up the rear. As they walked, Sian hoped that Kiara was all right, and that they would get to her before it was too late ...
KIARA
"What happened, Kiara?" the woman asked at last, as she lifted me up the stone steps. Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. It was Crazy-Head Grumpy.
"Cup was a Portkey," I said, as we entered the Entrance Hall. "Took me and Georgia to a graveyard ... and Zira was there ... Lady Zira ..."
Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. Up the marble staircase.
"The Scarlet Lady was there? What happened then?"
"Killed Georgia ... they killed Georgia ..."
"And then?"
Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. Along the corridor ...
"Made a potion ... got her body back ..."
"The Scarlet Lady got her body back? She's returned?"
"And the Love Destroyers came ... and then we duelled ..."
"You duelled with the Scarlet Lady?"
"Got away ... my wand ... did something funny ... I saw my grandfather Mufasa ... he came out of her wand ..."
"In here, Kiara ... in here, and sit down ... you'll be all right now ... drink this ..."
I heard a key scrape in a lock, and felt a cup being pushed into my hands.
"Drink it ... you'll feel better ... come on now, Kiara, I need to know exactly what happened ..."
Grumpy helped tip the stuff down my throat; I coughed, a peppery taste burning my throat. Grumpy's office came into sharper focus, and so did Grumpy herself ... she looked as white as Sweets, and all six of her eyes were fixed unblinkingly upon my face.
"Zira's back, Kiara? You're sure she's back? How did she do it?"
"She took stuff from her mother's grave, and from Wormy, and me," I said. My head felt clearer; my scar wasn't hurting so badly; I could now see Grumpy's face distinctly, even though the office was dark. I could still hear screaming and shouting from the distant Quidditch pitch.
"What did the Scarlet Lady take from you?" said Grumpy.
"Blood," I said, raising my arm. My sleeve was ripped where Wormy's dagger had torn it.
Grumpy let out her breath in a long, low hiss. "And the Love Destroyers? They returned?"
"Yes," I said. "Loads of them ..."
"How did she treat them?" Grumpy asked quietly. "Did she forgive them?"
But I suddenly remembered. I should have told Crighton, I should have said it straightaway - "There's a Love Destroyer at Dragon Mort! There's a Love Destroyer here - they put my name in the Goblet of Fire, they made sure I got through to the end - "
I tried to get up, but Grumpy pushed me back down.
"I know who the Love Destroyer is," she said quietly.
"Kula?" I said wildly. "Where is she? Have you got her? Is she locked up?"
"Kula?" said Grumpy with an odd laugh. "Kula fled tonight, when she felt the Death Trail burn on her arm. She betrayed too many faithful supporters of the Scarlet Lady to wish to meet them ... but I doubt she will get far. The Scarlet Lady has ways of tracking her enemies."
"Kula's gone? She ran away? But then - she didn't put my name in the Cup?"
"No," said Grumpy slowly. "No, she didn't. It was I who did that."
I heard, but didn't believe.
"No, you didn't," I said. "You didn't do that ... you can't have done ..."
"I assure you I did," said Grumpy, and her magical eyes swung around and were fixed upon the door, and I knew that she was making sure that there was no one outside it. At the same time, Grumpy drew out her wand, and pointed it at me.
"She forgave them, then?" she said. "The Loves Destroyers who went free? The ones who escaped Azkaban?"
"What?" I said.
I was looking at the wand Grumpy was pointing at me. I thought desperately that it was a bad joke, for it just had to be.
"I asked you," said Grumpy quietly, "whether she forgave the scum who never even went to look for her. Those treacherous cowards who wouldn't even brave Azkaban for her. The faithless, worthless bits of filth who were brave enough to cavort in masks at the Quidditch Friendly, but fled at the sight of the Death Trail when I fired it into the sky."
"You fired ... what are you talking about ...?"
"I told you, Kiara ... I told you. If there's one thing I hate more than any other, it's a Love Destroyer who walked free. They turned their backs on my mistress, when she needed them most. I expected her to punish them. I expected her to torture them. Tell me, Kiara ..." Grumpy's face was suddenly lit with an insane smile. "Tell me she told them that I, I alone remained faithful ... prepared to risk everything to deliver to her the one thing she wanted above all ... you."
"You didn't ... it - it can't be you ..."
"Who put your name in the Goblet of Fire, under the name of a different school? I did. Who frightened off every person I thought might try to hurt you or prevent you winning the Tournament? I did. Who nudged Mina into showing you the dragons? I did. Who helped you see the only way you could beat the dragon? I did."
Grumpy's four magical eyes had now left the door. They were fixed upon me. Her lop-sided mouth leered more widely than ever. "It hasn't been easy, Kiara, guiding you through these tasks without arousing suspicion. I have had to use every ounce of cunning I possess, so that my hand would not be detectable in your success. Crighton would have been very suspicious if you had managed everything too easily. As long as you got into that maze, preferably with a decent head start - then, I knew, I would have a chance of getting rid of the other Champions, and leaving your way clear. But I also had to contend against your stupidity. The second task ... that was when I was most afraid that we would fail. I was keeping watch on you, Pride-Lander. I knew you hadn't worked out the egg's clue, so I had to give you another hint - "
"You didn't," I said hoarsely. "Georgia gave me the clue - "
"Who told Georgia to open it underwater? I did. I trusted that she would pass the information onto you. Decent people are so easy to manipulate, Pride-Lander. I was sure Georgia would want to repay you for telling her about the dragons, and so she did. But even then, Pride-Lander, even then you seemed likely to fail. I was watching all the time ... all those hours in the library. Didn't you ralise that the book you needed was in Nikita Bore's hands all along? Magical Mediterranean Water-Plants and Their Properties. It was a hint, you see. A hint to what you needed. It would have told you all you needed to know about Gillyweed. I expected you to ask everyone and anyone you could for help. Bore would have told you in an instant, which would then have led to the Eldest Dawson Girl to remember those sweets she gave you, for they have traces of Gillyweed in them. That's why you managed to breathe so long underwater. But you did not ask for help ... you did not ... you have a streak of pride and independence that might have ruined all.
"So what could I do to help you? Feed you information from another innocent source. You told me at the Yule Ball a house-elf called Dokey had given you a Christmas present. I called the elf to the staff room to collect some robes for cleaning. I staged a loud conversation with Professor Darbus about the hostages who had been taken, and whether Pride-Lander would think to use one of those Gillyweed sweets. And your little elf friend ran straight to the Lion-Heart common room to find you ..."
Grumpy's wand was still pointing directly at my heart. Over her shoulder, foggy shapes were moving in the Foe-Glass on the wall. "You were so long in that lake, Pride-Lander, I thought you had drowned, or had been eaten by the Paleman. But luckily, Crighton took your idiocy for nobility, and marked you high for it. I breathed again.
"You had an easier time of it than you should have done in that maze tonight, of course," said Grumpy. "That was because I was patrolling around it, able to see through the outer hedges, able to curse many obstacles out of your way. I Stunned Ferdinand Desjardin as he passed. I put the Imperius Curse on Outsider, so that he would finish Diggs, and leave your path to the Cup clear."
I stared at Grumpy. I just didn't see how this could be ... Crighton's friend, the famous Auror ... the one who had caught so many Love Destroyers ... it made no sense to me at that moment ... no sense at all ...
The foggy shapes in the Foe-Glass were sharpening, had become more distinct. I could see the outlines of four people over Grumpy's shoulder, moving closer and closer. But Grumpy wasn't watching them. Her four magical eyes were all upon me.
"The Scarlet Lady didn't manage to kill you, Pride-Lander, and she so wanted to," whispered Grumpy. "Imagine how she will reward me, when she finds I have done it for her. I gave you to her - the thing she needed above all to regenerate - and then I killed you for her. I will be honoured beyond all Love Destroyers. I will be her dearest, her closest supporter ... closer than a daughter ..."
Grumpy's normal eyes were bulging, the magical eyes fixed upon me. The door was barred, and I knew I wouldn't reach my own wand in time ...
"The Scarlet Lady and I," said Grumpy, and she looked completely insane now, towering over me, leering down at me, "have much in common. Both od us, for instance, had very disappointing mothers ... very disappointing indeed. Both of us suffered the indignity, Kiara, of being named after those mothers. And both of us had the pleasure ... the very great pleasure ... of killing our mothers, to ensure the continued rise of the Dark Order!"
"You're mad," I said - I couldn't help myself - "you're mad!"
"Mad, am I?" said Grumpy, her voice rising uncontrollably. "We'll see! We'll see who's mad, now that the Scarlet Lady has returned, with me at her side! She is back, Kiara Pride-Lander, you did not conquer her - and now - I conquer you!"
Grumpy raised her wand, she opened her mouth, and I plunged my own hand into my robes -
"Stupefy!" There was a blinding flash of red light, and with great splintering and crashing, the door of Grumpy's office was blasted apart -
Grumpy was thrown backwards onto the office floor. I, who had been staring at the place where Grumpy's face had been, saw Susan Crighton, Sian Dawson, Professor Darbus and Professor Triphorm looking back at me out of the Foe-Glass. I looked around, and saw the four of them standing in the doorway, Crighton in front, her wand outstretched, as was Sian's.
At that moment, I fully understood for the first time why people said Crighton was the only witch Zira had ever feared. The look on Crighton's face as she stared down at the unconscious form of Crazy-Head Grumpywas more terrible than I could ever have imagined. There was no benign smile upon Crighton's face, no twinkle in those emerald green eyes. There was cold fury in every line of the ancient face; a sense of power radiated from Crighton as though she was giving off burning heat. Similarly, Sian wore an expression quite like her mother's, but was quickly replaced by a look of relief as soon as she saw me.
"Kiara, are you OK?"
Too shocked to speak, I nodded my head vigorously, as Crighton stepped into the office, placed a foot underneath Grumpy's unconscious body and kicked her over onto her back, so that her face was visible. Triphorm followed her, looking into the Foe-Glass, where her own face was still visible, glaring into the room.
Sian and Professor Darbus came straight over to me.
"Come along, Pride-Lander," Professor Darbus whispered. The thin line of her mouth was twitching as though she was about to cry. "Come along ... hospital wing ..."
"No," said Crighton sharply.
"Crighton, she ought to - look at her - she's been through enough tonight - "
"She will stay, Deidre, because she needs to understand," said Crighton curtly. "Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery. She needs to know who has put her through the ordeal she has suffered tonight, and why."
"Grumpy," I said. I was still in a state of complete disbelief. "How can it have been Grumpy?"
"This is not Aoife Grumpy," said Crighton quietly. "You have never known Aoife Grumpy. The real Grumpy would not have removed you from my sight after what happened tonight. The moment she took you, I knew - which was confirmed, furthermore, by the information on Sian's Scanner - and I followed."
Crighton bent down over Grumpy's limp form and put a hand inside her robes. She pulled out Grumpy's hip-flask, and a set of keys on a ring. Then she turned to Professor Darbus, Triphorm and Sian.
"Tiana, please fetch me the strongest Truth Potion you possess, and then go down to the kitchens, and bring up the house-elf called Blinky. Deidre, kindly go down to Mina's house, where you will find two large black dogs sitting in the pumpkin patch, along with Sarabi. Take Sarabi and the dogs up to my office, tell them I will be with them shortly, then come back here. Sian, you stay here with me."
Sian's instruction was easy enough to follow, for all she did was nod her head curtly and stayed put, but whether Triphorm or Darbus found their instructions peculiar, they hid their confusion. Both turned at once, and left the office. Crighton walked over to the trunk with seven locks, fitted the first key in the lock, and opened it. It contained a mass of spellbooks. Crighton closed the trunk, placed a second key in the second lock, and opened the trunk again. The spellbooks had vanished; this time it contained an assortment of broken Sneakoscopes, some parchment and quills, and what looked like a silvery Invisibility Cloak. I watched, astounded, as Crighton placed the third, fourth, fifth and sixth keys in their respective locks, reopening the trunk each time, and revealing different contents each time. Then she placed the seventh key in the lock, threw open the lid, and I let out a cry of amazement, as Sian gasped in surprise.
We were looking down into a kind of pit, an underground room, and lying on the floor some ten feet below, apparently asleep, thin and starved in appearance, was the real Crazy-Head Grumpy. Her wooden leg was gone, the dents which should have held her four magical eyes on her head looked black and empty without them, and chinks of her grizzled hair was missing. I stared, thunder-struck, between the sleeping Grumpy in the trunk, and the unconscious Grumpy lying on the floor of the office.
Crighton climbed into the trunk, lowered herself and fell lightly onto the floor beside the sleeping Grumpy. She bent over her.
"Stunned - controlled by the Imperius Curse - very weak," she said. "Of course, they would have needed to keep her alive. Sian, throw down the impostor's cloak, Aoife is freezing. Matron will need to see her, but she seems in no immediate danger."
Sian did as she was told; Crighton covered Grumpy in the cloak, tucked it around her, and clambered out of the trunk again. For a second, I wondered why Sian wasn't ignoring her mother anymore, but as Sian herself reminded me a few days later, it was because of the argument that she and her mother had had after my name had been pulled out of the Goblet of Fire, and now that the Tournament was over, there was no need for Sian to ignore her mother any longer. Anyhoo, Crighton then picked up the hip-flask and stood upon the desk, unscrewed it, and turned it over. A thick glutinous liquid splattered onto the office floor.
"Polyjuice Potion," said Sian simply.
"Yes," sighed Crighton. "You see the simplicity of it, and the brilliance. For Grumpy never does drink except from her hip-flask, she's well known for it. The impostor needed, of course, to keep the real Grumpy close by, so that she could continue making the Potion. You see her hair ..." Crighton looked down on the Grumpy in the trunk. "The impostor has been cutting it off all year, see where it is uneven? But I think, in the excitement of tonight, our fake Grumpy might have forgotten to take it as frequently as she should have done ... on the hour ... every hour ... we shall see."
Crighton pulled out the chair at the desk and sat down upon it, her eyes fixed upon the unconscious Grumpy on the floor. Sian and I stared at her, too. Minutes passed in silence ...
Then, before our very eyes, the face of the woman on the floor began to change. The scars were disappearing, the skin was becoming smooth; the mangled nose became whole, and started to shrink. The long mane of grizzled grey hair withdrew into the scalp, and turned the colour of straw. Suddenly, with a loud clunk, the wooden leg fell away as a normal leg regrew in its place; next moment, the four magical eyeballs had popped out of the woman's face and the skin on her forehead exposed, and became as smooth as the rest of her face; the four eyeballs rolled away across the floor and continued to swivel in every direction.
Sian and I saw a woman lying before us, pale-skinned, slightly freckled, with a mop of fair hair. I knew who she was. I had seen her in Crighton's Pensieve, had watched her being led away from court by the Dementors, trying to convince Mrs Clutch that she was innocent ... but she was lined around the eyes now, and looked much older ...
There were hurried footsteps outside in the corridor. Triphorm had returned with Blinky at her heels. Professor Darbus was right behind them.
"Clutch!" Triphorm said, stopping dead in the doorway. "Bea Clutch!"
"Good heavens!" said Professor Darbus, stopping dead and staring down at the woman on the floor.
Filthy, dishevelled, Blinky peered around Triphorm's legs. His mouth opened wide and he let out a piercing shriek. "Mistress Bea, Mistress Bea, what is you doing here?"
He flung himself forwards onto the young woman's chest. "You is killed her! You is killed her! You is killed mistress' daughter!"
"She is simply Stunned, Blinky," said Crighton. "Step aside, please. Tiana, you have the Potion?"
Triphorm handed Crighton a small glass bottle of completely clear liquid; the Veritaserum with which she had threatened me in class with. Crighton got up, bent over the woman on the floor, and pulled her into a sitting position against the wall beneath the Foe-Glass, in which the reflections of Crighton, Sian, Darbus and Triphorm were still glaring down upon us all. Blinky remained on his knees, trembling, his hands over his face. Crighton forced the woman's mouth open, and poured three drops inside it. Then she pointed her wand at the woman's chest, and said, "Enervate."
Clutch's daughter opened her eyes. Her face was slack, her gaze unfocused. Crighton knelt before her, so that their faces were level.
"Can you hear me?" Crighton asked quietly.
The woman's eyelids flickered.
"Yes," she muttered.
"I would like you to tell us," said Crighton softly, "how you came to be here. How did you escape from Azkaban?"
Clutch took a deep, shuddering breath, then began to speak in a flat, expressionless voice. "My father saved me. He knew he was dying. He persuaded my mother to rescue me as a last favour to him. She loved him as she had never loved me. She agreed. They came to visit me. They gave me a draught of Polyjuice Potion, containing one of my father's hairs. He took a draught of Polyjuice Potion, containing one of my hairs. We took on each other's appearance."
Blinky was shaking his head, trembling. "Say no more, Mistress Bea, say no more, you is getting your mother into trouble!"
But Clutch took another deep breath, and continued in the same flat voice. "The Dementors are blind. They sensed one healthy, one dying person entering Azkaban. They sensed one healthy, one dying person leaving it. My mother smuggled me out, disguised as my father, in case any prisoners were watching through their doors.
"My father died a short while afterwards in Azkaban. He was careful to drink Polyjuice Potion until the end. He was buried under my name, and bearing my appearance. Everyone believed him to be me."
The woman's eyelids flickered.
"And what did your mother do with you, when she had got you home?" said Crighton quietly.
"Staged my father's death. A quiet, private funeral. That grave is empty. The house-elf nursed me back to health. then I had to be concealed. I had to be controlled. My mother had to use a number of spells to subdue me. When I had recovered my strength, I thought only of finding my mistress ... of returning to her service."
"How did your mother subdue you?" said Crighton.
"the Imperius Curse," Clutch said. "I was under my mother's control. I was forced to wear an Invisibility Cloak day and night. I was always with the house-elf. He was my keeper and carer. He pitied me. He persuaded my mother to give me occasional treats. Rewards for my good behaviour."
"Mistress Bea, Mistress Bea," sobbed Blinky through his hands. "You isn't ought to tell them, we is getting in trouble ..."
"Did anybody ever discover that you were still alive?" said Crighton softly. "Did anyone know except your mother, and the house-elf?"
"Yes," said Clutch, her eyelids flickering again. "A wizard in my mother's office. Bernard Jenkins. He came to the house, with papers for my mother's signature. She was not at home. Blinky showed him inside and returned to the kitchen, to me. But Bernard Jenkins heard Blinky talking to me. He came to investigate. He heard enough to guess who was hiding under the Invisibility Cloak. My mother arrived home. He confronted her. She put a very powerful Memory Charm on him to make him forget what he'd found out. Too powerful. She said it damaged his memory permanently."
"Why is he coming to nose in my mistress' private business?" sobbed Blinky. "Why isn't he leaving us be?"
"Tell me about the Quidditch Friendly," said Crighton.
"Blinky talked my mother into it," said Clutch, still in the same monotonous voice. "He spent months persuading her. I had not left the house for years. I had loved Quidditch. Let her go, he said. She will be in her Invisibility Cloak. She can watch. Let her smell fresh air for once. He said my father would have wanted it. He told my mother that my father had died to give me freedom. He had not saved me for a life of imprisonment. She agreed in the end.
"It was carefully planned. My mother led myself and Blinky up to the Top Box early in the day. Blinky was to say that he was saving a seat for my mother. I was to sit there, invisible. When everyone had left the box, we would emerge. Blinky would appear to be alone. Nobody would ever know.
"But Blinky didn't know that I was growing stronger. I was starting to fight my mother's Imperius Curse. There were times when I was almost myself again. There were brief periods when I seemed outside her control. It happened, there, in the Top Box. It was like waking from a deep sleep. I found myself out in public, in the middle of the match, and I saw a wand sticking out of a girl's pocket in front of me. I had not been allowed a wand since before Azkaban. I stole it. Blinky didn't know. Blinky is frightened of heights. He had his face hidden."
"Mistress Bea, you bad girl!" whispered Blinky, tears trickling between his fingers.
"So you took the wand," said Crighton, "and what did you do with it?"
"We went back to the tent," said Clutch. "Then we heard them. We heard the Love Destroyers. The ones who had never been to Azkaban. The ones who had never suffered for my mistress. They had turned their backs on her. They were not enslaved as I was. They were free to seek her, but they did not. They were merely making sport of Muggles. The sound of their voices awoke me. My mind was clearer than it had been in years. I was angry. I had the wand. I wanted to attack them for their disloyalty to my mistress. My mother had left the tent, she had gone to free the Muggles. Blinky was afraid to see me so angry. He used his own brand of magic to bind me to him. He pulled me from the tent, pulled me into the forest, away from the Love Destroyers. I tried to hold him back. I wanted to return to the campsite. I wanted to show those Love Destroyers what loyalty to the Scarlet Lady meant, and to punish them for their lack of it. I used the stolen wand to cast the Death Trail into the sky.
"Ministry wizards arrived. They shot Stunning Spells everywhere. One of the spells came through the trees where Blinky and I stood. The bond connecting us was broken. We were both Stunned.
"When Blinky was discovered, my mother knew I must be nearby. She searched the bushes where she had been found, and felt my lying there. She waited until the other Ministry members had left the forest. She put me back under the Imperius Curse, and took me home. She dismissed Blinky. He had failed her. He had let me acquire a wand. He had almost let me escape."
Blinky let out a wail of despair.
"Now it was just mother and I, alone in the house. And then ... and then ..." Clutch's head rolled on her neck, and an insane grin spread across her face. "My mistress came for me.
"She arrived at our house late one night, in the arms of one of her servants - Wormy's wife, to be precise, and accompanied by Wormy himself. My mistress had captured Bernard Jenkins in Albania. She had tortured him. He told her a great deal. He told her about the Triwizard Tournament. He told her the old Auror, Grumpy, was going to teach at Dragon Mort. She tortured him until she broke through the Memory Charm my mother had placed upon him. He told her I had escaped from Azkaban. He told her my mother kept me imprisoned to prevent me seeking my mistress. And so my mistress knew that I was still her faithful servant - perhaps the most faithful of all. My mistress conceived a plan, based upon the information Bernard had given her. She needed me. She arrived at our house near midnight. My mother answered the door."
The smile spread wider over Clutch's face, as though she was recalling the sweetest memory of her life. Blinky's petrified brown eues were visible through his fingers. He seemed to appalled to speak.
"It was very quick. My mother was placed under the Imperius Curse by my mistress. Now my mother was the one imprisoned, controlled. My mistress forced her to go about her business as usual, to act as though nothing was wrong. And I was released. I awoke. I was myself again, alive as I hadn't been in years."
"And what did Lady Zira ask you to do?" said Crighton.
"She asked me whether I was ready to risk everything for her. I was ready. It was my dream, my greatest ambition, to serve her, to prove myself to her. She told me she needed to place a faithful servant at Dragon Mort. A servant who would guide Kiara Pride-Lander through the Triwizard Tournament without appearing to do so. A servant who would watch over Kiara Pride-Lander. Ensure she reach the Triwizard Cup. Turn the Cup into a Portkey, which would take the first person to touch it to my mistress. But first - "
"You needed Aoife Grumpy," said Crighton. Her green eyes were blazing, though her voice remained calm.
"Wormy, his wife and I did it. We had prepared the Polyjuice Potion beforehand. We journeyed to her house. Grumpy put up a struggle. There was a commotion. We managed to subdue her just in time. Forced her into a compartment of her own magical trunk. Took some of her hair and added it to the Potion. I drank it, I became Grumpy's double. I took the leg and they eyes for her head. I was ready to face Matthew Dawson when he arrived to sort out the Muggles who had heard a disturbance. I made the dustbins move around the yard. I told Matthew Dawson I had heard intruders in my yard, who had set the dustbins off. Then I packed up Grumpy's clothes and Dark detectors, put them in the trunk with Grumpy, and set off for Dragon Mort. I kept her alive, under the Imperius Curse. I wanted to be able to question her. To find out about her past, learn her habits, so that I could fool even Crighton. I also needed her hair to make the Polyjuice Potion. The other ingredients were easy. I stole Boomslang skin from the dungeons. When the Potions mistress found me in her office, I said I was under orders to search it."
"And what became of Wormy and his wife after you attacked Grumpy?" said Crighton.
"Wormy and his wife returned to care for my mistress, in my mother's house, and to keep watch over my mother."
"But your mother escaped," said Crighton.
"Yes. After a while she began to fight the Imperius Curse just as I had done. There were periods where she knew what was happening. My mistress decided it was no longer safe for my mother to leave the house. she forced her to send letters to the Ministry instead. She made her write and say she was ill. But Wormy neglected his duty. He was not watchful enough. My mother escaped. My mistress guessed that she was heading for Dragon Mort. She was going to tell Crighton everything, to confess. She was going to admit that she had smuggled me from Azkaban.
"My mistress sent me word of my mother's escape. She told me to stop her at all costs. So I waited and watched. I used the map I had taken from Kiara Pride-Lander. The map that had almost ruined everything."
"Map?" said Crighton quickly. "What map is this?"
"Pride-Lander's map of Dragon Mort. Pride-Lander saw me on it. Pride-Lander saw me stealing more ingredients from for the Polyjuice Potion from Triphorm's office one night. She thought I was my mother as we have the same first name. I took the map from Pride-Lander that night. I told her my mother hated Dark wizards. Pride-Lander believed my mother was after Triphorm.
"For a week I waited for my mother to arrive at Dragon Mort. At last, one evening, the map showed my mother entering the grounds. I pulled on my Invisibility Cloak, and went down to meet her. She was walking around the edge of the Forest. Then Pride-Lander came, and Outsider. I waited. I could not hurt Pride-Lander, my mistress needed her. Pride-Lander ran to get Crighton. I Stunned Outsider. I killed my mother."
"Noooo!" wailed Blinky. "Mistress Bea, Mistress Bea, what is you saying?"
"You killed your mother," Crighton said, in the same soft voice. "What did you do with the body?"
"Carried it into the Forest. Covered it with the Invisibility Cloak. I had the map with me. I watched Pride-Lander run into the castle. She met Triphorm. Crighton joined them. I watched Pride-Lander bringing Crighton out of the castle. I walked back out of the Forest, doubled round behind them, went to meet them. I told Crighton Triphorm had told me where to come.
"Crighton told me to go and look for my mother. I went back to my mother's body. Watched the map. When everyone was gone, I Transfigured my mother's body. She became a bone ... I buried it, while wearing the Invisibility Cloak, in the freshly dug earth in front of Mina's cabin."
There was complete silence now, except for Blinky's continued sobs.
Then Crighton said, "And tonight ..."
"I offered to carry the Triwizard Cup into the maze before dinner," whispered Bea Clutch. "Turned it into a Portkey. My mistress' plan worked. She is returned to power and I will be honoured by her beyond the dreams of wizards."
The insane smile lit her features once more, and her head drooped onto her shoulder as Blinky wailed and sobbed at her side.
