As it turned out, Percy had decided to go to St. Mungo's to visit his boss and give him an update on how things were going in the office. When the witch at the welcome desk informed him that Mr. Crouch was not there, and had never checked in, Percy had become alarmed. The next day, he decided to visit Mr. Crouch at his home, which coincided with the Aurors visiting. Percy explained why he was there, and one of the Aurors, Kingsley Shacklebolt, said, "Well, you were right to be worried, Mr. Weasley. It seems that he has been under the Imperius Curse for the past few months, as part of a plan the escaped Death Eaters and possibly the spirit of You-Know-Who cooked up. There's more to it, but right now we'd like to keep as many details as we can quiet. You'll find out everything once the investigation is over and the Ministry can release the details to the press."

Nymphadora Tonks added, "Thank Merlin Rita Skeeter was caught, or she'd be sniffing around in her beetle form and write up the story before time." She and Kingsley entered the house, but Maria Romanov stayed behind for a minute.

"I can't officially tell you anything, Percy, but you may want borrow Sirius's two-way mirror and speak to Alex," she said in a whisper. "He was the one that discovered there was something amiss. You're trustworthy and will be able to keep it a secret."

Percy thanked her and then Disapparated to the Black home. He ran the doorbell and a minute later, Sirius answered. "Hello, Percy," Sirius said, looking surprised to see the young man. "What bring you here?" He moved aside to let Percy in.

"I was just at Mr. Crouch's home," Percy replied. "I had wanted to check up on him, especially after I found out that he wasn't at St. Mungo's. Three Aurors were there, and Auror Shacklebolt informed me that Mr. Crouch had been under the Imperius Curse for the past three months. Aunt Maria, or should I say Auror Maria Romanov, told me that I should borrow your two-way mirror and speak to Alex, since they can't officially tell me anything until the investigation is over."

Sirius glanced at his watch. "Well, today is a Hogsmeade visit, but I'm pretty sure that Alex hasn't left yet, since it's still fairly early in the morning. Wait in the drawing room while I go grab my mirror."

A couple of minutes later, he returned with the mirror and handed it to Percy, who activated it. A minute later, Alex's face appeared. "Sirius, I was just about to leave for Hogs- wait, you're not Sirius. Hi Percy. May I ask why are you contacting me via Sirius's mirror?"

Percy quickly explained. Alex sighed. "Well, after all the help you gave me, you probably should know. By the way, thank you for the letter you sent me about the second task. Okay, Ron and Neville are the only other people left in the dorm room with me, so it's safe to tell you." He launched into an explanation about the Marauder's Map and what he'd seen on it Thursday night, then talked about telling Sirius and Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape about it. They had then gone to investigate, discovered the real Alastor Moody locked in his own trunk, while Barty Crouch Jr was masquerading as him via Polyjuice Potion, and questioned Crouch Jr under Veritserum.

Percy looked aghast when Alex was done talking. "I knew Mr. Crouch was so overzealous that he denied Sirius Black a trial, but I never thought that his wife would convince him to smuggle their son out of prison. And I am shocked that Crouch Jr managed to escape and was the one that entered you in the Triwizard Tournament. Thank Merlin you found out that something was amiss and he was caught. Now You-Know-Who's plan won't work."

"That doesn't mean I'm safe, Percy," Alex pointed out. "This plan might be thwarted, but Tom Riddle isn't just going to give up on using me in his ritual to return to power. If he can't get me via the Tournament, he'll just find another way. In fact, I think he already knows about Crouch Jr being uncovered. Last night, my scar hurt again, and I got the feeling that Riddle was really angry about something. I had to do Occulemency just to get my scar to stop hurting and be able to sleep without feeling Riddle's anger."

Ron appeared behind Alex's shoulder. "Hi, Perce. I think Theodore Nott might have something to do with it. Professor Dumbledore made an announcement at breakfast yesterday about Defense classes being cancelled for the day, as someone had been discovered to be masquerading as Moody and the real one was recovering in the hospital wing. Dumbledore didn't give any more details, but Nott looked upset when he heard that, and I saw him send out his owl with a letter a few minutes later."

Percy's expression turned from worried to serious. "It is highly possible that Theodore Nott had somehow gotten in contact with his father, especially considering the vendetta he has against Alex. Please be on your guard, Alex."

"Don't worry, I plan to be nowhere near him during today's Hogsmeade visit," said Alex. "And at Hogwarts, I make sure that I'm always in the company of my friends or the other students."

"All right," said Percy. "Have a good Hogsmeade visit, and take care. Ron, pass on my greetings to Ginny Fred, and George."

"I'll do that, Percy," said Ron. The three said their good-byes and then Alex ended the connection.

Later that afternoon, the Gryffindor quintet were walking out of the Three Broomsticks, having enjoyed a nice lunch. The five looked around, for on their way into the village that morning, Theodore Nott had shouted at Alex to enjoy his visit, for he was going to get his comeuppance in a few hours. Professor McGonagall had heard Nott, and had immediately banned him from visiting Hogsmeade for the day, giving him a detention in its place. After the talk with Percy, the quintet was certain that Nott must have knowledge about something, and so they were on their guard as the visited the village.

The crack of someone Apparating sounded. The quintet started at the noise and looked around, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. A few seconds later, however, there were screams from many students, and one of the shopkeepers further down the street yelled, "It's Peter Pettigrew!" There was instant pandemonium, especially as another shopkeeper shouted, "Catch that rat!", implying that Wormtail and turned into his Animagus form.

The Gryffindor quintet had their wands out and ready as they slowly backed into the Three Broomsticks. They had just reached the door when a rat appeared in front of them and transformed back into a man. A wad of parchment was in his mouth, and ducking the Stunners that Ron and Hermione sent, Wormtail had shoved the parchment at Alex, who grabbed it by reflex. There was a flash of light as the parchment revealed itself to be a Portkey and he was whisked away.

The rest of the quintet tried to Stun Wormtail again, but he Disapparated before the Stunners could hit their target.

Alex landed in a heap. As he dropped the parchment and got to his feet, he looked around and saw that he was in a graveyard. He silently cursed, wondering how he could have gotten in a situation like this after having done his best to be on his guard, and wishing that Ron's or Hermione's Stunner had hit their mark. Suddenly Alex remembered the protective charm that his parents had given him last year, which was also a modified Portkey that would whisk him away if he was in danger. He reached up for the chain that the charm was on to activate it, but before he could, he was bound with ropes.

"Got you!" snarled Mr. Nott. "The Dark Lord was very angry to find that his spy at Hogwarts had been uncovered, but luckily my son had written in his note that today was a Hogsmeade visit and a good opportunity to get you." He dragged a bound and struggling Alex over to a headstone.

As a cauldron was set up and the other escaped Death Eaters, including Wormtail, who had been able to Disapparate away, started preparing the ritual. Alex tried to silently and wandlessly sever the ropes binding him, thanking the fact that he had been adopted by a Romani family and so had learned some wandless magic. He had only managed to sever the rope binding his wrists when some dust (or was it bits of bone?) flew out of the grave underneath him and was magically transported to the cauldron, with Augustus Rookwood saying, "Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son."

Alex silently said, "Diffindo!" again and this time, one of the ropes binding his ankles were severed. Wormtail stepped forward, a dagger in his left hand, and cut off his right hand into the cauldron, saying in a shaky voice, "Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master." He stepped back, sobbing in pain, as Lucius Malfoy gave him a contemptuous look and said a quick spell that stopped the bleeding and more or less cauterized the stump.

At this point, Mr. Nott walked over to Alex, a look of sadistic pleasure on his face and a knife in his hand. "Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe!"

Alex, who had stopped trying to sever the rest of the ropes to avoid being caught at it, was suddenly struck by idea. According to Mr. Nott, the blood of the enemy needed to be forcibly taken for the ritual. If Alex let it happen, he could prevent the ritual from succeeding, or otherwise muck up Voldemort's rebirth. So as Mr. Nott stopped in front of him, he shouted, "Take it then!"

There was a pause as the Death Eaters looked at each in confusion, then a bundle on the ground hissed, "Get on with the ritual, fools!" Mr. Nott looked uncertain, but raised the knife and made a cut on Alex's arm. Alex didn't resist at all and plastered a smile on his face, thinking firmly that he was very willing to give up some of his blood. Mr. Nott held a small vial to the cut until a few drops of blood fell into it. He then walked over to the cauldron and poured the blood in it. Rabastan Lestrange picked up the bundle and dropped it into the potion in the cauldron.

While the Death Eaters were focused on the cauldron, Alex focused on severing the remaining ropes. He had just finished when a figure stepped out of the cauldron and requested to be robed. At the end of the request, the skeletal figure started coughing.

When the coughing fit was over, Voldemort demanded, "What has happened here?" He quickly donned the robes given him and then glared around at the assembled Death Eaters. "Why am I cough-" He burst into another fit of coughing, and when he finished, he also sounded out of breath. "Did you make a mistake with the ritual?" he shouted. "I will-" There was a third fit of coughing.

Once that ended, Alex said, "Oh Tom Riddle, you know why you're coughing and out of breath? My blood wasn't forcibly taken! When Mr. Nott came to take my blood, I said, 'Take it then!' When the others stopped what they were doing and looked at each other in confusion, you hissed, 'Get on with the ritual, fools!', so Mr. Nott took my blood while I was giving it willingly."

Everyone had swiveled to look at Alex once he started speaking. They all looked angry, and then Alecto Carrow noticed that he was free of his bonds. "He's escaped the ropes!" she shouted, pointing.

Macnair raised his wand to restore the ropes, but right at that moment, Alex activated the Portkey/charm around his neck. The last thing he saw were the furious faces of Voldemort and the twelve Death Eaters as he felt a jerk around his navel and disappeared.

Alex landed in a heap in Granny Ilsa's workroom. As he got to his feet, he saw his grandmother and mother staring at him in shock. "Alexander!" Ana exclaimed, running over to hug her son. "You're all right! We just heard what happened in Hogsmeade. I'm so glad you used the Portkey to escape."

Granny Ilsa left the room, but returned a minute later with a few bottles of potions. "There's a cut on your arm, Alex. Let's get that cleaned up." She led him to the sink in the corner and washed up the cut, then poured a few drops of a potion that would stop the bleeding. She then applied another that what close up the cut, and wrapped a a bandage around it. "Here, drink this," she said, handing him a dose of Calming Draught, then another to Ana, who was starting to look like she might become hysterical with relief and worry mixed together.

Once both had downed the potion, Granny Ilsa said calmly, "All right, Alex, you can tell us what happened."

Alex talked being transported to a graveyard, presumably one where Voldemort's father was buried in, because of the part of the ritual that required 'bone of the father'. He explained the entire ritual, how he had deliberately set to muck it up by letting his blood be willingly taken, and how he had escaped.

When he finished, Ana said, "We were hoping that you'd remember to use your Portkey, so that's why we were waiting here. Now, let's get you to the Ministry so you can give your statement to the Aurors. Don't worry, we'll make sure Maria, Tobias, Tonks, and Kingsley Shacklebolt will be the ones taking your statement, and have Professor Dumbledore present as well."

Alex looked relieved to hear that Aurors he liked and trusted would be the ones to take down his statement. Ana Side-Along Apparated him to the telephone booth that was the visitor's entrance to the Ministry. Once in the Auror Headquarters, Rufus Scrimegeour, Head of Department, recalled the Aurors that had been sent to Hogsmeade to figure out what was going on. Professor Dumbledore was immediately summoned, and then Alex repeated his story.

Dumbledore's eyes gleamed for a second when Alex described how he had let his blood be willingly taken instead of forcibly taken. "That was very clever of you, Alexander," he said. "So I take it had an adverse effect when Voldemort regained a proper body?"

Alex nodded. "He had several coughing fits, usually when he was shouting, and sounded short of breath. Anyway, after I told him why he was coughing, Alecto Carrow noticed that I had freed myself from the ropes. That was when I activated the Portkey around my neck, before any of the Death Eaters or Riddle could rebind me. Er, I could give you my memory of the incident so you could see what happened. I know it might be hard to believe."

"We'll see what Minister Fudge says about it first," said Kingsley Shacklebolt. "In the meantime, I think that will be all. You can go, Alexander Romanov."

Professor Dumbledore took Alex back to Hogwarts, where his sister, friends, and cousins were waiting rather frantically. Upon seeing that he was all right, they mobbed him, and once things had calmed down a bit, he took them to the Room of Requirement to explain what had happened. "So Tom Riddle is back," said Vera, looking very somber when Alex was done speaking. "At least his new body isn't in the best of health, thanks to the fact that you let your blood be willingly taken, Alex. But there's bound to be war again."

"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," said Ivan. "Just know you aren't alone, Alex, and we'll all help you."

Alex nodded dully. "I think the events of today have tired me out. Granny Ilsa gave me a Calming Draught, but it was still a shock to have Riddle return, even if I did mess up the ritual."

"Right, we'll let you get some rest," said Ron. "Come on, I'll take you back to our dorm room."

"And the rest of us will tell the school the bare bones of what happened to you so that you won't have to be pestered with questions," Hermione offered.

"Thanks, guys," said Alex, and allowed Ron and Neville to lead him to the Gryffindor common room so he could rest.