An: Well, here's the next chapter! I hope that everyone enjoys it and I'm so sorry it's taken me this long to publish this chapter. Life has been really stressful as of late, but thankfully writing helps me. I hope you are all doing well right now and are staying safe. I love all of you lovely readers.
Please R&R! Reviews keep me motivated and I want to know if you're enjoying this story, or if you've noticed any mistakes.
"I can hardly believe what happened," Hermione mumbled to Harry in their compartment, fiddling with her fingers anxiously as she looked around. "Moody was a powerful Auror from what I heard it had to be more than a few low-ranking Death Eaters," It was nice being able to talk with Hermione again after so long, but now raised the issue of telling her the truth. "It's just not adding up to me," She mumbled mostly to herself this time, starting to tap her finger against her knee.
"It's a lot to digest," Harry said simply, looking out the window and holding back a sigh. He knew Hermione would start putting things together soon and that meant answering questions that he wasn't ready for yet. Or at least questions he wasn't sure on how to answer for that matter. "The last few weeks have been hectic," He added after a moment, turning to her when he felt eyes on him.
"Oh, Harry." Hermione frowned suddenly, looking a little guilty. "I'm sorry. This is a lot for you and to have me talking about it so soon-"
"It's fine," Harry quickly cut her off, not knowing how much longer he could keep the secret from her. This was his best friend for a reason. He could keep secrets easily, but not when it came to Hermione. "I just don't know what to do," He finally admitted, not bothering to hold back a sigh this time.
"Dumbledore clearly won't be any help ever. It seems he only becomes useful at the end of the year when somethings already happened to you," Harry snorted at the understatement, shaking his head.
"You could say that again. He only ever wants something to do with me when I'm being 'reckless' and all that." The green-eyed wizard said with a sour look. "It makes me wonder what he would've done if I were sorted into Slytherin," Hermione snorted.
"Professor Snape would have most likely kept you in check most of the time. I doubt you would have done half the things you've done if you were Slytherin." She didn't mean it rudely, but with Severus Snape as your Head of House, there was less room to break the rules.
"Unless I was never caught," He responded with a smirk. "I was almost placed in Slytherin for a reason, 'Mione. I like to think I would've been subtle about sneaking around," He grinned at her, earning a fond huff as she smiled a bit.
"Still, it feels as if the Headmaster does the bare minimum. I'm surprised he hasn't been sued yet….maybe that's something you could look into," Hermione realized, wondering why it hadn't occurred to her before. Harry thought about that before shrugging.
"Sad thing is, I bet I could get more help from Voldemort than from Dumbledore," Harry joked, knowing it was secretly true. At least Tom Riddle wouldn't constantly feed him lies or try to control him like a pawn. No more of that. He would be free of the useless blood wards and the actual blood spilled in them. Thanks to Barty, he would never have to go back to that Hellhole again.
He was absentmindedly messing with the chain on his portkey necklace, Barty on his mind. He barely noticed the way Hermione's eyes had changed into something more calculating.
"Harry?" She asked, continuing when the said wizard turned to face her. "What's truthfully going on?" She gently asked, noticing something was different. Harry frowned at that as he felt a lump start to form in his throat, his heart threatening to jump out of his ribcage.
"What do you mean?" He asked instead, wanting to know what angle she was coming from. Had she figured it out already, or was she merely worried about a different matter?
"I don't know," The bushy-haired witch eventually admitted, frowning slightly. "You've just seemed different ever since you got back from the graveyard. You seemed so nonchalant about Voldemort being back. It was almost like you didn't care that he was. Now," She continued, making Harry's already pounding heart skip a beat. "You've seemed to get over Professor Moody's death in the matter of a day." He hated the acquisition, but sadly, his bright friend was not mistaken, and he didn't know how to handle that.
"What brought this on?" Harry asked, worrying his bottom lip as he always did.
"Considering you were close with Professor Moody, I found it odd that you aren't more torn up about it. I only saw you look downcast when Dumbledore was around. It makes me believe you were faking it and not everything is as it seems," Harry finally gave a soft laugh as his friend said the last part.
"Merlin, 'Mione. You're such a bright witch, you know? I don't think much can get past you without you noticing something about it," He complimented, slowly running a hand down his face. "The real story is so much longer and more complicated. There's more to it than a duel that didn't even happen," It was priceless to see her eyes widen to the size of saucers as he said that, her mouth opening and closing like a fish.
"How much of what you told everyone about the Graveyard was a lie?" Harry nearly flinched, starting to grow anxious.
"Not a lot. The only part I lied about was the duel," He explained sincerely. "The trophy was a portkey that took to me Voldemort. A ritual was performed to bring him back, but," That's where Harry paused, unsure of how to continue.
"Yes?" Hermione thankfully didn't look to be angry. Instead, she looked intrigued and concerned at the same time.
"Voldemort told me something that Dumbledore had kept hidden from me for a long time," He licked his lips. "The real reason I can talk to snakes is that my mom was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin through a squib. The connection I share with Voldemort is because we're related," Hermione gasped at that, covering her mouth in shock.
"Related? Why…why did the headmaster keep that a secret from you?" Hermione was at a loss more than ever now. She already disliked Dumbledore, but any ounce of respect she might have felt for him quickly dwindled into nothingness.
"I'll give you a hint. Think of my loving family," She looked confused at that for a moment before her eyes widened.
"That makes the blood ward at your relatives-"
"Complete useless and nonexistent?" He finished for her, earning a jerked nod. "Yep!" He said cheerfully.
"Oh, Merlin," Hermione was at a loss, so much turmoil in her eyes as she paled. "That's the only excuse he used to send you back to those monsters, but to know it was all a lie," The poor witch looked like she was going to be sick now as her brows furrowed. "He's disgusting! A power-hungry monster is what he is,"
"I couldn't agree more," Harry sighed, leaning back. "It's why I've been keeping away from him more so than usual. I'm going to make him pay for everything he's done. Such as lying about Voldemort's true intentions,"
"What?" Hermione's jaw dropped at that.
"Long story short; Voldemort is a half-blood, and while he isn't the biggest fan of muggles, he has no desire to actively hurt them or the muggle-borns. He's displeased that people like Lucius Malfoy have made it appear that way. His true intentions are to bring down Dumbledore and unify magic. He's done a lot of research over the years, 'Mione. He wants to revert all the damage Dumbledore has done to the wizarding culture. Dumbledore and the ministry, that is,"
"What did they do?" She questioned, wondering how long Harry and Voldemort had talked for.
"They stigmatized the Dark Arts more so than needed to be. He understands outlawing some things obviously, but he hates the bad reputation the Dark Arts has. Did you know that there was a Dark Arts class taught at Hogwarts at one point?" Hermione's eyes widened at that as she shook her head.
"Not surprisingly, it was one of the first classes Dumbledore removed from the lessons. He replaced it with things like Divination and Astronomy," While he didn't mind those classes, he didn't think they compared to a class like the Dark Arts. Hermione, on the other hand, made a displeased face. "He also removed many etiquette and tradition classes,"
"That's ludicrous! He had no right to remove classes like that. Those would have been helpful to people like us," Harry was raised by muggles just as she was, and they would have benefitted from classes on wizarding tradition.
"Exactly. Voldemort was telling me about how appalled he was when he saw for himself. It took all of his willpower to not curse Dumbledore when he was on the back of Quirrell's head."
"It sounds like you two talked a lot during that 'duel' you had," She added, a small smile on her face.
"I also got a lot of information from…" He paused, suddenly remembering Hermione had no idea about Barty Crouch Jr.
"From?" She prompted, growing more curious.
"I would have said Professor Moody at one point, but it wasn't exactly him,"
"Polyjuice potion?" Hermione suddenly asked to Harry's surprise. "You mentioned that Professor Snape accused you of stealing the ingredients at one point," She reminded.
"Oh yeah," Harry remembered that now, snickering at Severus' reaction to learning the truth about Moody. "The person who taught us was Barty Crouch Jr." He winced at the way she flinched at that, something flashing in her eyes.
"The same Barty Crouch Jr who helped torture Neville's parents into insanity?"
Harry honestly couldn't blame her for the slight anger he saw.
"Yes and no. It's more like another Sirius situation," He explained, watching as the fire behind her eyes started to die down. "He was thrown into Azkaban without getting a fair trial."
"That's awful," Hermione muttered softly, frowning.
"Yeah. He explained that the Lestrange's were the real masterminds behind that attack. They used their rank to trick him into spying on the Longbottoms, then when he told them what they needed to know, the three of them attacked. He was dragged down because of it. It didn't help that his father was the one overseeing the trials and cared more about his mere reputation than giving his son a fair trial," Harry spoke bitterly.
"You're close with him," Hermione realized, watching his expression as he talked about the other man, getting angry for him when it came to his father.
"You can say that," He smiled a bit, fiddling with the chain around his neck again.
"Does that mean he orchestrated the attack against the real Alastor Moody?" Hermione question and Harry bit his lips.
"Uh, yeah. I may have had a hand in that as well." He admitted. "I was the one who came up with the plan," Again, Hermione's face was full of shock as he admitted that to her. "I didn't want him to die, but I recognized the fact that he had to. Dumbledore would have become suspicious of me if the real Moody told Dumbledore about how he was trapped by a Death Eater who masquerade as him."
"…I can understand that." She begrudgingly agreed at the sound logic. "It's just a little hard to wrap my mind around it."
"I know. I wanted to tell you all of this sooner, but we haven't been able to hang out alone like this in a while," He smirked at her embarrassed flush. "How is that going, by the way?"
"It's going well. We're going to write to each other more over the summer. He's even planning to pay for me to come to watch him play," She didn't care of Quiddich all too much, but she would gladly watch Viktor play. "Back to the real subject though," She waved her hand, trying to get back to the subject. "Is that necklace important? You've fiddled with it during most of the train ride." She watched as an embarrassed flush spread over his cheeks.
"It's a portkey that can only be activated by me. I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but I'm going to be living with him this summer. He refused to allow me to be sent back to the Dursleys," Harry admitted, messing with the chain again.
"He sounds nice," Hermione confessed, smiling a bit. "While I do wish you had told me this sooner, I am glad that I know now. I'm also happy that you don't have to go back there...it's going to be hilarious seeing Dumbledore's reaction to you not being there though," They both chuckled at that. "Oh, and before I forget, I wanted to point out that by killing Moody, it also gives Voldemort an upper hand with Dumbledore,"
"Exactly. That was one of the other reasons this had to be done. To officially bring Dumbledore down, we need to isolate him as much as possible. The good thing is that we won't even have to do too much work. He's doing that part for us, ironically. People are getting tired of the way he's been leading them on. They're losing respect for him,"
"I've already lost that," She joked, crossing her arms. "Who else is starting to go against him though?"
"From what the twins have told me, their own family is losing their patience with him. Their parents are thinking about leaving the order soon. Sirius and Remus are also planning on leaving as soon as they can. Sirius owns Grimmauld place and can kick the order out whenever they feel like it," Harry shrugged, not knowing who else to mention off the top of his head.
"Do you think Dumbledore is growing suspicious of it?" She asked, only to receive a nod.
"I'll give Dumbledore credit where it's due. He isn't a complete idiot and has probably realized by now that many people are losing faith in him. His downfall is going to be his ego, I believe. He's only thinking that they're losing faith in him and not more than that. He won't be expecting for the order to turn on him,"
"I'll have to agree with you on that," Hermione admitted, pausing. "Turn on him? Besides us, who's-"
"Hermione," Harry smirked. "How do you think my dog-dads are going to react to Dumbledore lying about the blood wards? That he's deliberately been forcing me to go back to an abusive house when I could have gone with Sirius to Grimmauld last year?"
"…they're going to murder him."
"You can't leave us-"
"-without a goodbye-"
"-Kiss!"
"Wha-" Harry flushed as each twin took a cheek and laid a kiss, grinning at him as they did.
"Would you look at that, Georgie! He's so red!"
"I see, Freddie. Red indeed!" They both winked at him and sauntered off, leaving a bemused Harry and Hermione.
"Do they do that to you regularly now?" How much had she missed when she was with Viktor?
"No. That was new," He laughed as the two of them walked off the train. He noticed the two devils up ahead and smirked. "Gred, Forge, I expect a real one next time!" He called out, teasing the twins who shot him a playful wink. Hermione fondly rolled her eyes at their antics, smiling when she noticed her family coming up to them.
"I don't see the Dursley's. Did you go ahead and tell them you wouldn't be coming back?" She whispered, to which Harry nodded.
"Yeah. There was no point in me going back there. All of my belongings are with me and…I'd rather never step into that place again, as long as I can help it. I don't need the memories," He added sadly, giving her a genuine smile. "I'll miss you, "Mione. I'll be sure to write and let you know how I'm doing,"
"Good! I trust that you're in good hands," She smirked at him, making him flush more. "Anyway, I've got to go now, Harry. I'll miss you too," She gave him a tight hug and walked off to her parents.
Smiling to himself, Harry placed all off his shrunken belongings into his pocket and touched the serpent pendant. He felt the familiar tug in his stomach as the world vanished.
When he reopened his eyes, he grinned at the sight that awaited him. "Barty!" He grinned more as arms wrapped around him. "I've missed you," Harry teased.
"We've only been apart for two days," Barty teased back as he eventually pulled away from the hug, pleased to know that Harry would never have to live with those monsters again.
"So? I missed our routine tea in the evenings," The younger admitted. "Besides, now you can train me more!"
"Why do I feel like that's the only reason you agreed to live here?" Barty smirked as Harry chuckled.
"As I told Hermione earlier, I was almost placed in Slytherin for a reason. I can be extremely resourceful,"
"You would have done exceptionally well in Ravenclaw too. You have a great mind," The older wizard gently tapped his finger against Harry's forehead as if to prove his point. Grinning at that, the younger wizard chuckled as he fought off a blush.
"I think I'll leave that to you. You're brilliant," Harry saw the smile as Barty removed his hand. "Ooh, maybe you can teach me some more ancient runes this summer? You honestly were a wonderful teacher and you'd be teaching me your favorite subject," He missed the bright emotions behind Barty's eyes as Harry said that.
"I'd be happy to teach you. It's such an interesting subject," He explained, talking about how powerful the magic behind it was. It didn't take Harry long for him to get Barty started; and Merlin, the excited man went on about it, his passion for the subject making Harry feel captivated by it himself.
"That's amazing. I had no idea that runes held so much magic. I assumed it was only a translation class."
"There is a lot of translation in the Hogwarts lessons," Barty admitted. "But there is so much more to it than that…sorry for talking your ear off, by the way. Once I get rolling, I can barely stop,"
"I wasn't kidding about you being a wonderful teacher. I could listen to you for days." Harry smiled. "So, what's all the different magic that goes into the words?" Barty's eyes lit up as he continued explaining.