A dark shadow had descended upon Hogwarts. Ever since the Yule Ball, when Karkaroff had supposedly made his last stand, a distinct ominous feeling had permeated the castle. Everyone could sense it. Not everyone was aware they could sense it, but at least on a subconscious level, they knew it was happening. It was not too removed from the dull hopelessness that the presence of Dementors brought, but with a sharper, more bitter feel to it. Daphne had hardly seen anyone smile at all during Yule break. Except for the headmaster, but even he seemed more distracted than usual recently. Daphne wished Luna was around to view the auras and give her interpretation, but Luna was out of the castle along with most everyone else, even Harry.

A great many people who sensed the shadow blamed it on the death of Professor McGonagall. Supposedly, she had taken a tumble down a moving staircase in the dark, strongly implied to be while she was drunk. But given that she could have easily turned into a cat and tanked the injury, Daphne very strongly suspected she had, in fact, been murdered by Dumbledore. Professor Snape had taken on the role of Deputy Headmaster, to no one's surprise. A temporary replacement for the role of transfiguration professor was being brought in from Brazil. And there was no word yet on the new head of Gryffindor house.

Daphne was one of the few students who had stayed in Hogwarts during the break. Her mother had sent her a curt letter requesting she and Astoria stay, giving no explanation. Daphne worried Mum blamed her for Dad's death. She had this worry because Daphne had often blamed herself for that as well. But without any solid proof, Daphne was just going to have to wait several more months for an answer. If Mum wanted to blame her, that was fine. Daphne could handle it. But if she wanted to blame Astoria, she had another thing coming.

While everyone was away – even Dumbledore spent most of the time out of the castle, maybe working on his other jobs or other nefarious plots – Daphne decided she might as well live up to the legacy of the same named Muggle character and do some snooping. After making absolutely sure Astoria was on the other side of the castle where there was no way she could get involved, Daphne sneaked into the professors' quarters. She wasn't foolhardy enough to try to sneak into Dumbledore's quarters, but she hoped she could find something useful in McGonagall's quarters. The sloppiness of the coverup suggested a degree of immediacy in getting rid of her, which meant whatever she had stumbled upon must have been important.

Unfortunately, Daphne didn't seem to have the innate talent that fictional American detective had, and she had no clue what the heck she was even looking for. She looked around the room somewhat desperately, trying to find some sort of secret compartment or hidden journal. But the place was immaculately clean and nothing appeared to be amiss. It was too clean, actually, now that she thought about it. As if someone had cleaned it up. But that was hardly enough evidence to convince any rightminded person, much less open up a criminal case.

Daphne sighed, closed the drawer she was looking through, and then came face to face with Professor McGonagall. She stumbled, tripped, and sprawled face first in an awkward heap on the bed. When she finally emerged, she saw that this was not Professor McGonagall as she knew her. Her form was shiny and transparent. This was her ghost, not the living legend.

"Hello, Miss Greengrass," she said, looking amused. "You should know better than to snoop in your professors' quarters. Three points from Slytherin."

Daphne tilted her head, her lips quirked in a slight smile. Even now, there was still an immense thrill to being recognized. Professor McGonagall was – had been – her favorite teacher. Many people said she was biased against Slytherins, but that was the whining of people who thought they could get away with being a jerk in her class only to find they couldn't. In any case, Professor McGonagall rewarded talent, and Daphne had that aplenty.

"Well, a) you're not a professor anymore, b) you can't take points since you're a ghost, and c) I had a really, really good reason."

"To figure out who killed me, I assume?" Professor McGonagall said calmly. She seemed to be taking the whole being dead thing very calmly. Daphne really admired that. "I'm afraid you're to be disappointed, my dear. It is far too dangerous for you to be trusted with that information. You would confront him and die as well. It is sad enough we have one student ghost. We do not need a second."

"It was the headmaster, wasn't it?"

Professor McGonagall clenched her ghostly fists. "No…no, I vow it upon my life, Albus Dumbledore did not kill me." Huh. It wasn't Dumbledore, but it was a man who caused her distress. Voldemort, then? Or perhaps someone she trusted. Someone under an Imperius curse?

"You realize a vow upon your life is meaningless since you're dead, right?" Daphne pointed out.

Professor McGonagall arched an eyebrow. "Goodness me, Miss Greengrass, I do not recall you being so sarcastic."

"Well, that's not a surprise," Daphne muttered. She had been a lot more sarcastic back when she couldn't face any real consequences for just about anything. "Please, professor. We can help you. If you won't talk to me, then will you talk to Professor Moody? He's on our side."

Professor McGonagall hesitated. "I suppose if anyone would be willing to believe me and have the proper resources to deal with the threat, it would be Alastor…" She sighed deeply. "Something does have to be done, though. If he is allowed to continue, we could all be doomed. Very well, take me to Alastor."

"He's gone for the break."

Professor McGonagall frowned. "I…that is very strange. I could swear he's still here…perhaps it will take me a while to get a handle on these ghostly senses. All right. When he returns, we will go to speak to him. And Daphne, for the love of magic itself, do not trust the headmaster. He is not who he appears to be."

Daphne scoffed. "Yeah, we figured that out a while ago."

"That's what you think," Professor McGonagall muttered so quietly, Daphne almost missed it. "Now leave my quarters, if you please."

Daphne wasn't about to risk making Professor McGonagall angry, though she was feeling quite furious herself. Professor McGonagall had trusted Dumbledore implicitly and he had murdered her in cold blood. Okay, true, she had put more blind faith in the man than she should have, leading her to do things like go along with his plans to leave a baby on a doorstep in November. But who was to say how much of that had truly been of her own free will? Probably not even Professor McGonagall knew the answer.

Daphne spent most of the rest of break either with her sister or hiding out in the library, trying to drown out the persistent feeling of fear running through her mind nearly every second of every day. Hogwarts was a center of evil now, and Daphne was stuck there. Along with her sister, who could be killed at any moment in some half-baked scheme of Dumbledore's. So, yeah, it was not a fun break for Daphne in the slightest. If only her friends had been there!

But everything comes to an end eventually, and her friends eventually returned to the castle. Draco and Harry acted sickeningly happy and madly in love with each other, and honestly, Daphne was really hoping that the honeymoon period of their relationship would soon be over, because it was just unnatural for the two of them to be in good moods. Even the sickening feeling of dread permeating the castle couldn't get to them, even if it was slowly getting to everyone else.

Ron was awkwardly dancing around the subject of the Yule Ball until Daphne gently but firmly informed him that she had no interest in a relationship with anyone at that moment. In truth, Daphne would have been open to the prospect of dating Ron if he didn't have a crush on Hermione. He was from a pureblood family that, while diminished in power, was clearly starting to go places again, so Mum wouldn't have any objections. He was really sweet when he made an effort, and he was attractive. But Daphne would not be involved in some love triangle while she drew breath.

Luna was at least able to confirm the dark energies of Hogwarts were not Daphne's imagination. She speculated that they were not actually new, but rather had been there the whole time, obscured by the wards. However, the wards were quite diminished now and there was no more energy left in them to power anything but the dementia-banishing spell. So lesser obfuscating spells were out of the question, meaning whatever Dumbledore was doing was now noticeable. It was not outside the realm of possibility, now that Daphne thought about it, that Professor McGonagall had been murdered because the brainwashing spells on her had been broken.

"So how was Monte Carlo, Draco?" Daphne said teasingly when they'd all found time to meet in the newly renovated Chamber of Secrets. She had to admit, it was dead useful having a place where they could all meet and no one could let people into and out of but Harry. (And Voldemort, she supposed, but if he was in the school, they'd all have way bigger problems.) And it was nice to have a place to lie down on couches and relax without having to worry about watching her back. The Slytherin Common room wasn't always a safe place to be. "Get plenty of sun?"

"It was simply wonderful," Draco purred dreamily. Daphne just stared at him. Everyone else gave him a look of utter confusion and no small matter of horror. It was just wrong for Draco to be so…happy. "Wasn't it, Harry?"

Harry gave a much less alarming grin. "Yeah, it really was. I've never had a vacation before, you know?" A solemn silence fell over the room at yet another reminder of Harry's grim past. "I mean, it's not that big of a deal." It was, in fact, a big deal, and it took all of Daphne's considerable willpower to avoid pointing that out. "Everyone else had a good break?"

Hermione immediately launched into a monologue that Daphne thought might be about some library in America she and her family visited during the break, but honestly, Daphne tuned out maybe 70% of everything Hermione said usually, so she couldn't be completely certain. The conversation devolved into a discussion about how different Muggle cultures compared to their magical counterparts before Daphne finally managed to get it back on track. Under normal circumstances, she might be interested in such a discussion, but there were life and death matters that had to be handled.

"The reason I brought you all here is that McGonagall is a ghost," Daphne announced. Everyone's eyebrows shot up. Out of all the faculty they thought would become ghosts, McGonagall was probably low on the list. "And she says she'll only talk to Moody about her killer. I wanted to wait until you were all here before we tell him. She can't be moving around the castle herself or Dumbledore will know."

Hermione stood up. "Well, then what are we waiting for?"

"Hang on a second," Harry said. Hermione scowled, but sat back down again. "Let's check the Marauder's Map."

Daphne raised a hand. "I don't know what that is."

"Oh!" Harry said and blushed a little. Draco rolled his eyes. "It's a map that shows the name and location of everyone in Hogwarts. My dad made it." Well, that was damn useful, in Daphne's opinion. She could think of a multitude of people who would literally kill for such an artifact. And that wasn't even taking into account the various possibilities such magic could have if it could be adapted to buildings other than Hogwarts. "Anyway, we should check to see Dumbledore isn't wandering around."

He peered at the map carefully and then the blood drained out of his face. He looked absolutely terrified. Seriously, Daphne hadn't seen him as this scared back when he was facing the bloody dragon. "Is it You Know Who?" she asked.

"It's a Dark Lord, yes…but not that one," Harry said, sounding almost numb. "Hermione, tell me if I'm seeing things."

Hermione grabbed the map out of his hands. "Oh, no," she whispered. "It can't be possible. How could we not have noticed it before? Oh, this is so bad. We're all fucked!"

Everyone let out a gasp at the sound of the notoriously profanity adverse Hermione Granger swearing. Hermione held out the map and Daphne felt lightheaded as she saw the words "GELLERT GRINDELWALD" written bold as brass beneath the dot currently pacing around the headmaster's office.

When the shock faded, Daphne actually felt fairly satisfied, because at last things were starting to make sense. Dumbledore's behavior had been shockingly illogical, contradictory, and stupid. But when one took into account it was actually Grindelwald trying to frame and undermine him, everything made total sense when seen through that viewpoint. Of course Grindelwald was trying to covertly destroy the Statute of Secrecy. That was his raison d'être, the whole reason behind his campaign. That was why the wards were so important: because they were powering whatever glamour spell Grindelwald was using.

"It's a possession spell," Ginny realized.

Harry tilted his head. "Uh, don't you have to be literally on the back of someone's head for that? That's what happened to Quirrell. Before I killed him, of course."

"I'm sorry, what?" Draco snapped, his head moving in Harry's direction Daphne could have sworn she heard it crack a little.

"No, there was another spell we read about," Luna explained. "It requires a massive amount of power…which is what he's been using the wards for…"

"Can we get back to the part where Harry killed someone?"

Everyone ignored Draco. Daphne's mind started racing. If Grindelwald was using that spell – and there was no guarantee he was; it could have been some sort of advanced glamour spell for all they knew – then Grindelwald's physical body was still in Nurmengard. Vulnerable. Aside from whatever defenses Grindelwald had around the fortress, of course.

"I'm sorry, you just killed him? Just like that?"

"It was self-defense, Draco!" Harry protested. "It's not like I murdered him in cold blood. I just grabbed onto him while he was strangling me and he burned to ashes."

So who could be trusted with this information? Lady Malfoy, perhaps? But while Harry probably had a high opinion of Lady Malfoy, Daphne knew better. Just because Lady Malfoy wasn't a raving homicidal lunatic like You Know Who didn't mean she wasn't evil. In fact, her sanity just made her all the more dangerous. There was a nonzero chance she might decide to join rather than kill Grindelwald, and that alliance would be a horrifying threat, to say the least.

"You seem disturbingly blasé for someone who just burned someone alive at eleven!"

"It's not like it's the first time, if we count Voldemort when I was a baby. If it was me."

"THIS IS NOT MAKING ME FEEL BETTER!"

Daphne wished dearly her father was still alive. This was starting to overwhelm her. Grindelwald had control over Hogwarts, the ICW, and the Wizengamot. The minister was manifestly an idiot, so no help would be coming from that direction. The last time they'd tried to get the Aurors involved, Grindelwald had gone through them like they were tissue paper, so that was out. Grindelwald was the toughest Dark Lord in recorded history, so it wasn't like they'd be able to take him on. Maybe they would have no choice but to ask Lady Malfoy for help.

"I don't know why you're so shocked about this," Harry pointed out. "It was in the interview I gave to Luna."

"I don't read the Quibbler," Draco admitted. Luna gave an exaggerated gasp of shock. Ginny glared at him and he let out a quiet yelp.

Ron clapped his hands sharply, bringing Daphne out of her thoughts. "I can't believe I have to be the one to say this, but we have to focus here! Gellert Grindelwald is in this school. He is manipulating Harry for some unknown reason. I'm sure he put his name in the Goblet of Fire too. So we have to figure out what to do." He pointed at Hermione. "Hermione, you're in charge of figuring out how to get Harry out of this tournament."

Hermione's mouth dropped open while her cheeks flushed a little. "Uh, okay," she said weakly.

Ron nodded approvingly. "Ginny, let's get a message to Mum and accelerate our plans. With McGonagall gone, this is a perfect opportunity for her to take on the role as Head of Gryffindor and let Grindelwald take her into his confidence."

"Is this normal for him?" Daphne whispered to Hermione.

"I don't know, but I am liking it," Hermione whispered back.

Ron pointed at Daphne now. "Daphne, you try to use whatever connections you can to see if an assault on Nurmengard is feasible. At the very least, I'd like to know a bit about what we're going to be facing if we do it."

Daphne gave a crisp salute. "Aye, aye, Weasley!"

"Draco, look into what the Wizengamot and the ICW have been doing and see if we can predict Grindelwald's next steps that way," Ron ordered him. "He's not doing this for fun; he's got some plan and if we can get in front of it, we might be able to stop him." Draco just nodded mutely.

Ron looked over at Luna. "Luna, you're in charge of coming up with escape plans. The more off the wall, the better. I want to completely blindside Grindelwald if at all possible!"

Harry waved at him, looking the only one who was entirely comfortable with this sudden and bizarre transformation by Ron into a confident leader. Daphne supposed he must have seen this happen before, or at least suspected he had it in him. She really was starting to regret Ron had a crush on Hermione now, a crush that, unfortunately by the manic look in Hermione's eyes, was now heartily reciprocated. "So what's my role?"

"You're going to stay alive," Ron said sardonically. "And keeping you alive has always been the hardest part of any plan." Harry gave a rude gesture at him.

Ron stood on the couch, looking triumphant and charismatic. Daphne scowled. Curse her nearly literally allergic aversion to love triangles. "The fight seems difficult, but it's not impossible. We have the element of surprise. We have a team of some of the smartest, most capable people I know. And we also have Harry, who is just too bloody stubborn to die." Harry put his hand on his heart melodramatically and adopted a faux expression of pure hurt. Ron studied him carefully to make sure he was faking before continuing. "We can do this. We can win! With careful planning and the right research – OOF!"

Before he could finish his sentence, Hermione tackled him and snogged him harder than Daphne had ever seen anyone get snogged before. It was honestly starting to get quite uncomfortable by the time Ron disentangled himself and managed to get out, "Meeting adjourned…"

As bizarre as the idea seemed, Harry did feel a little bit better knowing that it was Grindelwald, not Dumbledore, who was his true enemy. Harry had long respected Dumbledore and it was nice to know he wasn't an insane, murderous maniac with an unhealthy obsession towards him in particular, but rather just controlled by one. After smuggling Professor McGonagall into the Chamber of Secrets, he had a long conversation with the late Transfiguration professor, who told him all about what Grindelwald had been doing. Apparently, the Dark Lord had no clue Professor McGonagall spoke fluent German and thus could understand his monologue entirely.

Harry had promptly forgiven Professor McGonagall for failing to act on the horrible conditions he'd experienced with the Dursleys. He felt a lot better disposed towards her now knowing she tried to help but failed instead of not trying to help at all. The blame for her actions or lack thereof, in his opinion, could be blamed on Grindelwald and Grindelwald alone.

The battle before them did seem hopeless, but Harry had been through worse odds before. Had he not faced a gigantic basilisk? Had he not faced down Voldemort? And that was without anything vaguely resembling an adequate plan. But over the last few weeks, they'd been slowly assembling intelligence to create a plan that, according to Hermione, would definitively expose and defeat Grindelwald once and for all. Harry wasn't sure how all the moving parts would come together, but he trusted his friends with his life. Even if they'd already had a setback with Grindelwald deciding to appoint Hagrid instead of Mrs. Weasley as Head of Gryffindor.

It was not all fun and games, however. In order to make absolutely sure Grindelwald wouldn't rip the knowledge from Ron's head, Ron had faked a falling out with his friends. He ramped up his entitled and jealous sides up to eleven, even spouting out pureblood ideology that was wildly inconsistent with his upbringing. Essentially, he was acting like an the unholy love child of the old Draco and Dudley (an image Harry had not needed in his head). It was really quite shocking and more than a little disturbing how good Ron was at pretending to be an idiotic slob. He was so good that even Harry doubted it was an act from time to time, though it definitely was. It honestly hurt when Ron said those things. Though his head knew it was a lie, his heart was slow to catch up sometimes.

The next step of the plan was bringing Moody into the conspiracy. Although the map seemed to be malfunctioning a bit, because it showed two Moodys, one of which was perpetually in his office. Harry wouldn't have put it past the paranoiac to come up with some sort of cloning spell to hide in his office all the time while his clone put himself at "risk" going out into the real world. Well, that wasn't Harry's problem. They needed Moody on their side. He was the only adult they could think of who would possibly help them.

Harry had expected a lot of things when he went into Moody's office, and having two Moodys awaiting him was one of them. But he did not expect one of the Moodys to be bound and gagged to a chair. The free Moody whirled around and used a disarming spell on Harry before he could even get out so much as a single spell.

"So…finally figured it out, have you, Harry?" Moody, if that was indeed him, said, his face twisted in a more horrifying than usual grin. "It took you long enough. But then again, not even Dumbledore figured it out." He gave a mocking bow. "It is I, Barty Crouch Jr." Harry wasn't even surprised anymore. Sure, Crouch had a son no one had mentioned before. Why not? "And it was I who put your name in the Goblet of Fire." Right, that tracked.

He lifted his wand. "Don't worry. We need you alive for the moment. You'll just forget the last few minutes…"

"Dumbledore is Grindelwald!" Harry blurted out.

Crouch tilted his head, looking incredulous. "That's not…how?"

"Possession spell," Harry said quickly.

"Rasputin's possession spell," Crouch inferred, seeming lost in thought. "It'd require immense power…that's what he's been using the wards for…and he wouldn't be able to use his own body. But then again, it's not doing him much good right now…" It was like watching an evil Hermione at work. Harry shuddered at the very thought. "Yeah, okay, I believe you."

Crouch gave a gentle smile that looked wrong on what must have been the Polyjuiced face of Moody. "Sit down, Harry. I think we can work out an arrangement." Right now, Crouch had all the cards, to say nothing of a wand, so Harry quickly sat down at a long table in the corner of the room, his hands kept carefully on the table.

Crouch pointed his wand at a kettle, said an unfamiliar incantation, and it started boiling. Now that was a handy spell. He was going to have to figure out how to use it if he made it out of the room alive. "Now how much do you know about the Death Eaters?"

What was the best answer? Too biased against the Death Eaters and he would enrage Crouch; not biased enough and it would make him suspicious. "Voldemort killed my parents."

"Your parents were soldiers in a war," Crouch said, his voice surprisingly warm and gentle. "They knew what they signed up for. The Dark Lord tried to convince them to be neutral. He promised them safe passage to Canada. They didn't take it. Even when they had you to protect."

"My parents were heroes," Harry said coldly.

He was worried this would set Crouch off, but he just nodded. "Everyone is a hero in their own mind, Harry. But your parents were valiant fighters, even your mother. The magical world is worse off for their deaths." He served them tea like they were having a civil conversation instead of Harry being a hostage, essentially. "The Death Eaters are not raving psychopaths, Harry. We simply want the preservation of the magical world's culture and traditions."

Harry tried to nod encouragingly while his stomach churned at hearing this maniac justify attempted genocide. "What do you mean?"

"Look at the celebrations of the holidays here at Hogwarts," Crouch said, sudden fire in his voice. "Halloween instead of Samhain! Christmas instead of Yule!" Did…we not just literally have a Yule Ball? Did you miss that? "Muggleborns are polluting this beautiful place with a culture that specifically advocates for our complete extermination! They come here expecting to change everything to their liking, like Miss Granger with the house elves."

"So…you want to kill all of them," Harry said, unable to keep a note of contempt out of his voice. "To keep your holidays?" Harry literally couldn't think of a pettier reason to commit genocide. Honestly, this sounded so much like the Dursleys yet again. It reminded Harry of how Dudley would pitch a fit because he only had 36 presents instead of 37. The purebloods already held all the power, and they thought that sharing even a drop of it meant they were all doomed.

Crouch let out a maniacal laugh. "It's about so much more than that! It's about ridding this world of filth and pestilence! Of the scourge that is the Muggles, who mock Mother Magic with their very presence! The Old Ways are far superior to the rubbish the mudbloods are bringing in!" Harry's face twisted in a grimace. "Oh, you mustn't think I mean mudblood in the same way people like Lucius do. I only mean it to refer to people like Granger, who don't make an effort to learn our traditions."

Harry needed a shower just hearing all this ridiculous claptrap. It hadn't been believable coming out of Vernon's mouth and it wasn't believable now. "Okay, well…I don't really know what to say about that."

"You grew up with the Muggles, Harry," Crouch said. "You saw how backwards and hateful they are." Well…the Dursleys were, it could not be denied. "Tell me, Harry, do you really think they'd welcome us with open arms if they knew? Or would it be the return of the witch trials all over again? Your family –"

"They. Were not. My family," Harry snarled all of a sudden. "The Dursleys were my jailors, their home a prison, a prison I was put into for the punishment of existing. You don't know what that's like."

Crouch smirked. "Don't be so sure. Until recently, my beloved father held me captive as well. All for the crime of trying to defend our heritage. To avenge the person I cared about most in this universe. Harry, if any one of your friends disappeared, wouldn't you do anything to find them? That's all I did. I was put into prison for the pure and simple crime of loyalty."

Harry stood up. Crouch stood up too and pointed the wand straight at his forehead. "Don't do anything stupid, Harry," he said in almost a whisper.

"Don't do anything to draw attention to yourself," Harry recited at the same volume. "Don't make trouble. Don't do anything freakish. Do you have any idea what it's like to lay awake in life wanting to be dead, Barty? Wanting desperately to join your parents, held back only by the thought they didn't want to see you, because if they did, why would they have left you with her?!"

Crouch lowered the wand, sympathy all over his stolen face and then Harry kneed him in the groin as hard as he could. He then headbutted Crouch and stole the wand from his unresisting hand. Harry quickly cast a stunning spell, knocking the Death Eater unconscious, and untied the somewhat awed looking Moody.

"Excellent work, lad," Moody said. It was the first thing he'd heard out of the real Moody's mouth, as odd as that was, and Harry practically preened with the praise. "I can think of a host of Aurors who wouldn't be so quick on their feet. So how much of that was true?"

Harry scowled. His last monologue had been…well, not so much of a lie as an exaggeration. He had thought those things, but only one time when things had gotten especially bad. It hadn't been a regular occurrence like he'd implied. "I don't want to talk about it."

"I'm not talking about the stuff with the Muggles, Harry; I'm talking about the Grindelwald stuff," Moody clarified.

Harry relaxed. Somehow, he knew instinctively Moody wouldn't make him talk about the Dursleys if he didn't want to. "Unfortunately, it was all true."

Moody nodded as if he was completely unsurprised. "Honestly, I'm relieved. I lost a good deal of respect for Albus during the final stages of the war and especially after. It's nice to know that wasn't actually him."

"Sir, what are we going to do?" Harry said desperately.

"I need more intel," Moody informed him. "I've been a little behind the times recently."

While Moody tied up Crouch and stuffed him into the trunk Moody had been hidden in, locking it securely, Harry gave Moody an overview of everything he knew about Grindelwald and his machinations, trying to go into as much detail as possible. By the look on Moody's face, he probably went into a bit too much detail about Draco and what an incredible boyfriend he was, but if gushing about Draco was wrong, Harry didn't want to be right.

"All right, I know this may be difficult to hear, but I need some more time," Moody said as soon as Harry was finished. "I need to figure out who's compromised and it's going to take time. We can't move against Grindelwald until we're absolutely sure we can trust everyone on our team." Moody slapped him on the shoulder roughly but not unkindly. "Relax, Harry. The hard part is over. We took care of that awful Death Eater. We have the advantage, the element of surprise. And if the plan revolves around the Triwizard Tournament, which it almost certainly does, we have the time we need."

"I'm just so scared, sir," Harry admitted. "I know it's not very Gryffindor of me."

"We're not our houses," Moody said gruffly. "I've seen good and evil out of every house in my time. I've seen brave Slytherins, cunning Hufflepuffs, clever Gryffindors, and loyal Ravenclaws. It's okay to be scared. I'd be a liar if I said I was never scared. Part of being an Auror is overcoming that fear but you aren't an Auror. You're a kid. One who's had to do more than you should, but still a kid. You can let me handle this. I won't let you down."

Harry gave a rueful grin. "Well…I hope so, sir." He'd seen too many adults let him down in his time to have any sort of confidence in anyone these days. "What are we going to do about Crouch?"

"We're going to give him a taste of his own medicine, that's what we're going to do," Moody said with satisfaction all over his face. "I'll interrogate him about You Know Who's plans."

"His name is Voldemort," Harry reminded him.

Moody nodded. "There was a Taboo on the name back in the war. He could hear you say it. I got out of the habit of saying it. It's not that easy to get back into the habit, especially when you saw good men die because they forgot." Harry felt absolutely awful. "It's okay, son. You didn't know."

"Call him Riddle, then," Harry urged him. "That's his real name, Tom Riddle."

"I can do that," Moody allowed. "As I was saying, I'll interrogate Crouch about Riddle's plans and keep up the impersonation. In the meantime, I'm going to assemble as much of a force as I can and we'll assault Nurmengard, kill that bastard in the flesh."

Harry left the room feeling a maelstrom of emotions. On the one hand, he'd made real tangible progress. He'd found out who put his name in the Goblet of Fire, defeated him, and made a true and formidable ally. On the other hand, talking about the Dursleys brought back emotions Harry thought he had put away and forgotten about, feelings of powerlessness, despair, and ineffectual rage. He desperately needed to talk to Draco, but Draco had class, so Harry went to the Gryffindor Common Room. Luck appeared to be on his side this time, because Hermione was busy studying there.

"I have good news!" Hermione said jauntily. "We have a plan for the second task. It involves just a smidgeon of treason. And terrorism. And also we're going to kill you."

"Wait, what?!"

Hermione blinked a few times. "Oh, sorry, I mean that's how it's going to appear. We're going to fake your death."

"You need to lead with these things, Hermione!"