Chapter 38

There was something fishy about Snape.

Of course, Barty wasn't the only one thinking that at the moment. Skeeter's article had caused a lot of trouble and had now the entire country thinking Dumbledore a fool and Snape a true Death Eater. But Barty had additional reasons to keep an eye on his fellow Death Eater.

He was certain that, if he were truly Mad-Eye Moody, he would be far more suspicious than he was pretending to be, because at this point he was almost completely sure that Snape was hiding something from Dumbledore. Barty had began to notice after the first task, how Snape kept a very careful mask around the Headmaster but sometimes let it slip when he thought he was alone in an empty corridor, revealing a true face full of plots and secrets; how the man left the castle sometimes without telling Dumbledore and looking over his shoulder as if to make sure no one saw him leaving; how he often disappeared from sight behind what must be some sort of powerful notice-me-not-charm. He was being a lot more careful since he had been exposed as a Death Eater, but Barty had seen enough to convince himself that he wasn't so completely loyal to Dumbledore as Dumbledore thought.

Which didn't mean that he could be trusted. Barty still thought that Snape was a traitor, but he was beginning to suspect that he might be a traitor to Dumbledore as well. The man was probably acting on his own for his own, and that made him unpredictable and dangerous.

Although it was possible that he was also working for the Dark Lord and Barty just hadn't been informed about that yet. Just as it was possible that Karkaroff had been contacted too, and maybe Malfoy.

The Dark Lord had instructed Barty to watch Snape carefully, but he hadn't said anything about Karkaroff. Barty had assumed it was because Karkaroff was a useless coward marked for a traitor's death, while Snape was a potentially useful, although high risk spy. Now he wasn't sure what to think. Perhaps Karkaroff wasn't supposed to be watched because the Dark Lord already knew all he needed to know about his allegiance? Snape was definitely a difficult case to figure out, being such a powerful Occlumens, but it would have taken just a quick look into Karkaroff's mind to see right through him.

Barty had assumed that the Dark Lord had interfered with the Goblet of Fire himself, last summer. But Dumbledore seemed convinced that it had been Karkaroff, and also that Karkaroff had been the one to confund the Bulgarian Minister. It made sense, if he had had easy access to both Goblet and Minister, just as it made sense Dumbledore's theory that it had been Malfoy the one to confund the French Minister and Fudge the moron.

It made sense, but Barty didn't like to think that the Dark Lord might have contacted other Death Eaters besides him and kept him in the dark. That he was being fooled around like everyone else. He knew that the Dark Lord liked to play with his subjects, and he certainly had reasons to be angry at most of them. But it would be really unfair if Barty was being played with too, since he was the only truly loyal Death Eater out of Azkaban.

Whenever these thoughts troubled him, he reminded himself that it wasn't his place to question his master, that it was an honour to serve him and that he still had plenty time and opportunities to prove himself more valuable than any other Death Eater. He was fooling Dumbledore full time, that had to count for something. And he had managed to confund the boy as thoroughly as only the Dark Lord could have done. He was also perfectly placed to strike at a moment's notice, a much more valuable agent than Snape since his cover hadn't been publicly blown up yet. Snape couldn't do anything without the entire world frowning upon it, while Barty had complete freedom of action and no one was paying much attention to him.

Barty had been disappointed to find that Dumbledore didn't trust Moody with many secrets. He doubted he trusted Snape with much more information, though, the old Muggle-lover just seemed to love to hoard what he knew (Moody had said not to bother trying to make him explain things). Even if Snape were more into Dumbledore's confidence, at least the old fool trusted the Auror almost as blindly as he trusted Snape when it came to practical things, like security. Barty was confident that if the Dark Lord commanded him to kill the Supreme Mugwump he might have a decent shot at it. Same if the plan failed and he commanded him to deliver the boy.

Barty was valuable. Snape had nothing on him. The Dark Lord chose his favourites according to usefulness, and Snape would not be of much use as a spy now that he had been exposed and might be arrested at any moment.

Although he was being of considerable use making Dumbledore look like a fool.

Barty repressed a laugh as he made his way through the dark dungeons.

No doubt the Dark Lord must be at least as pleased as Barty was at the repercussions that Skeeter's article had had on Dumbledore's reputation. Whether it had been orchestrated on purpose or not, it had been a master blow. Probably the Dark Lord was not happy that his favourite had been compromised in the process, but in Barty's opinion it had been the best use Snape could have been put to.

Barty came to a stop in front of Snape's office and took a deep breath. This wasn't the first time he did this, but now he was definitely more afraid, since he now suspected that Snape wasn't so very loyal to Dumbledore and therefore it couldn't be so easily predicted what he might do. His fellow Death Eater had threatened to kill him if he found him again going through his things. Worst case scenario Barty could try to appeal to their brotherly connection, but he wasn't certain if Snape was loyal to the Dark Lord either.

And he was not sure if he could hold his own against Snape. Not to mention that the Dark Lord would be pissed if he killed his favourite Death Eater without proof that he was a traitor.

He took another deep breath and performed another 360 degree scan. He knew that Snape's quarters were somewhere around here, but he still hadn't been able to found the place, which suggested that the man kept a notice-me-not charm up around his private chambers at all times. That must be magically draining, but Snape was clearly a private person and he definitely hated Moody's eye.

Unfortunately he also knew that Snape barely slept and often patrolled at night even if he wasn't on duty. And he was quiet like a ghost, so far he had already managed to sneak on Barty unseen several times, which was just embarrassing.

He had to do this, though. He only had enough Polyjuice left for about a month and a half, he had to begin brewing more urgently.

He would have to count with Snape wanting to keep his Dumbledore's lapdog cover now more than ever. It would not be suspicious at all if he found Moody here after Skeeter's article, just as it had not been strange after Halloween. Snape was always a suspect in the Auror's eyes.

Barty took another sip of Polyjuice, just in case something happened and it took him more than half an hour to handle it, and focused on the most scary door in Hogwarts. It really was embarrassing and annoying to be scared of a fellow Death Eater, but Snape was not just any Death Eater. Probably only Bellatrix would not be wary of him, and that only because she was half insane. Snape had already been someone to keep half an eye on at all times when he was young, the years clearly had only made him more dangerous.

A quick Alohomora didn't work, as he had feared, but Barty only had to try a few more charms before one opened the door. Snape might have updated his security, but the fool was still aiming it at students. Perhaps he knew that nothing would be able to keep away Moody if he was determined to get in, so he hadn't bothered with anything too complex.

He wasted no time in gathering the ingredients he needed, noticing as he did it that there was only a small amount of boomslang skin left in Snape's stores. Damn. It was probably enough to make Polyjuice for the remaining of the year, but the theft would hardly go unnoticed if he left an empty jar behind. After a brief deliberation, Barty decided to take all there was anyway, since he might not get another chance, and he filled the jar with half the contents of another jar that held a similar-looking ingredient. With any luck Snape would not look too closely.

He was considering whether to search the office again, in case there was some clue as to what Snape was hiding, but in that moment the silence was broken by loud sounds, like banging and wailing, coming from not so far away. Barty immediately scanned his surroundings again, and saw with horror that Snape had emerged from somewhere around the corner. Panicking, he desillusionated himself, cast a silencing charm on his leg and limped towards the door. He managed to hid in a shadowed corner of the hallway just as Snape turned the corner, and he barely dared breathing as his fellow Death Eater of unknown loyalty stopped in front of his office's open door and looked around with a murderous scowl on his ugly face.

Barty's heart only began beating properly again when Snape had disappeared from sight after re-locking his office. He gave him a head start and then followed, thinking that it might be expected from him to go investigate the noise as well.

He recognized the wailing when he was climbing the stairs, but it stopped just before he reached the place where Snape, Filch and an invisible Potter were gathered around a golden egg. Was his magical eye malfunctioning, or had he seen Snape casting a spell at the egg to close it? Wasn't it impossible for anyone but the champions to touch or affect the objects in any way? How powerful was Snape exactly?

Otherwise, the situation was really funny. Snape and Filch were arguing about Peeves and Snape's office while Potter seemed to be stuck in a magical step, still under his Invisibility cloak and holding on to his broom. It looked as if he had dropped the egg and his wand as well. That boy really was a moron.

Snape seemed to be trying to convince Filch of forgetting the egg and going off to help hunting down the intruder who had broken into his office.

"But Peeves..."

"Peeves can't touch the eggs, you idiot," said Snape.

"That's right, Snape," growled Barty as he turned the corner. "So that raises the question. Are you hoping to get rid of Filch so you can set up a trap for certain champion around his egg?"

Snape tensed and scowled even deeper.

"I don't know what you are suggesting, Moody, but I couldn't care less about this egg nor about any champion."

"Sure, Snape," he mocked. "Did I hear correctly? Someone broke into your office?"

"It is unimportant", his fellow Death Eater said coldly.

"On the contrary, it is very important. Who'd want to break into your office?" Besides myself.

"A student, I daresay. Or the occasional DADA teacher."

Barty snorted.

"I would not say no to another chance of searching your office," he admitted. "Perhaps I could go down with you now, help you find whoever else might be so interested in a Death Eater."

"No thank you. I believe I've told you what would happen to you if you ever put a foot inside my office again."

Barty let out a raspy laugh.

"Spoken like a true Death Eater. It is freeing not to have to hide what you are anymore, isn't it? Now everyone knows what a piece of filth you really are, if they hadn't guessed before."

Snape hesitated, but after a moment he visibly relaxed and his lip curled in a nasty smile.

"Indeed. I can do whatever I want, Moody, and Dumbledore will just cover for me. You would do well to remember that."

Barty had to repress a nod of approval. It was nice to finally be talking to a somewhat authentic version of Snape. Unfortunately, as Moody he wasn't supposed to approve of Snape's arrogant attitude.

"You might have Dumbledore fooled, but not me, Snape," he growled. "I know you're hiding something, and I'll figure out what."

Just then, as if the Dark Lord were looking down on his subjects' conversation, Barty felt a sharp electric shock running up his left arm from where his Dark Mark was located. For a wild moment he wondered how would it feel if he were impersonating someone who lacked a left arm. He managed to keep still and not react, at least, but it was just as hard as it obviously was for Snape, who looked suddenly very tense.

Barty forced himself to laugh.

"Something the matter, Snape? Afraid, aren't you?"

His fellow Death Eater scowled at him.

"I have nothing to be afraid of," he said coolly. "You, on the other hand, should be afraid of losing an eye one of these days."

Oh, this was so fun! Snape might be a dangerous traitor, but Barty welcomed the chance of interacting with someone dark and nasty after being surrounded all the time by tame, innocent people. Especially if he had witnesses to make sure Snape didn't kill him and made his body disappear.

"Go to bed, Snape," he rasped with barely contained amusement.

"You don't have the authority to send me anywhere," hissed his maybe brother. "I have as much right to prowl this school after dark as you do, Moody."

"Prowl away, then," answered Barty. "You dropped something, by the way..."

He pointed at a piece of parchment that was lying on the bottom step of the staircase. As Snape and Filch turned to look at it, however, the invisible Potter suddenly raised his arms and began waving furiously at Barty while silently gesticulating with his mouth. Clearly that piece of parchment was his, and it looked as if Snape getting hold of it would be the end of the world.

Barty didn't feel much like helping out the brat, but he figured that he would be expected to side with the boy over Snape... Although of course he couldn't help. Luckily for Potter, Snape's interest on the parchment only seemed to last a few seconds.

"That's not mine," he spat then with an indifferent look. "I will not be picking up your trash, Moody." He turned to the Caretaker. "You will come with me to help search for the intruder, Filch."

"But the egg..."

"The egg obviously belongs to a champion that must be skulking nearby waiting for all of us to clear off," drawled Snape, his lip trembling in disgust. "No doubt Dumbledore's puppet here will make sure the rule breaker gets away with this without even the slightest scolding."

Barty shrugged.

"I don't see anything suspicious around, Snape. Perhaps you are turning paranoid. It happens to shifty people when they are constantly afraid of getting caught."

Snape didn't answer. He just threw him a last nasty look that almost froze Barty's blood and stalked away followed by a reluctant Filch and his damned cat. Snape might not have a magical eye, but Barty could have sworn that he had eyes on the back of his head that didn't stop watching him until he disappeared around a corner. Creepy.

Once Barty was sure they were far enough as to not be able to see them with his eye, he walked forward and picked up Potter's parchment.

"What is this thing?" he asked out loud.

"Map of Hogwarts," said the invisible boy from upstairs.

"Merlin's beard," gasped Barty as he stared at the map, almost having a heart attack on the spot. There was a dot with his true name in it, right next to Potter's. What the hell? "This... this is some map, Potter!"

Barty had never seen magic like this. The closest thing was probably the Thief's Downfall of the goblins, that could wash away Polyjuice. Where had this thing come from? Had the boy seen him? How long had he had this map? And to think that Snape had almost grabbed it, Barty had invited him to!

"Yeah, it's... quite useful," said Potter. "Er... Professor Moody, d'you think you could help me...?"

"What?" Barty's magical eye looked up and saw that the boy was struggling to break his leg free from the trick step. "Oh! Yes... yes, of course..."

He didn't get too far with his intention, though.

"Actually, no, Potter, I think you'll have to break free on your own," he said after a moment, trying really hard to make his voice sound regretful instead of mocking. He would never tire of seeing the brat's face of misery and despair whenever someone refused to help him. The Dark Lord really was an evil mastermind.

Potter huffed in frustration and continued struggling while Barty resumed his examination of the map. Everyone was here. He could see Snape and Filch prowling the dungeons, and Dumbledore pacing his office (did the old fool ever sleep?), as well as multiple dots all clustered inside the students' dormitories.

"Potter..." he said slowly, "you didn't happen, by any chance, to see who broke into Snape's office, did you? On this map, I mean?"

"Er..." the boy finally managed to extract his leg from the staircase, an expression of pain and anger on his face. "Yeah, I did... It was Mr. Crouch."

Barty forced himself to remember that Potter had addressed him as Moody only a few moments ago. No need to panic, yet. For the first time in his life, Barty felt immensely relieved that his bastard of a father had decided to name him exactly like him. He had always hated his name, but now at last it had come in handy.

Still, his heart was racing and he didn't manage to completely keep the alarm out of his voice.

"Crouch? You're... you're sure, Potter?"

"Positive," said the boy.

"Well, he's not here anymore," he lied, pretending to search the entire map for his imaginary father. "Crouch... that's very... very interesting..."

What to do? What to do? Perhaps he could obliviate the brat? He wasn't certain the Goblet would allow that, though. And if he tried and failed, then the boy would be able to tell someone. It was also likely that Snape or Filch would run to Dumbledore to complain about this night, so Dumbledore would expect Potter to remember the situation.

Perhaps it was best to play nice and appeal to Potter's detective habits. He fixed both his eyes on the boy.

"I'm sure I don't need to tell you why anyone would be interested to search Snape's office, right Potter?" he said finally. The boy shook his head. "I doubt there was a single lie or exaggeration in that article, and Skeeter just scrapped the surface of that rotten pie."

Potter nodded, a very hard expression on his face. He really hated Snape. He wasn't nearly as scared as he should, however. Idiotic Gryffindors.

"But why would Mr. Crouch be here, when he's supposed to be too sick to work?" asked Potter with a frown.

"Put it this way, Potter," Barty muttered, "they say old Mad Eye's obsessed with catching Dark wizards... but I'm nothing, nothing, compared to Barty Crouch."

He let the boy ponder that while he went back to examine the map, looking for his own chambers and wondering if Moody would appear even stuck inside the trunk. Had Potter seen Crouch before at some point, perhaps in the company of Moody? That would be a problem. It didn't seem that way, though, else the brat would have said something.

"Professor Moody?" said the boy again. "D'you think... do you think Voldemort is coming back?"

Barty cursed internally when he felt a sharp jolt of pain at the name. Damned boy! It was one thing to take it from Dumbledore all the time, that could be interpreted as the defiance of a powerful enemy. Taking it from a kid, though... this was just plain insolence.

He swallowed down his irritation before answering.

"Very possible... there have been funny rumours flying around lately — helped along by Rita Skeeter, of course. It's making a lot of people nervous, I reckon." Oh, yes, a lot of Death Eaters nervous. Snape didn't show it, but he must be afraid too. Contacted or not, Karkaroff was definitely a ball of nerves. And Dumbledore was also uneasy. Making them all wait was the best thing the Dark Lord could have done. "If there's one thing I hate it's a Death Eater that walked free... like Snape. Keep your eyes wide open around that one, Potter."

The boy nodded again.

"How can Dumbledore keep him here? How can he trust someone like that?"

Barty snorted.

"Snape is good at deception," he said. "And Dumbledore is an old man, blind in some ways. That's why I'm here, to keep an eye on his blind spots. But now I want to ask you a question, Potter." It wasn't really a question, since Barty would keep the map no matter what, but he hoped he could resolve this situation peacefully. "Can I borrow this?"

"Oh," said Potter, looking suddenly sad and worried. No doubt he used it all the time to sneak around to fly without anyone catching him. He sighed. "Yeah, okay."

"Good boy," growled Barty. "I can make good use of this... you know, to keep an eye on the likes of Snape. Dumbledore would not like to know that I'm watching his favourite Death Eater, though, so let's keep this between us, shall we?"

Potter nodded.

"In return, I might pretend that I didn't see anyone with a broom tonight," he added in a conspiratorial tone and forcing a wink. "It's not really help if I just don't do anything."

The brat grinned in relief.

"Thank you, Professor."

"Now off with you. See you in the morning..."

Barty continued watching the map as he made his way back to his quarters, which he had confirmed didn't appear in the map for some reason. Now that he looked closer, none of the teachers' private quarters appeared, and also not the girls dormitories in the different Houses. That was odd.

He saw Potter making his way towards the front doors and then through the grounds. Barty had felt half-tempted to stop him, if only to make him miserable, but he knew that Dumbledore's current policy was to turn a blind eye to Potter's rule breaking, so as Moody he had to go along with that. He wondered what did the brat expect to achieve flying with the egg, though.

Oh, it was just so great to have a front seat to Potter's misery. And to Dumbledore's failure and slow fall from grace. And to everyone's frustration in the face of the champions' unhelpability.

He just hoped the plan would work in the end. He wasn't looking forward to his master's wrath.