I do not own any of J.K Rowling's characters

I was rushing behind Dumbledore followed by Miverna and Severus.

After Harry had appeared from the maze of the third task with Cedric's body, Dumbledore had seen Moody take Harry out of the grounds and into the castle, and for reasons unknown to us, this angered him.

"Stupefy!" Dumbledore said pointing his wand at Moody's office door once we had arrived and the door was blasted apart.

Dumbledore stepped into the office immediately, staring furiously down at Moody who was unconscious on the floor.

Severus stepped into the room and I followed him, my eyes darting around the room desperately trying to find a clue about what was going on.

Miverna stepped around me heading straight to Harry.

"Come along, Potter," she whispered her bottom lip twitching as though she was about to cry. "Come along…hospital wing…"

"No," said Dumbledore sharply spinning around to look at her.

"Dumbledore, he ought to - look at him - he's been through enough tonight -"

I looked at Harry sadly, trying to resist the urge to rush to him. He looked exhausted, confused and horrified. There was dried blood covering most of his clothes and there were cuts visible on his face.

"He will stay, Minerva, because he needs to understand," said Dumbledore curtly. "Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery. He needs to know who has put him through the ordeal he has suffered tonight, and why,"

"How can it have been Moody?" Harry asked.

"This is not Alastor Moody," said Dumbledore quietly. "You have never known Alastor Moody. The real Moody would not have removed you from my sight after what happened tonight. The moment he took you, I knew."

I glanced at Serveus who looked as confused as I felt. My gaze went back to Dumbledore who bent down over Moody and put a hand inside his robes pulling out Moody's hip flask and a set of keys on a ring. He turned to look at us as he stood up straight.

"Severus, please fetch me the strongest Truth Potion you possess, Minerva go down to the kitchens and bring up the house-elf called Winky. Meghana, kindly go down to Hagrid's house, where you will find a large black dog sitting in the pumpkin patch. Take the dog up to my office, tell him I will be with him shortly, then come back here."

Of course, Dumbledore would send me to fetch Sirius, but I didn't have time to dwell on that as my mind was full of what I had just witnessed and anxiety about Harry.

I quickly walked to Hagrid's hut, keen to get back to Moody's office. The grounds were eerily silent now and the chill in the air was unnatural. I pulled my cloak up around my neck as a shiver went down my spine.

Sirius was sitting in the pumpkin patch as Dumbledore had said and he stood up wagging his tail slowly as I approached.

I patted his head once and beckoned him to follow me which he did, obediently trotting along by my side.

"Good boy" I muttered a small smile creeping onto my face.

Once we made it back to Dumbledore's office I told him what Dumbledore had said. As I turned to leave his voice sounded from behind me.

"So you're not even going to tell me what happened?" His voice was sharp and it instantly made me bristle.

I spun around to face him, frowning. His face was white, gaunt and extremely anxious.

"I don't even know what has happened," I said quietly.

"I'm coming with you," he said, stepping towards me.

"Don't be ridiculous" I snapped at him. My eyes found his, he looked so worried and I immediately regretted snapping at him.

I reached out and took his hand in mine, squeezing it.

"I won't be long, alright" I pressed my lips to his hand and left the office, descending the stairs and making my way back to Moody's office. I stepped over the ruins of the door and as I stood next to Severus I gasped as I saw Barty Crouch Jr.

"-Then Potter came, and Krum. I waited. I could not hurt Potter; my master needed him. Potter ran to get Dumbledore. I Stunned Krum. I killed my father." He was saying.

"Noooo!" wailed a house elf I hadn't noticed making me jump slightly. "Master Barty, Master Barty, what is you saying?"

"You killed your father," Dumbledore said, in a soft voice. "What did you do with the body?"

"Carried it into the forest. Covered it with the Invisibility Cloak. I watched Potter bringing Dumbledore out of the castle. I told Dumbledore Snape had told me where to come. Dumbledore told me to go and look for my father. I went back to my father's. I Transfigured my father's body into a bone…I buried it while wearing the Invisibility Cloak, in the freshly dug earth in front of Hagrid's cabin."

There was complete silence now, except for the house elf's continued sobs. Then Dumbledore said, "And tonight…"

"I offered to carry the Triwizard Cup into the maze before dinner," whispered Barty Crouch. "Turned it into a Portkey. My master's plan worked. He is returned to power and I will be honoured by him beyond the dreams of wizards." Panic rose in my chest as I looked at his insane smile lighting his features once more, and he looked up at us, looking at us each in turn. When his eyes fell on me his smile grew wider and said "Your parents send their regards."

My heart began to beat quicker, thumping in my chest.

My parents can't have been there tonight … could they?

"My parents are in Azkaban" I said, the uncertainty of that fact lacing my voice. He chuckled evilly before his head drooped onto his shoulder as the house elf wailed and sobbed at his side.

I noticed Severus glance at me and I turned my head to meet his gaze. His face was expressionless but I knew him well enough to know he too was feeling anxious.

No one said anything for a beat and then Dumbledore stood up staring down at Barty Crouch for a moment with disgust on his face. Then he raised his wand and ropes twisted themselves around Barty Crouch, binding him tightly. He turned to Minerva.

"Minerva, could I ask you to stand guard here while I take Harry upstairs?"

"Of course," she said. I glanced at her as she stepped forward looking slightly nauseous. But when she drew out her wand and pointed it at Barty Crouch, her hand was quite steady. "Severus" - Dumbledore turned to Snape - "please tell Madam Pomfrey to come down here; we need to get Alastor Moody into the hospital wing. Then go down into the grounds, find Cornelius Fudge, and bring him up to this office. He will undoubtedly want to question Crouch himself. Tell him I will be in the hospital wing in half an hour's time if he needs me."

Severus nodded silently, glanced at me once again and swept out of the room.

"Harry?" Dumbledore said gently. Harry got up robotically and swayed. Dumbledore reached out and gripped his arm and helped him out into the dark corridor.

"Meghana, I want you to come up to my office first with Harry," he said quietly over his shoulder before turning back to Harry and mumbling "Sirius is waiting for us there."

I walked behind them as we made our way up the hallway, my mind reeling as I tried to make sense of what we had just witnessed.

"Professor," I heard Harry mumble, "where are Mr. and Mrs. Diggory?"

"They are with Professor Sprout," said Dumbledore. His voice shook very slightly for the first time tonight. "She was Head of Cedric's house, and knew him best."

My thoughts went to the Diggory's and the hell they must be going through right now and my heart ached for them.

Before I knew it we had reached the stone gargoyle. Dumbledore gave the password, it sprang aside, and we went up the moving spiral staircase to the oak door. Dumbledore

pushed it open to reveal Sirius standing there. He had clearly been pacing the room just seconds before the door opened. In one swift moment, he had crossed the room reaching out to Harry.

"Harry, are you all right? I knew it - I knew something like this - what happened?" He looked up at me and we exchanged a worried glance as I knew he was thinking back to the time we had conversed earlier this year when Harry had become a champion in this tournament and what it all could mean. His focus was back on Harry, I watched as he helped him into a chair in front of the desk, his hands shaking. I sat down next to Harry, Sirius taking a seat on his left side.

"What happened?" Sirius asked more urgently.

Dumbledore began to tell Sirius everything Barty Crouch had said. I was only half listening and I looked at Harry. He looked so tired and looked like he didn't want to think or feel anymore. I didn't blame him, I couldn't imagine what he just went through. How he had gotten out alive was anyone's guess. There was a soft rush of wings. Fawkes had just landed on Harry's knee.

"'Lo, Fawkes," said Harry quietly.

I watched him stroke the phoenix's beautiful head as Fawkes blinked peacefully up at him. It was then I noticed Dumbledore had stopped talking. I turned to see Dumbledore who had sat behind his desk now looking at Harry.

"I need to know what happened after you touched the Portkey in the maze. Harry," said Dumbledore.

"We can leave that till morning, can't we, Dumbledore?" said Sirius harshly. I turned my head slightly to look at him. He had put a hand on Harry's shoulder. He seemed to have composed himself now as his hands had stopped shaking and he was looking fiercely at Dumbledore. "Let him have a sleep. Let him rest."

Dumbledore took no notice of Sirius's words. He leaned forward toward Harry and Harry slowly raised his head and looked into Dumbledore's eyes.

"If I thought I could help you," Dumbledore said gently, "by putting you into an enchanted sleep and allowing you to postpone the moment when you would have to think about what has happened tonight, I would do it. But numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it. You have shown bravery beyond anything I could have expected of you. I ask you to demonstrate your courage one more time to tell us what happened."

There was a silence pierced by Fawkes letting out one soft, quavering note. It shivered in the air, and Harry took a deep breath and began to tell us what had happened in the graveyard. Once or twice, Sirius made a noise as though about to say something, his hand still tight on Harry's shoulder, but Dumbledore raised his hand to stop him.

"And Wormtail dug the dagger into my arm and took my blood-",

What?! Something clicked in my mind. I gently grabbed Harry's arm that had torn robes whilst Sirius let out a vehement exclamation and Dumbledore stood up quickly. Dumbledore leaned over the desk as I stretched out Harry's arm and we looked down at the jagged cut.

"He said my blood would make him stronger than if he'd used someone else's," Harry told us. "He said the protection my - my mother left in me - he'd have it too. And he was right - he could touch me without hurting himself, he touched my face."

I lifted my head to look at Dumbledore who had a slight gleam of triumph in his eyes. However, this lasted mere seconds because as his eyes flicked to me we exchanged a silent but apprehensive understanding of what this meant.

"Very well," Dumbledore said, sitting back down and looking weary. "Voldemort has overcome that particular barrier. Harry, continue, please."

Harry went on; explaining how Voldemort had emerged from the cauldron, and told us about Voldemort's speech to the Death Eaters. Then he told how Voldemort had untied him, returned his wand to him, and prepared to duel.

Harry started to talk about how a golden beam of light had connected his and Voldemort's wands but stopped as though he couldn't go on. There was a pause before Sirius broke the silence.

"The wands connected?" he said, looking from Harry to Dumbledore. "Why?"

I had read of this wand lore before but, I never thought I would ever know of it occurring.

"Priori Incantatem," I muttered.

I looked up at Dumbledore again, who was looking at me with an arrested look before his gaze went to Harry.

"The Reverse Spell effect?" said Sirius sharply, looking at me.

"Exactly," I nodded, meeting his eyes.

"Harry's wand and Voldemort's wand share cores. Each of them contains a feather from the tail of the same phoenix. This phoenix, in fact," said Dumbledore pointing and, following his finger, we all looked at the scarlet-and-gold bird, perching peacefully on Harry's knee.

"My wand's feather came from Fawkes?" Harry said, amazed.

"Yes," said Dumbledore. "Mr. Ollivander wrote to tell me you had bought the second wand, the moment you left his shop four years ago."

"So what happens when a wand meets its brother?" said Sirius looking back at Dumbledore.

"They will not work properly against each other," said Dumbledore. "If, however, the owners of the wands force the wands to do battle…a very rare effect will take place. One of the wands will force the other to regurgitate spells it has performed - in reverse. The most recent first…and then those which preceded it.…"

He looked interrogatively at Harry who nodded.

"Which means," I said slowly, also looking at Harry, who turned to look at me, "that some form of Cedric must have reappeared."

Harry nodded again but said nothing.

"Diggory came back to life?" said Sirius sharply and I looked over Harry's head at him, frowning slightly.

"No spell can reawaken the dead," I snapped at him. Surely he knew that? His head made some sort of involuntary jerk but his eyes never left Dumbledore's face.

"All that would have happened is a kind of reverse echo. A shadow of the living Cedric would have emerged from the wand…am I correct, Harry?" said Dumbledore heavily looking between Sirius and me.

"He spoke to me," Harry said and I noticed that he was shaking. "The…the ghost Cedric, or whatever he was, spoke."

"An echo," said Dumbledore, "which retained Cedric's appearance and character. I am guessing other such forms appeared…less recent victims of Voldemort's wand.…"

"An old man," Harry said, swallowing. "Bertha Jorkins. And…" I looked at Harry who looked as though something was constricting his throat. My frown deepened knowing who would have come next. I closed my eyes as my chest tightened.

"Your parents?" I finished for him quietly opening my eyes to look at him.

"Yes," said Harry, staring at the desk in front of him.

I looked away from Harry, a deep sadness rising from the depths of my soul.

"The last murders the wand performed," said Dumbledore, nodding. "In reverse order. More would have appeared, of course, had you maintained the connection. Very well, Harry, these echoes, these shadows…what did they do?"

Harry described how the figures prowled the edges of the golden web, how Voldemort had seemed to fear them, how Lily had told him what to do and Cedric's final request.

I looked at Harry as he clearly could not go on and the urge to throw my arms around him and comfort him was almost overwhelming.

I looked around at Sirius and saw that he had his face in his hands. We sat there in a silence that wasn't awkward or tense, it just was. The phoenix had fluttered to the floor and was resting its head against Harry's leg, and thick, pearly tears were falling from its eyes onto a wound. I watched as the skin mended and his leg was repaired.

"I will say it again," said Dumbledore as the phoenix rose into the air and flew away behind us. "You have shown bravery beyond anything I could have expected of you tonight, Harry. You have shouldered a grown wizard's burden and found yourself equal to it - and you have now given us all we have a right to expect. You will come with me to the hospital wing. A Sleeping Potion, and some peace…Sirius, would you like to stay with him?"

I turned to look at Sirius again who nodded and stood up. He looked so very lost. This version of him was so unfamiliar to me. He was always so sure of himself, overly confident to the point of his own detriment sometimes. And now … he was just like a little boy not sure what to say or do. His eyes met mine just as he transformed back into the great black dog and walked with Harry as I followed Dumbledore out of the office, accompanying them down a flight of stairs to the hospital wing.