Chapter 43: Imposter Alert
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HP-BTVS-HP-BTVS
Percy Weasley was sitting at the Teachers' Table. He was now one of the judges for the Triwizard Tournament and decided that he was going to be a major part of the proceedings. He was taking the part of his boss, Crouch Senior. Mr. Crouch was not feeling well today. Well for the last week, he had been under the weather. He had given him this important position. Percy was feeling rather well about himself.
"Percy, my man, I need to speak to your boss," said Xander, coming up to him and clapping him on the back, causing him to jerk forward. Xander had always liked the Weasley family, even Percy. Though he did get on with the twins and Bill the best, he didn't dislike any of them, bar Molly.
"Mr. Crouch is not feeling well," said Percy, straightening up with a frown. "I'm here in his stead," he said, preening a bit.
"Where can I find him?" inquired the yellow-eyed man, glaring down at the younger man. He was going for a bit of intimidation. He wanted to know where the other man was, and he wanted to know now.
"He should be at home. He is not feeling well I said," Percy said, still frowning at the hostility. He liked Mr. Harris and would have told him right away.
"Then we should go and make sure he is getting better," said Xander with a comforting smile, switching moods on the fly. "Especially now that he no longer has a house elf."
"What do you mean he no longer has a house elf?" asked Percy, frowning harder. The last he heard the man had one. He needed one to help him get better. He was a widower and all alone.
"He dismissed his house elf during the Quidditch World Cup. I should know I hired her on," was the reply. There was a wicked smile on Xander's face, like he had swallowed the canary.
"Oh," was all Percy could say.
"So, let's go see that he is okay," said Xander, moving to go and do just that.
"I don't think we should disturb him," said Percy, not moving from his sitting position. He didn't want to get into trouble by disturbing his boss at home. He didn't want the man to think he couldn't handle his job.
Alastor came up and said, "I think we should go. I know Barty and he is not a very good man when he is ill. He doesn't take care of himself. If he doesn't have the house elf, he is going to need a lot of help." He was moving quite well on his new leg, and Percy was marveling at his mobility.
"I'm sure he is hired on another house elf," said the redheaded ministry worker, cringing at the thought of what that would have cost.
"I doubt that very seriously," said Alastor. "He is not very well off, and house elves are quite expensive."
"How could you say that he is not well off?" said Percy, looking affronted on the other man's behalf. "He has a high paying job." Though Percy's idea of high pay was skewed. He was from a very poor family.
"He is a ministry worker. There's no such thing as high paying, unless you're minister or being bribed," was the rebuttal. And the two went on like that for a good five minutes.
"You two are just wasting time. Let's go and make sure that Mr. Crouch is doing well," said Xander, tired of the debate that was going nowhere.
With that, the three of them left the castle to go to Crouch's house to make sure that the man was still alive. Percy and Alastor led the way because Xander had no idea where Senior lived. When they got there, Percy smartly knocked on the door.
"Mr. Crouch," he said to the door. "We've come to check on you."
Nobody answered the door. There was complete silence on the other side.
"Step aside," said Alastor. And he tapped his wand on the doorknob and said, "Alohomora." The door unlocked. Which was strange because there should have been a lot more wards on the door. Which put everybody on their guard.
They opened the door and snuck into the dark house. They crept through the living room, keeping their lit wands up, looking for enemies. They didn't see anybody in the living room, nor did they see anybody through the dark hallways, or the rooms attached. The house was completely unlit, but for the light coming through the windows. They moved through the house as quietly as they possibly could, Percy in the back because he was a noncombatant.
Xander and Alastor went from room to room looking for anything that might be out of place. The house was dark, creepy, and cold. They heard some moaning coming from the back room and inched their way there.
When they got to the room, they saw Crouch Senior chained to the bed. There was one candle lit in the room, with a bedpan next to the bed. The bed was in disarray and the sheets were filthy. He was emaciated. Like he had only been given enough to eat and drink to live for the last three weeks.
"Barty," said Alastor. "Good Lord, man, what has happened to you?" he asked as he stomped his way to the bed, glad he now had two functioning legs. They had helped throughout this whole ordeal. He could only imagine what it would have been like trying to sneak through the house on a wooden leg. He had been kept out of many of these types of situations because of that leg in the past.
"My son," croaked the man, looking at the water that was just out of reach with desperate eyes. They were bloodshot and very dry.
"Right, we came to talk to you about that," said Alastor, picking up the glass and holding it to the man's lips.
Bartemius drank greedily with the water running down his chin and shirt.
Xander waved his wand over the chains and freed him. "We'd like to ask you how your dead son came to kidnap my son," he said, waving his wand again and cleaning up the mess left by the man's chained up state. The sheets were clean, and the bed straightened. The 'mess' was gone along with the stench that accompanied it. The bedpan that hadn't been used often enough, was also clean.
"Barty is a bad boy," the crazed man said with a giggle. He was done drinking for now, but his eyes were not clear. They were roaming around the room and not focusing on anything.
"He's gone barmy," said Alastor, sharing a look with Xander.
"There are great hunks of his hair missing," said Percy from his place in the doorway. He was devastated to see his boss like this. He thought the man was ill, not imprisoned by his own son and kept tortured. He was flatfooted on what to do from here.
"That's because Junior has been taking his place for who knows how long," said Alastor, looking at the crazed man's head. "You've been taking your orders from a criminal," he pointed out to the younger man.
"Dear Merlin," said Percy, sitting on a chair by the wall. He was flabbergasted. His life came crashing down around him at that moment. He might lose his job, his career. He had to do something. He got up and left to go to work and see what he could salvage. He needed to go over the last few days' parchmentwork to see if there was anything amiss.
Xander and Alastor let him go and continued to free the wasted man. Then they took him to St. Mungo's, where they told them what happened to him. Xander sent off his Patronus to call Amelia to have her come to let her know what had happened to Crouch Senior and that there was an imposter taking the man's place in the ministry and that it was Crouch Junior.
But since Senior had called in sick, he wouldn't be at the ministry, so they just needed to be on the lookout for if he came in. They would need to put out an APB on him, or whatever the British magical equivalent was.
Hpbtvshpbtvs
The next thing Xander did was go to Gringotts and put a freeze on all the Death Eater accounts. It was something he had been planning on doing for the last few days, but he kept putting it off because of Harry's hand and wellbeing. Now that Harry was feeling better, he felt more comfortable leaving the castle for a longer period of time.
Putting a freeze on all these accounts gave him great pleasure. He was tempted to take all the gold and dump it out in the streets and let the people have it. However, that would be careless of him, and it opened him up to lawsuits. That and, people would trust him less with their own gold. Still, it was a lovely dream.
So, he just set a freeze on their accounts until the war was over. Stating that he thought they were terrorist and had just cause. They would have to come in and prove that they were not Death Eaters and enemies of the bank. They were more than welcome to come take their money out of the bank. He would make it hard for them to do, but they could do it. But they would have no place else to put it. Gringotts was the only bank in town.
Then again, if they did come and take their money out of the bank, then Spike had something to do. He was a very good thief, after all. Or he knew people who were. He didn't know anybody in this reality, but he was very good at meeting people in the shady parts of town. If there was somebody who could steal from the rich, Spike would know them within a matter of weeks.
After putting a freeze on the accounts, he set up Spike's vault.
"I want you to make sure that he doesn't overspend," he told Steelfist, who was the vault's manager.
"How am I to do that?" the goblin asked, looking pointedly at his king.
"Just make sure he doesn't spend over 300 galleons a day," the King of the Goblins stated, thinking that was more than enough for what Spike needed.
"That is a bit excessive," said the goblin, frowning a bit. He couldn't see where anyone would need to spend more than that. Even the likes of Malfoy didn't spend that much.
"I know he needs to spend quite a bit, but if he does ask for over 300 galleons, ask me first," Xander said, knowing that sometimes big-ticket items needed to be purchased.
"And how do I go about doing this?" asked Steelfist.
"Just give me a call," said Xander, waving to the phone on the goblin's desk. He jotted down the castle's number. "I'll make sure somebody mans the phone room at all times." He made a mental note to hire a secretary for the phone room. He should have done that in the first place in case there was an emergency for the muggleborns. For right now, he'd asked Joyce to keep an eye on the room. She'd be able to know if the phones were ringing. She didn't have to stay there all the time.
"We can have one of the goblins stay there," said the goblin, rubbing his tiny goatee. There were some goblins that liked to hang out above ground. They were considered freaks, but they were few and far between. Even so, they needed to be put to work just as much as the normal goblins did.
"That's actually a really good idea," said Xander, perking up at that thought. He trusted the goblins more than the humans at the moment. He was their king. "Can you get one today?" he asked, looking around the room like one would pop out of the woodwork.
"I'll see what I can do," said Steelfist, pressing a rune on his desk. A goblin came running into the room and they spoke in gobbledygook for a minute. And then the goblin went running out and another goblin came in about five minutes later. "This is Snoggle, she will man your phones during the day. She has training in secretary work. You will have to attend to them during the night." Snoggle wasn't one of the ones that liked to live above ground, per se, but she did like to be around humans. She was a weirdo.
"Hello, Snoggle. Welcome aboard," Xander said, shaking the female goblin's hand.
She just grunted, which didn't say much about her customer service, but perhaps her phone personality was much better.
It wasn't that she wasn't happy to be there, she was just shy around the king.
With that, Xander and the goblin went back to the castle, and he showed her where the phone room was. She was more than welcome to come and go as she pleased as long as she was there during banking hours. He showed her where she could go and freshen up and where the kitchens were in case she wanted something to eat during the day.
After Xander got the goblin settled, he went to the 'house'. Everybody was in attendance, including Sal, Alastor, Sirius, and Remus. The Flamels weren't there, but that was okay. They were quiet people, and he would tell them later.
"I'm glad you all are here," said Xander. "I want you to know if you see Crouch Senior, nab him right away. He's an impostor. It's his son."
That seemed to shock the room into silence for a moment. All but Alastor, who already knew it.
"Junior? I thought he was dead," said Sirius, shock apparent on his face. "He died when I was in prison," he said, sharing a look with Remus.
The werewolf just shrugged. He thought Junior was dead too.
"He's an imposter, I said," said Xander, shrugging his shoulder. "He's been impersonating his father for who knows how long. I'm sure that's who tampered with the goblet. If I had not stopped it, Harry's name would have come out. That explains why he was so mad. He was working for his master," he added, getting a thoughtful look on his face.
"Well, don't that beat all," said Sirius, rubbing the back of his head. However, if Wormtail could not be dead, then it only stands to reason that Barty Junior might not be too.
"Anyway, I wanted to let you know that if you see him now, take him down in any way possible. He's the one who kidnapped Harry," the yellow-eyed man said, his voice hard. "If that means kill him, then kill him," he stated.
"Will do," said a great many of them. Mostly the adults. There were a few wary looks, but they didn't argue.
"So why are you all here anyway?" asked Xander.
"We were just getting together to make sure Harry was doing okay," said Remus, looking around the room at everyone.
There were nods of agreement and smiles of appreciation.
"Oh," said Xander, smiling at them all. It did his heart good to know his son was well loved. "Well, that's a good thing," he said. "Where is Harry?" he asked, noting his son was not there.
"I was just using the loo," said Harry as he came out, drying his hands on a paper towel that he vanished as he came into the room. They found it easier to have them with so many people in the 'house'. It was only in the downstairs loo, the upstairs still had towels. "Don't worry, I heard everything," the teen added a frown on his brow. He didn't like the news but took it all in with a great deal of thought.
"Oh, it's good to see you, Harry," said Xander, smiling at the teen. "I'm glad you heard all that," he stated, happy to not have to repeat it.
"So now I have a name for my nightmare man. Good to know," the boy mumbled, taking a seat on the couch between Hermione and Luna. Neville was sitting next to Luna. They were all on one couch, Sirius, Remus, and Sal were on the other. Joyce, Alastor, and Spike were in chairs and Xander was perched on the back of the kids' couch.
"Yeah," Xander said, sorry to hear the teen was having nightmares. "I just came from the bank," he told Spike. "I got your vault set up so you can get started anytime you want to. You've got a limit of 300 galleons a day, and your account manager is Steelfist. If you need more, let me know," he added with a note of wariness. He really didn't want Spike to take advantage.
"Steelfist, huh? Them goblins have some very weird names," said Spike, grinning like a fool.
"Says the man named Spike," said Xander, lifting an eyebrow at the vampire's audacity.
"Right, and your name is just Peaches," Spike snarked.
"No, that's Angel."
"Don't you two start," said Joyce, getting annoyed. She just didn't understand why these two couldn't be in the same room with one another.
"Yeah, we were all having a very good time. Don't you two ruin it by arguing," said Hermione, folding her arms in a huff. Though it was sometimes fun to watch these two go at it, they were having a nice quiet evening.
"Out of the mouths of babes," said Sal, smiling at the girl to take the bite out of the words.
"I'm not a baby," said Hermione with a giggle.
"No, you really aren't," said Sal, still smiling at her. "Forgive me," he said, bowing from his seated position, making everyone chuckle.
"So what do we do now that we're all together?" asked Harry, hoping to do something family-like. But he was in the dark as to what that could be.
"Well, we could have a party," said Sirius, bouncing in place. He was always up for a party.
"I think I'm all partied out," said Harry with a sigh. It seemed like that's all they had done this year.
"It does seem like that's all we've been doing lately," said Neville, agreeing with his thoughts.
"I know," said Luna in a dreamy tone. "We could have a seance."
"Why on earth would we have a seance?" asked Hermione, completely against the idea. She never believed in them when she didn't know about magic, and now that she did know about magic, she didn't want to tempt fate. They might contact someone that should stay behind the barrier.
"Oh, I don't know," said Luna, airily. "Maybe we could talk to my mother," she said with a faraway look in her eyes.
"I don't think a seance is a good idea, Luna," said Xander. He never trusted seances either. They opened portals to the other side, who knows what might piggyback to this side.
"We could tell ghost stories," said Harry, knowing Xander told some doozies.
"I don't think ghost stories are a good idea either," said Joyce, looking at Spike, knowing he'd just criticize them.
"Well, I don't know what else to do," said Harry, throwing his hands in the air. They might as well just stare at each other at this rate.
"We could tell stories of Xander's childhood," said Spike, always ready to poke fun at the doughnut boy.
"Or we could tell stories of your childhood," countered Xander, knowing a few from William's time too, thanks to Buffy and Angel.
"Can't you two just get along?" asked Luna, already knowing the answer.
"No, they really can't," said Joyce, sighing in resignation. She had tried her hardest to get them to behave. She didn't regret bringing Spike along. He would have died if she hadn't but…
"I see. We can talk about…" Luna started.
"The third task," said Xander, cutting off whatever flighty thing she was going to suggest.
"What about the third task?" asked Joyce, looking at him with some concern. She really didn't want to talk about the Triwizard Tournament.
"We need to figure out some contingency plans in case something goes wrong," said Xander, settling further on the back of the couch. It wasn't the most comfortable place, but there wasn't any other seat left. The living room was big, and there were loads of seating, but with this many people, they were going to have to invest in more. Then he hit his forehead and magicked up a chair. He moved it to the side of the couch and sat.
"What could go wrong? We've already put up all the safeguards," said Alastor, though he was already thinking about many other plans. He was paranoid like that.
"We've got Junior running around impersonating people. He's already put Harry into a predicament where he lost his hand. Who knows what he's going to do to the third task," the Lord of Hogwarts stated, pointing to his son's hand.
"Why would he sabotage the third task though? He's already got his end game," said Sal, tilting his head in confusion.
"That's very true. He did get Voldemort back, but now we've got Voldemort running around trying to start a war. So, we need to figure out that too," Xander cautioned.
"There is that," Joyce said, and they all agreed with words or nods.
"Why don't we let you adults handle this and us kids go into our telly room and figure out what we need to do there?" said Harry, putting his hands on his legs and hoisting himself into standing. The other teens followed suit.
"You guys don't wanna plan with us?" asked Xander a bit shocked at that. Teenagers usually wanted to be included. Then again, Harry wasn't a normal teenager. He had also undergone a traumatic experience. He might want to sit this one out.
"No, I think we'll let you guys handle it," said Harry, moving to leave. "We've got other things on the back burner, that we've been putting off." He winked at the other teens, like they were sharing a secret.
"Like what?" inquired Xander.
"Oh, well, you know, like the lightsaber," hedged Harry, not wanting to spill all his beans.
"Oh," said Xander. "You mean to tell me you haven't got that done yet? Well, get to it," he said, making shooing motions.
With that, the kids laughed and took off towards their TV room. While the kids made plans for the lightsaber and other things that they were creating, the adults made contingency plans for the third task. And time went on.
Hpbtvshpbtvs
There was some backlash from the freezing of the vaults, and many of the Death Eaters did come and take their money out of the bank. Which they had every right to do. Xander didn't make it easy for them and they had to pay quite a few fees for lawyers and such.
Some of that gold suddenly disappeared, along with the Death Eaters. And nobody knew how or why. And if the dungeons at Hogwarts got a little full, well, nobody had any idea how. Spike had his ways.
Xander and Joyce certainly didn't know anything about it.
Well, Xander didn't. Joyce knew everything that went on in the castle, but she didn't have to tell anybody about it.
As for Snape, well he was still a miner in the caves of Gringotts. Xander forgot all about him. until one day when Dumbledore came to him and asked him if he'd seen him.
"Snape? No, I can't say I have," Xander lied through his teeth. He didn't want to tell Albus that he had captured and then forgotten the man.
"I know he was there when young Harry was kidnapped," the old man stated, that damned twinkle in his eyes.
"How does that have anything to do with me?" the yellow-eyed man asked, folding his arms. He wasn't going to cop to anything.
"You went there afterwards and captured a few of the Death Eaters," was the comeback as if it were a foregone conclusion that Harris was at fault.
"And you know this how?" Xander asked with a lifting of an eyebrow. Only the goblins knew that, and they weren't talking. They'd better not be talking. If one of them turned traitor, there will be heads rolling.
"I have my ways," was the answer.
"Well, your ways are incorrect. I don't have your Death Eater. You are free to look around," Xander stated, waving his hand to the castle in general. He had no idea what can of flubberworms he was about to open.
"Actually, he's not," Joyce stated, coming up to them. "He is no longer welcome here," she said, folding her arms in defiance.
"Oh," Xander said, but didn't argue.
"That's right. You are here as a judge only, the castle is closed to you, but for the Great Hall," the embodiment of Hogwarts stated, glaring at the old man. She wasn't going to let him wander around her castle at all. There were too many secrets there now. Not only the men in the dungeon, but there was the magic the competitors were learning.
"Come now, if you have nothing to hide," Albus said, trailing off leadingly. This used to be his playground and it irked him that he no longer had free reign.
"I don't," she stated, still holding firm.
"Then you wouldn't mind," he stated, moving to go and search for his wayward potions master. He got not further than one step when he was stopped.
"I do," she stated, still glaring at him. "I don't like you, therefore you can't go anywhere in this castle." The doors slammed shut and locked. The windows did the same. The whole room let off a 'do not enter' vibe.
"I can get a search warrant," he said, threateningly. He was still Chief Warlock and he still had pull in the Ministry. More so now that he wasn't headmaster. He spent a lot more time there and had more clout.
"We are a separate nation," she said, smirking. "We are not a part of the British Ministry. You can get as many warrants as you wish, they won't be binding." She was giving him a grin that said, 'go head make my day.' "I've told you before, you are not the ruler here," she added.
Dumbledore glared at her and twirled away and left. She let the doors open to let him pass.
"Is Snape still in the dungeons?" Xander asked, knowing he was not, but he couldn't figure out any other reason why she didn't want the man down there.
"No, but we have POWs down there," she said in a whisper. She hadn't wanted him to know that, but needs must.
"I'm not sure how I feel about that," he stated, this being a school and all.
"Don't worry, they are cut off from the school. There is no passage connecting the two," she explained, knowing what he was thinking. She had taken care of that first thing. The only way down there was winking. Spike only got the POWs down there via her. He would get them to the gates, and she would wink them to the cells. The house elves feed them.
"Then how would have Dumbledore found out?" he asked, looking at her questioningly.
"He would have wanted to see the dungeons, and he would have questioned as to why they are blocked off," she answered reasonably. It was only logical to her.
"Still, I would feel better if they were in the Chamber," he stated, thinking that was more secure, and Slinky was down there.
"There are no cells there, and I have no control there," she said, putting a hand on his arm.
"I guess," he said, still not liking it.
"You can't put them in the mines, because then the goblins can't claim neutrality," she said, guessing his next suggestion. "That and it goes against the treaties," she added.
"Damn neutrality. They are involved in this," Xander stated, narrowing his eyes. "I am their king." What good was being king if he couldn't declare war?
"If that's what you feel is best but talk to them first. There might be a treaty that you might violate if you do that," she stated, once more putting a hand on his arm to calm him.
He sighed and nodded. He'd do that.