Harry sat in the middle of the chamber of secrets with the marauders map in his lap, carelessly watching it as he thought the night's events through.
Their date had been going well, he had done a good job with the location, and Dobby's food had been incredible. The conversation had been good, all until he showed her the ring. He opted for only showing the Potter ring as what he would do with the Gaunt Lordship was still undecided. And then they had come close, really close to kissing. And he had backed down. It still confused him why he had done such a thing, but there was no denying that it had been him.
The small lecture from the house elf had been enough to make him run after Daphne, catching her only a few dozen yards from the Slytherin dungeons. He had pressed her against the wall and kissed her.
Their slip after that had been even more awkward than before, with both teens not knowing what to say after Harry's impulsive move. Harry had returned to the chamber and stood there, sat on the cold floor of the main chamber, thinking.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he saw something on the map. Just outside the forbidden forest, the name of the one he had been searching for quite sometime appeared.
"Salazar!" He shouted "The time has come. He has showed up again."
"What are you waiting for? Go out there and grab him. Don't miss, my heir." Salazar responded, a tone of grandeur on his voice
Harry had already grabbed his invisibility cloak and the Thestral wand and quickly made his ways to the school grounds. He walked inside the forest, always with an eye on the map. That was when he noticed something weird. Barty Crouch was close by as well and moving in the direction of his target.
Harry slowed down, put his invisible cloak on, and got closer to where the two man were now together. As he got closer, the form of Alastor Moody became cleared, which confused Harry. Why was Moody there? And why didn't the map show him? And where was Barty Crouch?
Harry thought the map may be wrong, that something was messing up its enchantments. Then he remembered both Sirius and Remus words, that the map was never wrong.
That meant that Alastor Moddy was an imposter, and that imposter was Barty Crouch?
The other man, a very short one, with a face that would resemble a rat, talked nervously with the fake Alastor Moddy, as if giving him instructions.
The fake Moody was focused on the smaller man words, and because of that, his magical eye didn't catch a Slytherin student under an invisibility cloak sneaking from behind them.
Harry stopped for one second, took a deep breath, pointed his wand at one of the men and a silent 'Stupefy' made his way to the shorter man. The overpowered deep red jet of light hit the man in the chest, Peter Pettigrew dropping to the ground, knocked out.
Harry couldn't afford the Animagus to run away again, as another chance at capture him could never happen and he was the only ticket to get the aurors of Sirius back.
The fake Moody turned to Harry, his magical eye immediately spotting him even under his invisibility cloak. What followed was a mess of magic flowing between the two fighters.
Losing the element of surprise, Harry was now being forced to defend and dodge, as a lot of the curses being thrown against him were unknown to the young student. He held his ground, dodging the purple and yellow jets of light coming his way.
'Crucio' yelled Barty Crouch, a jet of bright red light coming from his wand.
Knowing a normal shield would not stop the unforgivable, Harry conjured a small stone in the middle of the curse's path. The stone was destroyed but absorbed the Cruciatus curse.
What Harry didn't notice was the yellow light coming his way in another direction, his panic with the Cruciatus curse making him lose focus for a split second.
Knowing he couldn't dodge it, he prepared himself from the pain the bone-breaking curse would inflict.
The bone-breaking curse hit Harry in his left arm, leaving it incapacitated. Fortunately, that didn't prevent the boy from fighting, as his wand arm was the right one.
The pain from the broken arm was enormous, but Harry sucked it up and used that pain as a fuel to his rage. In quick succession he casted a spell chain, composed with a disarming spell, a banishing charm, and a binding curse.
Harry put a lot of his power behind each spell, making them travel faster and their effects increased. Barty Crouch was able to defend against the disarming spell, but he missed the banishing charm which hit him in the chest and sent him flying backwards. The biding curse missed the target, but that didn't matter as the older man went flying against a tree and broke his back.
Harry slowly walked closer to the man, fury and rage burning in his eyes.
The man was throwing his arms around in pain, his legs completely useless.
Harry smiled at the sight, the pain still very present, and he yelled to the man.
"I didn't want to do it, but you were the one that decided unforgivables were fair game."
Harry saw the man eye shooting up to him in fear, and whispered.
'Crucio'
Barty Crouch screamed for a few seconds, until he passed out from the conjoined pain of breaking his spine and the Cruciatus curse.
Transfiguring both man into small marbles, Harry put both in his pocket and made his way to the chamber of secrets.
Harry stood in the middle of the chamber of secrets, waiting for the men to wake up. He had mended his arm with a few healing spells he had learned for his apparition training, and asked Dobby to steal him a few pain-relieving potions from Madam Pomfrey. He had also discussed with Salazar about what to do with both men. Barty Crouch had already returned to his original look, and it surprised Harry not to find the older man he saw as one of the judges from the tournament but a younger version of him. Assuming it was is son, and seeing the dark mark on his arm, Harry understood he had just defeated a death eater. The man was dispensable to Harry, and he knew he could not allow him to go free.
The rat was a different matter, as he would need to turn him in to the aurors as prof of live. The man was the ticket to releasing Sirius and harry would not allow his godfather to be a target anymore.
Barty Crouch was the first to wake up, as Harry stunner to Pettigrew had been a powerful one, amplified by his wand.
"Barty, my friend" he said, jovially. "Thank you for gracing us with your presence. Tell me, what are you doing here at Hogwarts?"
"Potter" he spat "Do you really think I'm going to tell you anything?"
"I do, the amount of pain you have to go through before you tell me all I want to know depends on you."
"You can torture me anyhow you want, I won't tell you shit."
"We will see." Said Harry, before a jet of red light came out of his wand.
Daphne sat very quiet in her room. Tracey and Astoria were looking at her with expectant looks on their faces. She knew she had to say something fast, or they would jump to conclusions.
Answering Tracey question about how the date went, she said.
"It was… good, I guess?"
"Good? Just good? He promised me it would be amazing!" Tracey had spoken to harry about the matter, giving her a few pointers.
"You spoke with him about it?" Said Daphne, angry.
"Of course I did! Harry has no previous experience with dates! He would probably imagine that room as the Hogwarts kitchen!" defended Tracey.
"What room? Imagined?" asked Astoria, unaware of the secret of the Come and go room, unlike the other two girls.
"Leave it Tori" She reprehended her sister. "I mean, yes, the date went great, we talked a lot, everything was going great, but then we had a moment and he… He backed down! I was so surprised and filled with awkwardness and shame that I couldn't enjoy the rest of the date!"
"You just left?" her sister had already completely forgot about the room.
"No, I stayed till the end, but it wasn't like before… And when his elf just gave us one desert to share… It was bad."
"Poor Harry, he really tried, you know?" lamented tracey.
"What happened next?" Her sister was always interested in all the gossip she could get a hold of.
"We said goodbye and I left." Daphne noticed the smile on her sister's face dwindle. She had saved the best for the end. "And then, when I was about to arrive here at the Dungeons, he grabbed me, invisible, and then kissed me!" she finished, a smile now on her face.
"HE WHAT?" Astoria screamed. Her sister really lived these stories. Tracey was just smiling.
"Yes, he came after me, running, and caught me just before I arrived, and gave me a kiss."
"Was it a small or a big one?"
"Don't you want to know everything, little sister? That's between me and Harry.
Astoria pouted, and both Tracey and Daphne broke out laughing.
The three girls completely unaware of what was happening so close to them, involving the boy they were speaking about.
Harry was finished with Barty Crouch Junior. He was disgusted with himself. He had tortured the death eater for nearly one hour before the man started spilling his secrets. But the information was valuable, was the excuse he used to justify what he had done.
He had learned a lot, and most of it not good news at all. He knew Pettigrew had found Voldemort in Albania and did a ritual to sort of bring his master back, even if he was just a baby form, a shadow of himself. The thought of Voldemort being back, even with such debilities, scared Harry. The location for Voldemort's whereabouts was under a Fidelius, which was unfortunate, but he would make do.
Crouch also told him the plan for the final task, where they would enchant the cup of the tournament in order to portkey Harry to a location where he would be a part of another ritual to bring Voldemort back, this time with a full grown body.
Harry now knew how and who had entered him in the tournament, with the man confessing that a simple confundus charm and submitting Harry under a fourth school had been enough to cheat the Goblet. 'Fuck Dumbledore and his weak security' he thought.
Now, the question was what to do with the man.
"Barty, how did you escape Azkaban?" he asked.
"My mother saved me. She knew she was dying. She persuaded my father to rescue me as a last favor to her. He loved her as he had never loved me. He agreed. They came to visit me. They gave me a draft of Polyjuice Potion containing one of my mother's hairs. She took a draft of Polyjuice Potion containing one of my hairs. We took on each other's appearance. The dementors are blind. They sensed one healthy, one dying person entering Azkaban. They sensed one healthy, one dying person leaving it. My father smuggled me out, disguised as my mother, in case any prisoners were watching through their doors. My mother died a short while afterward in Azkaban. She was careful to drink Polyjuice Potion until the end. She was buried under my name and bearing my appearance. Everyone believed her to be me."
"What did your father do when you arrived home?" asked Harry, curious.
"Staged my mother's death. A quiet, private funeral. That grave is empty. The house-elf nursed me back to health. Then I had to be concealed. I had to be controlled. My father had to use several spells to subdue me.
He used the Imperius Curse in you, didn't he?" realization showing up on harry's face.
"Yes. I was under my father's control. I manage to escape during the confusion in the World Cup, and quickly found my master."
Harry was feeling sorry for the man, in a way. The love of a father for a son had been the cause for so much bad stuff happening.
"Thank you for your collaboration Barty" he said, "You've been really helpful."
'Avada Kedavra'
His voice was no more than a whisper, as Harry said the words that ended his parents life for the first time.
A green light came out of his Thestral core wand, and Barty Crouch Junior's life came to an end.
"Dobby?" he called.
"Master Har- ?" The elf was stunned to see the scene in front of him.
"Dobby, I promise you these men are bad men. They both serve Voldemort, and they have killed a lot of people. Do you understand why I had to do this Dobby?"
The elf looked a bit scared, but happy at the same time.
"Thank you master Harry, for taking care of this dark men. What does master Harry need Dobby to do?"
"Thank you for understanding, Dobby" Harry really needed to give Dobby more credit. He had been the most loyal of friends since even before knowing Harry.
"Can you take care of this body? No one knows the man is alive, no one will know he disappeared. Just drop it somewhere no one will ever find it, in the middle of the ocean or something you find suitable."
"Yes, master Harry, right away." The small elf grabbed the dead body of Barty Crouch Junior and both disapparated.
Harry turned to Pettigrew and said.
'Renervate'
The rat faced man's eyes shot open, taking a big breath until he noticed Harry standing in front of him.
"Ha- Harry! What are you doing here? Why am I here?" he asked, nervous.
"Save me the act Peter, we both know why you're here. I'm going to deliver you to the aurors to get Sirius cleared."
"The aurors? No, please Harry! They'll put me in Azkaban, I'll be tortured by dementors for the rest of my life!" The man was now struggling with the bindings around his body.
"You don't have the right to ask me for anything, Peter. You allowed my parents to be killed, you were their secret keeper. You then spent twelve years hiding, instead of atoning for your mistakes. And again, at the end of the last school year when you escaped, you didn't have to rejoin Voldemort." The rat cringed when he heard the name. "But you did, so anything you might ask or begged from me will be denied."
"But certainly your parents…"
"Shut up about my parents! You are the reason they are dead! James and Sirius were your best friends and you betrayed them!" Harry's anger was rising once again.
"I know!" said Pettigrew, tears rolling down his eyes "For a time, they meant the world to me! But the power of the dark lord is beyond everyone else. So, when Dumbledore suggested that I became the secret keeper instead of Sirius, the opportunity to be safe from his wrath was too good to pass on."
For a second it was Harry's time to stutter. Dumbledore was behind the plan? He knew Sirius was innocent. Harry wanted to kill the old man.
"Voldemort is not the only strong force out there. And due to that decision, Peter, your life as a free and sane person will end."
'Obliviate'
Harry had never performed the memory charm before, but he had studied it well enough. He erased the memories from their most recent encounter and stunned the man again. Conjuring a small cage, he transfigured the man into a rat, his favorite animal, and put him inside.
He then apparated in Reading, knocking on the door of the one person he knew would give Sirius a chance of a fair trial.
Dumbledore was pacing back and forth in the entrance hall of Hogwarts. He was worried. Like a few times before, the wards had given him a warning of Peter Pettigrew entering the school grounds. But this time he didn't left, something which worried Dumbledore. He knew Peter was there to meet with Barty Crouch Junior, who was posing as an imposter. Dumbledore knew about it since the moment the man set foot in Hogwarts, as the Polyjuice potion could fool a person, but not magic. His magical signature didn't change to match Moody's, so Dumbledore knew right away. But he allowed it to happen, as he wanted to understand what Voldemort's plan was. But with Pettigrew now on the lose inside the castle, he feared for the safety of his students, not knowing the man's intentions. He kept searching the grounds but found no clue of the Animagus.
Regretting not having killed the man when he had the chance, he made his way back to his office.
In his desk was a letter he knew all too well. Another summon for a Wizengamot meeting.
Opening the letter, he noticed that an emergency meeting had been called my Madam Bones, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, for the next day, with the reason for such a summon being that a great wrong had to be undone.
A bad feeling washed over Dumbledore, as he didn't believe in coincidences. Something must have happen to Pettigrew in Hogwarts that lead to Amelia Bones making an attempt to clear Sirius. And that was something that Dumbledore could not afford.
He summoned Severus, and both men discussed the matter all night long.
AN: Chapter 15 is now done, with a lot of important things happening.
For those who are going to complain about Harry's use of unforgivables, don't forget this is a different Harry, with a different mindset. He has one goal, survive, and he will do what it takes, even killing.
The date on the previous chapter gathered some reaction, with people enjoying and others don't. Writing romance for 14 years old is hard, I don't remember much of what dating was back then, not that I dated when I was that age, to busy reading Harry Potter. But I try my best from what I know of what 14 years old are. And I know that drama, awkwardness and cringing are very much present.
Hope you enjoyed the first serious action against Voldemort.
Thank you for the follows and the reviews. Keep them coming. I can assure you that I read them all and think a lot about them, even if I don't answer directly.
And thanks to my beta Arthur, for his input on the chapter. I'm also looking for a second beta to prof-read the chapter and to discuss ideas with me and Arthur for the story. Any volunteers, send me a PM.
Happy new year everybody! May it be better than 2020!