Sorry it's been so long; I don't think I wanted to post this chapter, despite writing it ages ago.
I will put some spoilers in the end note for those that want them; those that don't, don't keep scrolling!
The hedges disappeared, but the cheers of jubilation changed to screams of terror as Bethany and Cedric vanished, and celebration turned to panic.
In the chaos, Hermione didn't bother hiding it, turning to Lily immediately. "Where did they go?"
"I don't know," Lily admitted shrilly. "James has gone with them. Oh, Merlin, Hermione, why the hell does this always happen to my daughter?!"
Hermione didn't answer, wondering the same thing herself. She pushed her way along the row to the stairs and flew down them, sprinting out to the middle of the field, where the plinth still stood empty, the only thing in the maze that hadn't vanished.
Voices called after her, but no one attempted to stop her as she sank to the ground, sobbing. Arms wrapped around her, and she, Mandy and Arabella waited in that three-way hug, unable to move or do anything more than cry.
Almost an hour later, still nothing had changed. The initial panic had died down now, and people in the stands were starting to get restless. The judges were huddled together talking in whispers, and several people were crowded around them, trying to eavesdrop.
Mrs Weasley appeared to be in hysterics, and all of her children were trying to comfort her, although Fred kept looking over at Hermione, who had taken to pacing up and down in the place the Cup had been.
Every time she caught his eye, she mustered up a small smile, silently reassuring him that she was alright.
"We should have known," She said in a low voice.
"Known what?" Mandy asked quietly.
"That this would happen," Hermione said thickly. "Touch of cup brings respite's end. I just assumed it meant the Goblet of Fire."
"It's not your fault," Lily said, silent tears streaming down her face. "There was nothing you …" she vanished abruptly and Hermione stopped pacing just as suddenly, staring at the spot she'd previously occupied.
"Hermione?" Arabella asked. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Hermione replied, resuming her pacing. Lily was fine, she told herself. There was nothing to worry about.
"This is ridiculous," Mandy said, getting up from her spot on the ground. "There must be something we can do. How hard is it to track a Portkey?"
"Mandy …" Arabella hurried after her as she strode off towards the judges.
Hermione smiled slightly. She knew from experience that the two women could be quite protective when it came to Bethany - she didn't envy the judges having to deal with them.
She hadn't even glanced at the judges to see if Karkaroff was still with them; if he wasn't, she had a feeling that was the least of their problems.
There was a soft thud, and she came to a halt once more, her pacing interrupted by the sudden return of Bethany and Cedric, slumped on the ground with the Triwizard Cup.
"Beth …" Hermione dropped to her knees beside them.
Their return was quite unremarkable, and no one seemed to have noticed them besides Hermione herself. She should shout, scream, gain their attention, but her throat seemed unable to work, and her gaze was fixed on Bethany, who was shaking with sobs, clinging to Cedric.
"Bethany?" Hermione repeated, touching her shoulder. "Beth?"
Bethany finally looked up, and she bit back a gasp when their eyes met. Far from the vibrant emerald orbs they had been that morning, they were now hollow … dead … and seemed to look straight through her.
"He's back …"
"What?" Hermione asked.
One of Bethany's hands left Cedric to grip Hermione's robes, pulling her closer, and now Hermione could see the small cuts on her face, the tears in her robes.
"He's back, Mione … He's back … Cedric … couldn't leave him …"
Bethany dissolved into tears again, just as James and Lily appeared, both also crying, but Hermione didn't have time to dwell on relief or confusion, because Bethany's mention of Cedric had drawn her attention to the fact that the Hufflepuff hadn't spoken - or, indeed, moved - since their return.
Her heart fell into her stomach, when she realised that not only was Cedric very still, but his eyes were wide open, staring unseeingly up at the stars.
With a shaky hand, Hermione reached out to touch his face, letting her fingers trail over cold skin to his neck.
She found nothing, no sign of life beating beneath them.
He was dead.
As soon as that hit her, with all the force of a Bludger, she screamed, her voice echoing through the dark grounds, trying to pull Bethany to her feet.
"Can't … please don't make me …"
Hermione's heart broke for her best friend, but she persevered, finally forcing Bethany up and away from Cedric's body, holding her close.
Mandy and Arabella reached them first, and Mandy checked Bethany over with trembling hands as Arabella bent over the young man beside them.
Bethany was fighting against Hermione's grip, as though getting back to Cedric would somehow bring him back from the dead.
"Bethany," Mandy called quietly. "Beth, sweetheart, can you tell me what happened?"
"Voldemort," Bethany sobbed out. "He's back."
Arabella straightened up, her face pale. "I'm no expert, Talon, but I'd say that's the … Shit."
"What?" Mandy asked, still trying to help Hermione calm Bethany.
"Amos is coming," Arabella said, striding forwards.
Mandy glanced up as well and cursed under her breath. "Hermione, stay with her - don't go anywhere." She kissed Bethany's forehead, and the two women swept away to intercept Cedric's parents.
A moment later, their anguished cries rang out in the darkness, and Hermione flinched, pushing her Empathy down as far as she could, feeling Bethany shaking in her arms. She wanted to comfort her, to say something, but everything got lost on the way to her mouth - and even without her Empathy and the castle, what could she possibly say?
"It's alright, Miss Granger - help me get her up to the castle."
Hermione looked up at Professor Moody, furrowing her brow at the strange expression on his face. It looked like concern, but it seemed out of place on the grizzled old Auror. "Mandy and Arabella said not to go anywhere."
"She needs to lie down," Moody insisted. "Come on."
Hermione hesitated a second more. Moody was an ex-Auror after all, and Bethany was clearly going into shock, and staring at Cedric's dead body was not helping.
Additionally, she could now see that her robes were ripped on one leg, exposing bloody skin.
Hermione slipped under Bethany's arm and they half-carried her into the castle. As they walked, Bethany answered Moody's questions in a full monotone. Hermione was busy trying not to look down at Bethany's leg, and was trying not to to pay attention to what actually happened - not yet, at least - when Moody's voice cut through her self-imposed mental block.
"You duelled with the Dark Lord?"
Hermione let out a quiet moan, her heart thudding so loud that she was sure the other two could hear it.
"Got away …" Bethany muttered. "My wand … did something funny … saw my mum and dad …"
Hermione frowned, trying to work out what that might be. She glanced at James and Lily, but they were too distracted to explain, Lily by sobbing hysterically, James by attempting in vain to comfort her.
"In here, lass. Come and sit down." Moody opened the door to his office and ushered the two Gryffindors inside. Hermione guided Bethany to a chair and sat her down, glancing around at the various Dark Detectors. On any other day, she would be fascinated, but right now her attention was solely on her best friend.
Moody produced a flash of Pepper-Up Potion and tipped it against Bethany's lips. "Drink up … you'll feel better. Come on … you'll be alright."
Bethany swallowed the potion and coughed, steam pouring from her ears, but her eyes seemed to focus again, and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, kneeling beside her to grip her hand.
"Voldemort's back, Bethany?" Moody questioned. "How did he do it?"
"He took stuff from his father's grave, and from Wormtail, and from me," Bethany muttered.
"What did the Dark Lord take from you?" Moody asked in a whisper.
"Blood." Bethany raised her arm, showing the tear in her robes and the fine cut in the crook of her elbow.
"He took my protection," Lily whimpered, tears still streaming down her face. "I'm sorry I left so suddenly, Hermione - I couldn't help it; something was pulling me."
Hermione nodded slightly to show she'd heard, but said nothing, as Moody continued in a hiss.
"And the Death Eaters? They returned?"
"Yeah, loads of them." Bethany shivered, and Hermione rubbed her arm, but Moody didn't seem to notice.
"How did he treat them? Did he forgive them?"
Hermione barely had time to contemplate what a strange question that was, when the remaining colour drained from Bethany's face and she fought to stand up. "There's a Death Eater at Hogwarts! There's a Death Eater here at the school! They put my name in the Goblet; made sure I got through to the end!"
The blood in Hermione's veins turned to ice, but Moody pushed Bethany back into her seat. "I know who the Death Eater is."
"Karkaroff?" Bethany guessed wildly. "Where is he? Have you got him?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, about to remind Bethany that they'd already dismissed Karkaroff as a suspect numerous times for numerous reasons, when Moody laughed darkly, a laugh that sent shivers down Hermione's spine.
"Karkaroff?" He asked, with a kind of dark amusement. "He fled tonight when he felt the Mark burn. He betrayed too many faithful supports of the Dark Lord to wish to meet them … but I doubt he'll get far. The Dark Lord has ways of tracking his enemies."
"Hermione …" James said slowly. "Something's not right."
But Hermione didn't need James to tell her that. She finally released her Empathy again, skilfully avoiding the pain and grief pouring from her best friend, and landed upon the anticipatory excitement she had picked up earlier in the evening.
It was coming from Moody.
Hermione wanted to believe it was adrenaline, that the paranoid ex-Auror just didn't march to the beat of the same drum as everyone else - but something stopped her.
Sirius's words came back to her. "Never used Unforgivables if he could help it."
And why was Moody calling Voldemort 'the Dark Lord' all of a sudden? She'd never heard anyone calling him that … except Karkaroff.
"Karkaroff's gone?" Bethany asked, oblivious. "Then he didn't put my name in the Goblet?"
"That's not Alastor Moody," James said sharply, voicing her worst fears.
"Professor Moody," Hermione said shakily, gripping her wand under her robes. "Maybe I should get Bethany to the infirmary." She stood to help Bethany to her feet, but Moody drew his wand and pointed it at them.
"Sit down Miss Granger."
Hermione sank to her knees again, her attention focussed fully on the wand aimed in her direction.
"No, Potter," 'Moody' said, one eye fixed on Hermione. "It was I who did that."
"No … No, you didn't," Bethany murmured. "You didn't … You couldn't have done …"
"I assure you that I did," 'Moody' told her. "Expelliarmus!"
Hermione's wand flew from her hand, and Bethany's did the same. The fake Moody caught them, never lowering his own. "He forgave them, did he? The Death Eaters who went free? Who escaped Azkaban?"
Hermione's second wand, the one tucked into an improvised wand holster by her ankle, the one she realised months ago must have belonged to Sirius's sister (because who else's wand would have been in his vault alongside his own), hadn't so much as twitched.
"He's underestimating you," Lily told her darkly. "He doesn't think you'll have another wand. You never underestimate your opponent, Hermione. Take … him … down."
Hermione held back a shiver. Over the last year, she had seen the Marauder and she had seen the mother, but now she saw the powerful witch who had been such a threat to the Death Eaters.
She wasn't a woman Hermione wanted to get on the wrong side of.
"What?" Bethany asked blankly.
"Did he forgive them?!" 'Moody' asked impatiently. "Did he forgive the scumbags who never even tried to find him?! Did he forgive the worthless pieces of crap that escaped Azkaban?! The faithless filth who were brave enough to run around in masks at the Quidditch World Cup, but fled like cowardly rats at the sight of the Dark Mark when I fired it into the sky?!"
"You fired …?" Bethany repeated weakly. "What are you talking about?"
Whatever else had happened that night must have seriously shaken Bethany - she was normally far more on the ball than this.
Hermione's mind was racing, unable to move while 'Moody's' magical eye was fixed on her. If he had been at the World Cup, and Sirius was right about when Bethany's wand was taken, he must have been in the Top Box.
But who?
The only Death Eater in the box she knew about was Lucius Malfoy - and she was fairly sure he was one of the 'worthless pieces of crap' currently being ranted about.
"I told you, Bethany," the imposter said quietly. "If there's one thing I hate, it's a Death Eater that walked free …"
Hermione shivered as an insane smile lit 'Moody's' face and she shifted closer to Bethany.
"Tell me he hurt them, Bethany," 'Moody' whispered, looking quite manic. "Tell me he punished them … tortured them … told them that I alone remained faithful."
"It couldn't have been you," Bethany whispered.
Hermione felt like screaming, telling Bethany that this wasn't Moody, but she couldn't. She forced herself to look away from the wand pointed at her, and at 'Moody's' face instead.
"Who put your name in the Goblet of Fire, under the name of a different school? I did. Who frightened off every person I thought might try to hurt you or prevent you from winning the Tournament? I did."
The magical eye finally left Hermione and rolled to look at Bethany. Very carefully, she let her hand drift down to her ankle where the second wand lay tucked away, keeping her body very, very still.
"Who nudged Hagrid into showing you the dragon? I did. It wasn't easy, Bethany, guiding you through those tasks - you couldn't do too well, or Dumbledore would get suspicious. I just needed to get you into that maze, preferably with a head start, and then I could dispatch of the other champions."
Hermione fought the urge to shiver again. If this man was as insane as he was acting, they were lucky all three of the other champions hadn't died.
"The second task … that was when I was most afraid we would fail. I knew you hadn't worked out the clue, so I had to give you another hint …"
"Cedric gave me that clue," Bethany said, her voice trembling.
"And who do you think tipped Diggory off?" 'Moody' asked. "I did. Decent people are so easy to manipulate."
Hermione felt a surge of anger - whether it was from her or Bethany, she wasn't sure - and tightened her grip on Bethany's hand, silently pleading with her to stay silent, grasping the second wand in its holster.
She couldn't act yet, not while that wand was still aiming at her.
She was taking a huge chance anyway - the wand was currently in her off-hand, and it wasn't technically hers, so she had no idea how it would respond.
But Cedric …
Cedric had been a decent person - a decent person who had been murdered in cold blood, apparently for no other reason than being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Bethany …
Oh, Bethany was going to take on the weight of that guilt.
"You were in that lake so long, Potter; I thought you'd drowned. But the judges took your idiocy for nobility, and marked you highly for it, and I breathed again. You had an easy time of it in that maze tonight, of course. I was able to see through the hedges, to curse many of the obstacles out of your way. I Stunned Fleur as she passed. I out the Imperius Curse on Krum so he would finish Diggory off, and your path would be clear."
So that was what had happened, why the screams had sounded so much like Cedric and not Viktor. Either Cedric must have fought him off, or Bethany had come upon them to help - not that it mattered much anymore.
"The Dark Lord failed to kill you, Potter, and he so wanted to," 'Moody' whispered. "Imagine who he will reward me when he finds that I have done it for him."
"You dare …" James growled.
"I delivered you to him … the think he needed above all … and then I killed you for him … I will be honoured above all other Death Eaters … his dearest, his closest … closer than a son …"
Hermione's hand tightened around her wand, but with 'Moody's' still aimed in her direction, she would be dead before she raised it high enough to utter a spell.
"The Dark Lord and I have much in common," the imposter told them. "Both of us, for instance, had very disappointing fathers … both suffered the indignity of being named after those fathers … and both of us had the pleasure - the very real pleasure - of killing our fathers to ensure the continued rise of the Dark Order!"
"You're mad," Bethany whispered. "You're mad!"
"Bethany …" Hermione whimpered, unable to stop herself. "Don't …"
"Mad, am I?" 'Moody' asked with a cackle. "We'll see who's mad, Potter! The Dark Lord is back! He is back, Potter - you did not conquer him - and now I conquer you!"
His wand swung around to aim at Bethany's chest, causing Lily to scream, darting forwards to shield her daughter from a curse she couldn't possibly hope to block.
Hermione took a chance. Drawing the second wand, she swung it upwards. "STUPEFY!"
It may not have been her wand, and it hardly responded to her the way hers did, but it did the job; a beam of red light left the tip of the wand and struck 'Moody' directly in the chest, causing him to fell to the ground.
In the next instance, the door to the offie burst open, revealing Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape, all looking furious, which soon changed to confusion. Hermione took the opportunity to shove her second wand away, and grab her own and Bethany's, which had rolled towards them.
Professor McGonagall rushed over to them. "Miss Granger. Miss Potter. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Professor," Hermione assured her, though couldn't stop her voice from shaking.
"Come along, Miss Potter," McGonagall whispered, resting a hand on Bethany's shoulder. "Come along … Infirmary."
"No," Dumbledore disagreed. "She will stay, Minerva, because she needs to understand. Bethany needs to know who put her through her ordeal tonight and why. Recovery can only come with acceptance, and acceptance can only come with understanding."
Hermione wasn't convinced - Bethany was trembling in her arms, so obviously in shock that she wasn't sure any of the information would actually sink in.
"Moody?" Bethany murmured. "How can it have been Moody?"
"Beth, that's not Moody," Hermione said gently, placing her wand back in her hand. "Is it, Headmaster?"
"It is not," Dumbledore confirmed, with a hint of a twinkle in his eyes. "When did you realise, Miss Granger?"
"He was referring to You-Know …" Hermione stopped, catching Bethany's eye.
If they were all afraid of a name, how could they possibly hope to beat him.
"V-V-Voldemort," she said, stuttering over it a little.
Bethany gave her the first real smile (albeit a small one) she'd seen all evening.
"He was calling Voldemort the Dark Lord," Hermione continued. "I've only ever heard Death Eaters … well, people I would assume were Death Eaters calling him that. And he demonstrated the Unforgivables, and Padfoot said that he never used them if he could help it." She saw McGonagall and Snape exchanging a confused glance, but didn't elaborate. "If you don't mind me asking, sir, when did you realise?"
"The real Alastor Moody would never have removed Bethany from my sight after what happened tonight. The moment I saw you both gone, I knew."
It was a strange answer, Hermione thought, given that it was Mandy and Arabella who'd told them not to move, not Dumbledore.
Still, Hermione accepted it. "I should have made Bethany stay here."
"Miss Granger, you had no reason to distrust him," Dumbledore said kindly. He turned to the other teachers and Hermione tuned out his next words, tucking Bethany's head under her chin.
She had begun to cry again, silently this time, and Hermione clamped down on her Empathy once more, rocking her best friend gently.
McGonagall and Snape swept out of the room, and Hermione watched, strangely detached, as Dumbledore opened Moody's trunk, compartment by compartment. Usually she would have been bursting with questions - she'd never seen a multi-dimensional trunk before - but she couldn't find her voice. However, when Dumbledore opened the seventh and last compartment, she and Bethany couldn't hold back their horrified gasps.
They were looking into what looked like a dungeon and, lying about ten feet below, chunks missing from his grizzly hair, thin and starved, was the real Alastor Moody.
Dumbledore climbed into the trunk to check him over. "Stunned … controlled by Imperius … very weak … Of course they would have needed to keep him alive. Miss Granger, throw down the imposter's cloak, please; he's freezing."
Rather reluctantly, Hermione left Bethany's side to retrieve the cloak. The Marauders Map was lying open on the desk, and she folded it up and slipped it in her pocket, before tossing the cloak into the trunk. "Will he be alright?"
"Madam Pomfrey will need to take a look at him, of course, but he's in no immediate danger." Dumbledore tucked the cloak around Moody and clambered out of the trunk again. He picked up the hip flask and took the lid off, sniffing it carefully. "Polyjuice Potion. You see the simplicity of it, and the brilliance. Moody never does drink from anything other than his hip flask; he's famous for it. The imposter needed to keep the real Moody close, of course; he needed hair for the Potion. But I think that, in all the excitement tonight, our imposter may not have taken it as frequently as he should have done. On the hour, every hour. We shall see." He conjured two chairs and motioned for Hermione to take a seat next to Bethany.
Hermione did so, glancing at her best friend, who was white and shaking, staring at the body on the floor.
"I'm sorry, Beth," she whispered. "I should have listened to Mandy and Arabella, and kept us there."
"Hermione, stop it," Lily said soothingly. "Moody was a well-respected Auror; not even we realised something was wrong until just now. Not even Dumbledore realised, and Moody was one of his oldest friends. Stop blaming yourself."
"Don't tell him though," James added. "About your Empathy. Or about us. Not yet anyway."
Well, that was fair at least, especially given the circumstances.
For a few minutes, they all stared at the fake Moody. Suddenly, his appearance started changing; the scars were disappearing, the fake eye had popped out, the noise became whole again. And then lying before them was a man with sandy-blond hair who looked familiar, although Hermione couldn't quite place him.
Lily sucked in a breath, looking horrified, but before she could say anything, Snape reappeared in the doorway with Winky at his heels and McGonagall just behind him.
"Crouch!" He exclaimed, in very real surprise. "Barty Crouch!"
"Good heavens!" McGonagall said faintly.
"Crouch?" Hermione repeated, as Winky flung herself at the unconscious man. "Crouch Junior? Didn't he die in Azkaban?"
"That is what everyone believed, yes," Dumbledore said. "He is only Stunned, Winky; step aside please. Severus, the potion?"
Snape reached into his pocket and withdrew a clear vial. Between him and Dumbledore, they managed to get Crouch Jr. into a sitting position and force a few drops of the potion into his mouth.
The two men stood back, and Dumbledore pointed his wand at Crouch Jr.'s chest. "Ennervate."
SPOILER ALERT!
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He's not dead. The answer has already been given somewhere in the fic. If you've read Veritas, you'll know.