Yo! I have no idea why I got a sudden random surge of faves and follows for this fic at once a few days ago, despite it not having been updated in like, four months, but uh...thank you to all readers so far?

Harry waited until nightfall. After curfew, he slipped out of bed, making sure he had the Marauders' Map and his invisibility cloak on him, and then quietly left Gryffindor Tower. Silently, eyes on the map, hidden beneath the cloak, he cautiously made his way through the castle and towards Moody's rooms.

Moody wasn't moving much again, but Crouch (the one he didn't know), was pacing around quickly as if he was agitated. The other Crouch, the one Harry did know, seemed to be asleep in one of the many guest rooms, because his dot wasn't moving right now.

When he finally reached the correct room, Harry cleared the map, stashed it in his pocket, and pulled off his cloak, shoving that away too before knocking on the door. It was a bold move. An idiotic one as well. There were so many ways for this to end badly. He was fully aware of that, but he did it anyway.

...He probably wasn't going to tell Hermione about this though.

At first, nothing happened. Harry just knocked again. And again. And again. And then he tried to open the door. Nothing again. It was locked. He frowned, annoyed. It didn't seem like Crouch was planning on letting him in any time soon, but Harry couldn't allow that. He had questions and he wanted answers.

"Open," he hissed out in Parseltongue. He heard the lock click and blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected that to work, only having tried it out on a hunch. But now wasn't the time to question that. He opened the door and stepped into Moody's quarters. Shutting the door behind him, he turned, looking around.

It was dark in here, he noticed, the only light coming from the lit hearth. There was no one in sight. Harry cocked his head. Unless Crouch had escaped into Moody's office, he had to be in here somewhere. But where?

Cautiously, Harry moved further into the room, wondering why exactly he hadn't pulled his wand out yet. The rooms seemed like they were plain, but if there was someone here pretending to be Moody, that wasn't surprising. With how paranoid Moody was, Harry doubted anyone ever actually tried to come in here. Either way, this was getting kind of weird.

"How did you get in here?"

Harry froze. The voice sounded from directly behind him, close enough that he was surprised he hadn't heard the man come up so close to him. But even more, that voice didn't belong to either Moody or that stickler Mr Crouch. Was this the person behind the reason for there being two people named Bartemius Crouch on the Marauders' Map?

"Answer me!"

"...Being a Parselmouth is a very useful skill, you know."

"Parselmouth? ...You spoke in Parseltongue to get inside these rooms?"

"Yep. Sure did."

The man, whoever he was, made a soft sound of surprise, though he didn't say anything more for a long, tense moment. Feeling that the man was busy thinking, Harry decided to try and take a peek at the stranger's face and began shifting around. He barely even moved though before a rather large hand clamped down on his shoulder somewhat harshly, stopping him immediately.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Harry stopped instantly, getting the feeling that listening to him was the best thing to do for his health and safety right now. But not moving didn't mean not speaking. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Why do you care to know?"

"Why shouldn't I?" he countered. "You're not Moody, and you're not Crouch, but here you are, under Crouch's name, impersonating Moody and possibly, even likely, keeping him hostage. I think all of that is enough of a reason for wanting to know who you are."

The man laughed softly, the grip on Harry's shoulder tightening almost painfully. "You know more than you should, Potter. Why do you think I should let you leave this room now?"

Harry wasn't intimidated at all, and couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Oh please, Harry Potter going missing during the Triwizard Tournament will be the biggest news until Voldemort comes back. Everyone's going to notice I'm gone-pretty much immediately too, seeing as I'm kind of in the spotlight thanks to this whole daft tournament. Getting rid of me won't benefit you in any way, and I think you're smart enough to know that too."

Though Harry didn't know it, he was right. The stranger knew exactly what he was talking about and had already been thinking of it all himself. He'd never intended on doing anything to Harry, especially since he had no desire to draw any attention to himself just yet. All he'd been attempting to accomplish was scare Harry off, though it didn't seem as if that was would work.

"No, Potter, I'm not Alastor Moody. Neither am I the Bartemius Crouch you speak of. I'll tell you that much." He released Harry's shoulder, slinking back into the shadows before Harry could turn around to see his face. "Get out, Potter, before you're caught out of bed."

Deciding not to try his luck, Harry quickly used this chance to leave the rooms, hearing the door shut and lock behind him. But that was fine. He wasn't sure if the man had done it on purpose or not, but his last few words there had already given Harry something new to look into.

The stranger had said he wasn't Moody, which Harry believed without question. But it was the second denial there that piqued his interest. He'd said he wasn't the Crouch that Harry was talking about. All that made Harry think was that there was another Bartemius Crouch out there that he hadn't been talking about.

But was it really that simple?

That's it for now. Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!