Aria and her fellow Lures (as they were coming to be called) were kept in the infirmary for nearly two days, which she thought was excessive. Madam Pomfrey allowed them all to go back to their own beds just before curfew and Aria had been much too tired (not that she would admit that to Madam Pomfrey) to do much more than say hello to her friends in the common room before snuggling up in her own bed and falling back asleep.
That meant when she woke up on Saturday morning she was bombarded with the news from Daphne and Tracey that early Friday morning an auror had shown up just at the start of first period for Professor Moody and that he had been gone ever since!
An intriguing as it sounded, Aria was more intrigued about the fact that her entire body felt like it had gone through the washer. It was like a dull ache, like she had exercised too hard or roughhoused too much, but she had only gone from the library to the lake to the infirmary back to the dormitory, so she wasn't sure why she felt so terrible.
It seemed, however, that Madam Pomfrey was ahead of her. As Aria sat down for breakfast, a potions vial popped up next to her goblet with a note in the mediwitch's neat handwriting. It was a pain potion, explained the note, a low level one in case her body was aching.
"What's that?" Tracey asked.
"Pain reliever," Aria said. "Madam Pomfrey thought I might be in a bit of pain after everything. I'm not sure why I'm in pain though. Maybe I should go to the infirmary regardless?"
"Probably because you had a panic attack, Bourne," Adrian Pucey said, settling down a few seats from her. "Sometimes the muscles can keep the tension."
"And you know this how?" Daphne asked.
"OWLs."
The fourth years grimaced, not at all looking forward to next year.
Aria ate several slices of bacon before downing the pain reliever, quickly following it with eggs. Have spent so much time with Professor Snape, she had learned a trick or two about a variety of potions, including the pain reliever which worked quicker and with better results if it was taken with food instead of on an empty stomach.
The Great Hall was full of the flutter of wings as the morning owl post arrived. Packages, letters, and rolled up newspapers dropped to their recipients much to the glee of many. Daphne, Draco, and Blaise all received their copies of The Daily Prophet while Aria received the newest edition of the potions journal, Potion's Quarterly. Professor Snape had submitted the findings she had written based of their discovery of the "werewolf gene" as Aria had called it. To her astonishment, when she unrolled the scientific journal, the cover's leading headline read: POSSIBLE DISCOVERY OF WEREWOLF GENE! The subheading said it was on page 10 and she eagerly began flipping to page ten, only to be distracted by the triple gasps of Daphne, Draco, and Blaise as they stared at the front pages of their newspapers.
"What's the matter now?" Harry asked. He turned to Aria. "They've been running stories about the irresponsibility of Dumbledore and Crouch. Apparently, Dumbledore's argument is that he submitted the proper paperwork to change the rules back to allowing Lures to be under seventeen, but that it was misplaced by either Crouch or one of his assistants."
"Percy Weasley's his only assistant," Aria said. "Can you imagine Percy misplacing anything?"
"Crouch's been arrested for keeping someone locked up in his house!" Daphne cried, most unladylike, turning the paper so that Aria and Harry could see the front page.
CROUCH ARRESTED FOR SECRETLY IMPRISONING WIZARD IN HIS HOUSE!
"That's deeply disturbing," Hermione cried as she, Ron, and Ginny arrived for breakfast.
"Read it aloud," Astoria begged, trying into get closer to them. Daphne rolled her eyes at her sister but acquiesced.
"'Friday morning,'" Daphne read, "'aurors were called to the residence of Bartemius Crouch Senior in Symonds Yat, Herefordshire, England, at 9:30am. Percival Weasley, Interim Director of the Department of International Cooperation, made the call from the Crouch residence. There, aurors discovered a young man shackled to a bed in one of the upstairs bedrooms. He was promptly removed from the residence and taken to St. Mungo's. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement has not released the name of the individual they rescued.
"'"The department is not ready to release the name of the individual," Madam Bones, Head of the DMLE stated. "It is a delicate situation at the moment. I can say, however, that this young man seems to be have been held captive for years, and that Crouch Senior has been using both the Imperious Curse and Polyjuice Potion on the young man excessively. More details will be released when the department is able to offer a more complete picture about this ongoing investigation."
"'Percival Weasley, the wizard to call the aurors, had gone to the Crouch residence with Lords Septimus Weasley and Jeremiah Prince to inform Mr. Crouch that he was no longer employed at the ministry (for more information regarding the Triwizard Tournament's debacle of a Second Task, see page 5), and to bring him back to the ministry for a formal ICW interview. Ever since Harry Potter, a fourteen-year-old was forced to compete in the tournament, the International Confederation of Wizards has been investigating the Department of International Cooperation. Mr. Crouch has been uncooperative and remains so.'"
Daphne stopped reading.
"There's not much more, just a detailed account of Crouch's history at the ministry and the scandals he's been a part of," she told them. "Including sending Lord Black to Azkaban without a trial."
"I think there's a lot of people to blame for that," Tracey said, "not just Crouch even if he was the Head of the DMLE then."
"That's absolutely awful!" Ginny exclaimed, returning their attention to the article.
"It sounds like an episode of the true crime shows my mum likes," Hermione said, shivering. "I hope that poor wizard will be all right."
"You don't think it's got anything to do with Professor Moody, do you?" Theo asked. "I mean . . . an auror did come and get him the same day, at the same time that this article says the aurors found the wizard in Crouch's house!"
The friends fell silent at the thought. Who could it have been? How was their professor involved?
Their thoughts were cut off by Harry suddenly jumping to his feet.
"Remus!" he cried. Remus waved from a group of adults at the doors of the Great Hall. Remus waved from beside Mr. and Mrs. Delacour and . . . and . . .
"Dad?" Aria breathed, shakily rising to her feet to get a better look. Kenneth spotted her, a relieved looked smoothing the worry lines from between his brows.
"Dad!" Aria shouted, stumbling over the bench to begin sprinting towards her dad, her voice getting louder and louder as she ran.
"Dad! DAD! DADDY!"
Kenneth ran too, meeting her before she could even round the end of the Slytherin table. She threw her arms around his neck, wrapping her legs around his waist like she was a little girl again and had fallen and scraped her knee on the pavement. Kenneth clung to her, arms tight around her as he pushed her face into his shoulder, pressing kisses to her head over and over again as he whispered,
"I've got you, baby. You're okay. Daddy's got you. Thank God you're okay."
"I missed you," Aria cried, pressing her face harder against her dad's neck, realizing that tears were rolling down her face. "I missed you."
It was like everything that had happened, every stress, every worry, every fear melted away as Aria remained wrapped in her father's arms. She had felt the same way when her mother had died. She had crawled into her parents' bed for weeks after Abigail's death, letting her dad hold her tight while they both mourned the woman they loved. When she had been in her dad's arms as a child, she had felt like nothing bad could ever happen to her. Now, five years on from her mother's death, the feeling remained the same.
Everything was going to be okay.
Too soon, Aria dropped back to the floor, still clinging to Kenneth. He rubbed a hand up and down her back before turning back towards Remus who had Harry stuck to his side in a similar manner.
"Hi, Remus," she greeted.
"Good morning," Remus greeted back.
"What're you doing here?" Aria asked. "Not that I'm upset or anything about it."
"We're here to check on you and the others who were used as lure in the Second Task," Remus answered, gesturing towards Mr. and Mrs. Delacour who were being greeted by Fleur and a sobbing Gabrielle, along with the Tsar and Tsarina of Bulgaria who were having a less emotional reunion with Nikola, but there was no mistaking the worry in their eyes. The Changs looked equally worried, Mrs. Chang kept running her hand through Cho's hair, but Cho had not seemed as perturbed by the whole experience as the other three Lures.
"Originally we were all supposed to meet with Minister Fudge, the ICW, and whatnot," Remus told them. "But then the whole debacle with Crouch happened so we're allowed some time at Hogwarts."
"But . . . Dad's a Muggle."
"I got this handy-dandy thing." Kenneth showed Aria a necklace with a red rectangle on the chain, gold filigree creating some kind of complex runic pattern on it. Aria delighted in the way the magic sparkled off the object, intricate threads weaving together.
"Sirius and Remus were going to represent you on my behalf originally," Kenneth explained. "But, when it all moved to Hogwarts, Sirius may have bullied a few people. It's really difficult to even find the right people with the right paperwork to fill out, and god knows how many Galleons Sirius spent on top of that for rental fees to use this."
"So . . . does that mean you're here for the whole day?"
"Yes."
"Where's Sirius?" Harry asked as Aria's brain began to tumble over itself with ideas and thoughts about what to do with her dad for a whole day at Hogwarts.
"Talking to Dumbledore," Remus said.
"Do you know what this means?" Aria cried, bouncing on her toes. "It means that I can actually show you magic! I can show you all the stuff I can't show you over the summer!" She grabbed her dad's hand and dragged him down the Slytherin table.
"Dad," she said, "these are my friends and house mates. Daphne, Tracey, Ginny, Blaise, Theo, and you've met Draco before. He's the kid who the guy tried to kidnap back before second year." She hoped her dad got the hint and didn't say anything about Draco being at Spinner's End during the summer. "And that's Pansy and Millicent, they're also in my year in Slytherin. And this is Hermione, but you've met her already."
"Greetings, everyone," Kenneth said with a smile. "It's so good to put faces to the names. Aria talks about you a lot."
"All good things I hope," Blaise said.
"Absolutely not," Aria disagreed with a quirk of her lips. "Terrible things."
"So, you're a Muggle?" Tracey asked, looking Kenneth up and down. "No magic or anything?"
"Nope," Kenneth answered. "Nothing special about me."
"Have you had breakfast yet?" Aria asked, pushing Kenneth to sit, motioning her other friends from other houses to come over. Astoria squawked with indignation as she was bodily pushed down the bench to make room for other fourth years. Several Durmstrang students moved tables completely, but Aria ignored any glares from that quarter, especially with Nikola leading his parents over to where Viktor had planted himself between Hermione and Ron.
"Oh! And this is Nikola, Prince of Bulgaria," Aria told Kenneth. Kenneth held out a hand which Nikola shook with a smile. His own parents gave tighter, cooler smiles.
"You were Aria's date to the Yule Ball," Kenneth said.
"Yes, sir," Nikola replied.
"I'd have thought you'd have not been used as a Lure," Kenneth continued, "seeing as you're a prince and all. Do you not have bodyguards?"
"Ve are asking those same questions," the tsar stated, settling where Nikola put him next to Theo and Neville. Remus and Harry managed to squeeze in on Kenneth's other side, between the Muggle and Ginny.
"Eh, they've got spares," Nikola said with a wave of his hand. His father clipped him around the ear.
"What're you going to show your dad?" Hermione asked.
"We've got to come up with a list," Aria agreed. "We've so much to show and so little time."
By the time Sirius appeared behind Remus, Aria and her classmates had come up with a list of things to do and things to show Kenneth. Several of Aria's Muggleborn friends wanted to show off their skills too and so it was decided that, after breakfast, they would hold a magical demonstration in the Great Hall before giving Kenneth a tour of Hogwarts and the parts of the grounds accessible even with snow still on the ground.
The magical demonstration was a success. Kenneth was properly awed by every bit of magic, as Aria knew he would be, but she still felt elation every time he congratulated her and clapped or gasped in wonder at the talent being displayed. Dean showed off how he could conjure balls of light and juggle them with his wand, which impressed more than just Kenneth; Lisa had raced back to her dorm to fetch her latest Ancient Runes project to show Kenneth how protections could be built into an object by carving runes into it; Justin insisted on transfiguring multiple objects into other objects. He transfigured several schoolbooks into quills, goblets, and boxes. Elora Dunn, the seventh year Ravenclaw prefect, insisted on showing how she could make knitting needles knit by themselves; Dennis Creevey, the first-year sibling of Colin, wanted to show off how he could levitate items, and Colin was satisfied with taking pictures of the entire affair.
Aria and Hermione finished off by producing their Patronuses.
"So, these are made up of your happiest thoughts?" Kenneth asked as Hermione's otter floated over to him and butted its head gently against his hand. He tried to pet the Patronus, but it was not really solid, so his hand went right through the otter. Aria was distracted by her own wayward fox who was running about the ankles of the Bulgarian royals since Nikola and Viktor had insisted, they had wanted to stay and watch the whole thing (and were joined by the Changs, the Delacours and other Beauxbatons students).
"Professor Moody said that sometimes people give names to their corporal Patronuses," Aria said when she finally caught up to her fox. She scooped the Patronus up in her arms like it was a cat and trotted back over to her dad, ignoring the shocked and incredulous looks from the watching adult wixen. "I've named mine Reginald Watson the Third. Reggie for short."
"Hey!" Harry cried. "My Patronus doesn't do that. How did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Hold Reggie like that?"
Aria looked down at Reggie who yawned.
"I dunno," she admitted. "I just can." Kenneth tried petting Reggie but his hand, once again, went through the transparent Patronus. Harry immediately produced his stag and began patting the creature, his hand going straight through the translucent light.
"Harry, it's Aria," Ron said even as Harry pouted at his stag. "Prongs isn't going to magically become solid like Reggie."
Aria huffed and dropped Reggie, the fox disappearing into a wisp of light that faded away. Kenneth clapped, very pleased with the entire thing and Aria and the students took more time than necessary to bow and thank everyone for coming.
Throughout the tour of Hogwarts, a gaggle of students could be found following Aria and Kenneth around. Hermione, Daphne, and Tracey were the only ones who stayed for the whole tour. Even Harry went off to have some alone time with Sirius and Remus before the three joined back up with them at lunch. In the interim, Aria showed her dad all her classrooms, and was even able to show her some of her projects for astronomy and arithmancy. In the greenhouses, Neville was more than happy to show Kenneth all the plants they were currently studying how explain how they differed from nonmagical plants.
Too soon for Aria's liking, it became time for Kenneth to leave along with the other three families. Gabrielle was going home with the Delacours, and they were the first to leave after a tearful good-bye between the sisters. The Changs left next, Cho hurrying off with her friends soon after. The Bulgarian royals walked down to the front gates of Hogwarts with Sirius, Remus, and Kenneth, Aria and Harry and Nikola coming along. It had been decided that not only would the undercover Royal Guards no longer be undercover, but that a few more guards would be left behind to watch over Nikola. Nikola thought the additional wixen power was unnecessary, but there was no arguing with his mother.
The two groups reached the gates just as Alastair Moody came walking through, his limping steps slower than usual, his shoulders slumped, and he walked with his face pointed to the ground. Hardly the picture of "constant vigilance" he had portrayed to everyone.
"Moody!" Sirius greeted. Moody looked up, staring nearly unseeingly at the young lord before he shook himself, returning to earth from wherever his thoughts had taken him.
"Are you all right, Professor Moody?" Harry asked. Moody's magical eye spun as he turned his attention to Harry's earnest face. The old auror huffed good-naturedly and placed a hand on the top of Harry's head, flattening his wild hair.
"You look just like your da, lad," the man gruffed, giving Harry's head a little shake. "But you're much more like your mum."
Seeing that the man was troubled, and that a private moment would be better for all, the Bulgarian royals kissed Nikola good-bye before disappearing out the gates and the Royal Guards left behind ushered Nikola back towards the Durmstrang ship.
An owl chose that moment to come sweeping down onto Sirius shoulder, dropping a letter into his hands.
"Amelia wants to see me," Sirius said a moment later, after opening the missive. Professor Moody sighed. "You know what it's about don't you?"
"I do," Moody replied. "It'll be out in the papers in the next few days. I expect she'll want to tell you herself. Said you'd . . . well . . . you'd brought some discrepancies up to her about one of your prison mates." He glanced at Harry and Aria who did their very best not to look interested in the conversation.
"What's that got to do with . . ." Sirius' eyes widened. "No."
"Yes," Moody murmured.
"Fuck it. Remus, Kenneth, I hate to run but I've got to go."
"Say no more darling," Remus answered, letting Sirius kiss his cheek. Kenneth leaned in for his own kiss. "We'll see you when you get home."
Sirius took several steps outside the gates of Hogwarts, spun on his heel, and disappeared with a crack! Moody heaved another sigh and began the walk up the hill to Hogwarts.
"What was that about?" Aria asked.
"Not sure," Remus murmured, looking quite unsettled, but just as confused as the rest of them. "You two take care all right? Don't . . . don't go anywhere without someone else."
"We won't."
"Be good," Kenneth ordered, kissing Aria's head.
"I'm always good."
Remus and Kenneth stepped through the gates and the wrought iron gates of Hogwarts slammed close. The two waved over their shoulders as they walked into Hogsmeade.
"Why do I get the feeling that today's going to be one of the last normal days we get?" Harry asked.
"I didn't realize we had normal days here," Aria retorted, starting up the hill. "But you're right. Something's coming. It's like a storm's just waiting to break."
Three days later Neville plopped down at the Slytherin table, waving his potions essay in front of Aria's face.
"Could you look at my potions essay?" he asked. "It's probably awful and far too late for me to make any meaningful changes, but if you could just prepare me nicely for when I fail it, that would be great."
"Oh, don't be ridiculous," Aria muttered, snatching the essay from Neville, digging through her bag until she found her herbology essay. "Look at my herbology essay while I read yours."
"I think I'm going to fail the Transfiguration test today!" Millicent moaned as she and the other fourth year girls arrived. "I still can't get my hedgehog to transform into a tea kettle!"
"Failure, right there," Daphne agreed.
"McGonagall's gonna give you such a disappointed look," Pansy added with a sad shake of the head "And 'tsk'. Might as well give up the ghost."
Aria poured herself tea.
"I don't see much wrong with your essay, Neville," she said, "I mean . . . your spelling's atrocious . . ."
"I know! I try so hard, but I can never remember how to spell things."
"But you've got the theory solid enough that your arguments aren't too wild. I like how you focused on the yarrow root. Playing with your strengths."
"Hermione suggested it," Neville told her. "She said that if I take a potion and focus first on the plants being used in it, then work out from there, I'll come to better understanding of the potion. So far, it's worked. I know the properties of the plants, therefore, because I know those, I can work out how they interact with the other potion ingredients."
"It's too early to be thinking about school," Theo bemoaned as the Slytherin boys shuffled in. "How do you feel about the Transfiguration test today?"
Millicent cried into her tea.
"Milli, it's not even our OWL year," Daphne muttered. "Save the tears for next year."
Harry sat next to Neville, eyeing Aria's herbology essay before deciding he was more interested in the scrambled eggs.
The ever-familiar flutter of wings sounded through the Great Hall with the morning mail. Hedwig came swooping in with a letter from the Franksons, forwarded to Harry by Kenneth. Harry gave Hedwig bacon and she settled on her boy's shoulder for scratches and pets, using her beak to try and tame his hair.
"It's no use, Hedwig," Aria said. "You're just making his hair worse."
Hedwig ignored her.
Aria began sorting through her mail. Even though Snape had warned her that the article they published in Potions Quarterly would garner responses, she had not thought anyone would respond so quickly. There were at least five letters to her from unknown senders. At least . . . she hoped the letters were about the article in the potion's periodical and not some late comers to the "let's all hate Aria for being Muggleborn" party.
"Oh . . . my . . ." Daphne suddenly cried.
"Merlin," Draco cried at the same time. Both of them stared at the front pages of their copies of The Daily Prophet.
"What is it now?" Pansy asked.
"Does it have to do with Crouch or has Aria made it into the papers again?" Ginny teased.
Both Daphne and Draco hid the front page of their newspapers. Draco's face was rapidly paling, and Daphne looked straight at Neville which unnerved everyone, including the more sensitive Gryffindor boy.
"Have you gotten any letters from your grandmother recently, Longbottom?" Daphne asked.
"No," Neville answered, eyebrows furrowing. "Not since last week. I've actually got to write her back. Why?"
Every student in the Great Hall was suddenly distracted by loud coughing at the Head Table. Professor Snape's teacup fell from his hands as he coughed and coughed, the tea spilling over his own newspaper. McGonagall pounded his back and even Dumbledore appeared concerned. Snape shoved away from the Head Table, stumbling to his feet, his chair knocking over with a terrible bang that startled everyone. Still clutching his tea-stained newspaper, and still coughing up a lung, Snape all but ran out of the Great Hall, disappearing through the staff door just behind the Head Table.
For a moment no one moved or spoke, too spooked the usually composed professor's response to the front page of the newspaper.
It was McGonagall who broke the silence. Her chair scraped noisily against the dais as she hurried after the Head of Slytherin. At once the Great Hall erupted into excited whispers. Students began passing around their copies of The Daily Prophet. Horrified gasps could be heard throughout the hall.
"All right," Aria cried, reaching for Draco's copy. "What's the newspaper say?"
"And what does it have to do with my grandmother?" Neville demanded.
With a triumphant cry, Aria snatched the paper from Draco and hurried to spread it out between herself and Neville. Almost immediately, she wished she could ball it back up. Neville's face drained of color as quickly as Draco's had. Harry grasped Neville's shoulder as he too read the front page.
WIZARD HELD CAPTIVE AT CROUCH RESIDENCE IDENTIFIED AS BARTEMIUS CROUCH JUNIOR; TORTURER OF LORD AND LADY LONGBOTTOM!
By Orpheus MacDougal
Three days ago Bartemius Crouch Sr., former Head of the Department of International Cooperation and former Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, was arrested at his home in Symonds Yat, Herefordshire, after aurors were called to his home for keeping a young wizard captive in one of the upstairs bedrooms.
Today, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement has issued a statement identifying the man Crouch held captive as Bartemius Crouch Junior, Crouch Sr.'s only child and son.
This statement has caused confusion amongst many people in the auror corps and the ministry itself, as Crouch Jr., (known as Barty when growing up) died in Azkaban two years into serving a life sentence and was buried in the North Sea as is customary for all Azkaban inmates [see Picture 1.A of Bartemius Crouch Jr.'s Death Certificate].
In the statement just released by the DMLE, it has been revealed that Crouch Sr., took his already ailing wife Merida Crouch, née Moody, to visit their son in Azkaban several times. During their last visit, Crouch Sr., used Polyjuice Potion to swap his son and wife, taking Crouch Jr., out of Azkaban while leaving his wife to perish within Azkaban. This means, according to the facts uncovered by the DMLE, that the person buried at Azkaban was not Bartemius Crouch Jr., but his mother, Merida.
Furthermore, the statement goes, Crouch Sr., kept his son a prisoner in his own home, using several means to keep him captive. According to the DMLE there was extensive use of the Imperius Curse as well as physical restraints. The DMLE also uncovered extensive use of Polyjuice Potion on Crouch Jr., as well as a stash of Merida Crouch's hair at the Crouch residence. It is believed that Crouch Sr. forced his son to consume Polyjuice Potion so that Crouch Jr. would look like his mother. It was during these times that the DMLE believe that Crouch Sr. forced his son to perform sexual acts for him.
Bartemius Crouch Sr. is being charged with Assisting and Instigating Escape from Azkaban, multiple uses of the Unforgiveable Imperious Curse, False Imprisonment, Second Degree Assault (for forcing someone to consume Polyjuice Potion), and multiple accounts of rape and physical and sexual assault.
Bartemius Crouch Jr. is currently being held in the secure Criminal Ward of St. Mungo's undergoing treatment for extended Imperious Exposure, extended Polyjuice Use, as well as physical injuries brought about from beatings and forced imprisonment.
When asked about how long it would be before Crouch Jr. was returned to Azkaban, Madam Bones said, "It will be quite some time. After the debacle with Lord Black, I took it upon myself to begin evaluating the court records of every Death Eater trial during the tenure of Bartemius Crouch Sr. In the dozens of cases the department has reviewed so far, the only two cases with any discrepancies are Lord Black's (which was sorted out last year) and Bartemius Crouch Jr.'s. It appears that while he had a sentencing in front of the whole Wizengamot alongside the Lestranges, Crouch Jr. did not receive an actual trial. Therefore, in order to ensure justice for the crimes against the Longbottoms, and to ensure justice for the crimes against Crouch Jr., he will remain in DMLE custody at St. Mungo's until he is well enough to be moved into Ministry holding cells."
For more regarding the crimes of Bartemius Crouch Junior, turn to page 3.
"Torturer of the Longbottoms? Crimes against the Longbottoms?" Ginny repeated, having read over Aria's shoulder. The girls glanced up at Neville. Around them, other students were shooting looks at Neville.
"Neville?" Harry murmured, bumping Neville's shoulder.
Neville ripped the newspaper into shreds, his violent outburst causing several younger Slytherins to shriek in alarm.
"Neville!" Harry cried, wrestling what was left of Draco's newspaper out of Neville's hands.
"She should have told me!" Neville hissed; teeth clenched so tightly Aria could hear his teeth grinding. "There's . . . there's no way Madam Bones would just . . . just announce this without warning Grandmother. She should've told me!"
He surged to his feet, abandoning his breakfast and schoolwork and the mess of newspaper strips, fleeing the Great Hall. More whispers broke out amongst the students. Ron, Dean, and Seamus were instantly up from the Gryffindor table and running after Harry and Neville.
"Wh-what's going on?" Aria asked. Neville never lost his composure like that. He was shy. Kind. Nervous. Timid. Loyal. He loved fiercely and was someone Aria would want with her in a fight even if his spellwork was wonky. But angry? Mad? She had only ever seen him annoyed, and it was last summer when they were in Fortescue's and Dowager Lady Longbottom had come to collect him. Neville was so even tempered.
Daphne pulled out page 3 and handed it over to Aria. Ginny leaned against Aria as they shared the page with the article headline reading:
OVER 13 YEARS SINCE LONGBOTTOMS TORTURED INTO INSANITY!
It marked 13 years this past November since Lord Frank Longbottom and his wife, Lady Alice Longbottom, née Fortescue, were tortured into insanity by prolonged exposure under the Unforgiveable Cruciatus Curse.
In the aftermath of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's defeat by Harry Potter on October 31, 1981, many Death Eaters were rounded up by the ministry. On November 7, 1981, four Death Eaters gained access to Luddenden Hall (also known as Longbottom Manor) and tortured Lord and Lady Longbottom and their son, Neville, for information regarding You-Know-Who. Bellatrix Lestrange and her husband, Rodolphus Lestrange were arrested as was Rodolphus' brother Rabastan Lestrange and Bartemius Crouch Jr.
Aria didn't finish reading the article, too distracted by the two photos the newspaper had put in with the article. It was clear the photos had been taken on the same day and were official portraits of some kind. One had a baby Neville held between his parents. All of them were dressed in ceremonial robes and were smiling at the camera, though Neville may have been giggling too while he waved his pudgy fists. The second photo had Neville in the same ceremonial robes, but in the arms of another man, younger than Lord and Lady Longbottom, and in his own ceremonial robes. The caption underneath the second photo identified the man as Bartemius Crouch Jr., newly appointed godfather to Neville Longbottom.
"Poor Neville," Ginny whispered. "We thought Harry had it bad last year."
"Well, that explains why Professor Moody was called away," Blaise said. "Seeing as Mrs. Crouch was originally a Moody."
"Poor Professor Moody," Aria said, thinking back to how the man looked three days ago when he came back to Hogwarts. No wonder he had looked so burdened!
Dumbledore called for everyone's attention.
"I understand there had been great excitement this morning," he said, unusually solemn. "But I ask that you offer your classmate and professors privacy at this time. Defense classes will be held at their normal time today. Morning potions classes should attend to their class as normal. Should that change, you will be informed. Now, I believe you have all lost track of time!"
Panicked gasps filled the Great Hall. Students grabbed their school bags and shoveled last pieces of toast into their mouths to eat on the way to class.
"Do you think Professor Snape knew Crouch Jr.?" Theo asked as the fourth years gathered their things. Aria took care to pack Neville and Harry's things neatly.
"With a reaction like that," Tracey said, "how could he not?"
"Frank! Frank!"
Aria watched as a tiny Ravenclaw first year ran by her, ruffling her school robes. At the doors to the Great Hall, he leaped into the arms of an older Gryffindor, fourth year perhaps, but not a fourth year Aria recognized. There were no Franks in their year at all.
"Oof! Goodness, Barty, give a guy some warning before you jump into his arms," the older boy cried with a laugh, ruffling the younger boy's hair. "How's Ravenclaw treating you?"
"It's great!" Barty cried. "The door's password is a riddle, and the common room is round and two stories and there's so many books and the ceilings blue with stars and planets and—,"
"Sounds great, bud."
Barty shuffled nervously.
"You're not mad, are you?" he asked. "That I'm not in Gryffindor?"
"I'm not mad," Frank assured him. "You're where you're supposed to be. Hey! Did you meet Pandora yet? She's my year and she's Ravenclaw. I'll introduce you, come on!"
Draco shook Aria's shoulder.
"You all right?" he demanded.
"Y-yeah . . ." Aria muttered, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. It was like when she had seen Professor McGonagall kissing Tom Riddle. A glimpse of some kind into the past, a shadow of something that had actually happened here at Hogwarts. But why was she seeing it? What did it mean?