Brighter Than the Sun

Chapter Eighty-Five

"I'll take Harry, Dumbledore, I'll take him —"

"No, I would prefer—"

"Dumbledore, Amos Diggory's running... he's coming over... Don't you think you should tell him — before he sees — ?"

"This is a disaster," I heard Sofia tell Brion helplessly.

"Harry, stay here —"

Girls were screaming, sobbing hysterically... Moody appeared in the crowd; a flicker of fear rippled through me. This was Voldemort's inside man, I knew this for sure. Moody muttered something in Harry's ear and started leading him away.

"Wait..." I muttered. Should I follow them? I didn't want Harry going off on his own, not with Moody, not when Dumbledore had told him to stay.

"Ash," I heard Luke appear behind me. "Ash, are you okay?"

"He took Harry," I said.

"What?"

"He's a Death Eater, he took Harry!"

"Who?"

"Moody!" I exclaimed. "Where's Dumbledore when you need him?"

"Aisling," Dumbledore emerged from the crowd. "Where is Harry? I asked him to stay here."

"Moody took him!"

"Moody —"

"He's not really Moody, though, he's Crouch, he's a Death Eater, he put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire!"

Dumbledore's expression seemed to dissolve into one of cold rage that made me understand why people were scared of him. "Where did they go?"

"They went to the castle —"

"Lead the way, then — no, not you, Mr. Castellan. Stay here. Minerva — Severus — come with me —"

We raced up to the castle towards Moody's office; Snape said Moody probably would've gone to the Hospital Wing, but McGonagall countered that if he was really a Death Eater, he would take Harry somewhere they wouldn't be seen by someone who could intervene. Therefore Moody's office it was.

When we arrived, Dumbledore raised his wand and shouted "Stupefy!" There was a blinding flash of red light, and with a great splintering and crashing, the door of Moody's office was blasted apart — Moody — no, Crouch — was thrown backward onto the office floor. Harry stared at the place where Moody had been.

Dumbledore stepped into the office, placed a foot underneath Moody/Crouch's unconscious body, and kicked him over onto his back, so that his face was visible. Snape followed him, looking into the Foe-Glass, where his own face was visible, along with Dumbledore and McGonagall's, glaring into the room.
I went straight to Harry. "Are you okay? What did he do? When he took you..."

"I'm okay, Ash."

"Come along, Potter," McGonagall whispered, heading over. The thin line of her mouth was twitching as though she was about to cry. "Come along... hospital wing ..."

"No," said Dumbledore sharply.

"Dumbledore, he ought to — look at him — he's been through enough tonight —"

"He will stay, Minerva, because he needs to understand," said Dumbledore curtly. "Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery. He needs to know who has put him through the ordeal he has suffered tonight, and why,"

"Moody," Harry said. He was still in a state of complete disbelief. "How can it have been Moody?"

"Harry, this isn't Moody," I told him.