𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐭𝐡 | 𝓱.𝓹. 𝓼𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻

𝙭𝙭𝙞𝙭.

𝚡𝚡𝚒𝚡. 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚞𝚎

❛ ━━━━━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━━━━━ ❜

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

·✲

BELLA'S LIFE IN THE CHEST with Moody was something she was slowly becoming accustomed to. She wasn't sure how long she'd been down there, but they'd developed a sort of routine, where she would ask Moody questions and he would pretend to be annoyed but really be pleased to have someone to talk to.

"How are you so sure Crouch has Pomfrey Imperio'd?" she asked him at one point, the thought of how Crouch Junior was explaining away her absence having been eating away at her for a while.

"I was under the Imperius before you were thrown down here. Crouch is a powerful wizard, but he's been in Azkaban for years, lost some of his skill. He can't control two people with the Imperius anymore, so there has to be someone up there he's controlling."

Bella raised her eyebrows. "You were Imperio'd for eight months?"

"Not so luxurious, is it?" came his grim reply.

"How do you know him well enough to know that it'd be Pomfrey? He could've just as easily Imperio'd McGonagall or something, couldn't he? I know you said the way he escaped Azkaban had to do with illness, but... well, it's not really the same, is it?"

Moody was silent for a moment, pensive. "Any Auror worth their salt can put themselves in the shoes of the darkest wizards, Potter, especially ones that they've been studying or have had run-ins with in the past. We might not like calling the likes of Voldemort and Crouch smart, but it's the truth of it. Understanding and accepting that fact opens more opportunity to predict their next move."

"You should really come back and teach next year," Bella hummed thoughtfully, already prepared for the answer.

"Over my dead body," he immediately growled, "which you're quite close to being, mind you."

Bella rolled her eyes, ignoring him, and after a moment she said, "it seems like I've been down here a long time. Do you think Dumbledore's caught on yet? Do you think we'll actually be saved?"

Moody sighed. "Crouch Junior can't keep us down here forever, so we'll be getting out one way or another, that much is inevitable. Albus Dumbledore has bestowed a great amount of trust in me, and he isn't one to take trust lightly. He's a brilliant man, Dumbledore, but even he can be idealistic – Gryffindor, you know."

"You've said a thing or two about that," Bella grinned, rolling her eyes teasingly even though he couldn't see her.

"He's a skilled legilimens, but it seems to be a matter of principle that he doesn't use it on those he trusts – Merlin knows why he dedicated so much time to developing the skill if he won't even take advantage of it. It's likely that, at this point, he suspects someone has infiltrated, probably has suspected it since Harry's name was entered in the tournament, but he doesn't suspect Crouch, because he has no reason to believe he isn't me."