The very next day, after making a near miraculous recovery, Madam Pomfrey allowed me to leave the Hospital Wing. I had a secret visitor, Draco, while I was there that night. He scolded me, of course, for almost dying on him and he was helpless to do anything. I told him, as long as I'm Olivia Potter, I'll always be in danger. So, there will likely be plenty of time for him to help me out in the future.
Harry, picked me up and walked with me down to Hagrid's. We were meeting him, along with Ron and Hermione for a recovery party and a second task victory celebration, seeing as Cedric, Harry and I, were now tied for first place. I'd been cooped up for so long, or so it seemed, that I wanted to do anything but sit inside.
"Hey, Liv?" Harry asked curiously as we walked down the steps to Hagrid's.
"Hm?" I responded as my throat was still rather sore.
"I was just curious, but do you remember anything from when you were... out?" Harry asked, gulping while trying not to say near dead.
"Mmm. I don't think so... I mean, maybe something, why?" I asked curiously.
"It's just went you were... out... And Ron was giving you CPR. As soon as Ron got you breathing again. You, sort of, said something. Well, mumbled it. And I just didn't know if you knew or remembered." Harry shrugged.
"What did I say?" I grumbled quietly.
"You... sort of whimpered." Harry thought of how to explain it. "Ron. You whimpered his name the second he left you. As soon as you did, he moved right back and held your hand, calming you. You should have seen the smile that was on his face, Liv. I mean, we were all scared, but heck, I'd probably bet he was worse off then me. And I'm your brother, who was terrified. Dunno what I would have done if I lost you."
"Well, I'm here now and I don't plan on dying anytime soon. So, he, uh, heard me whimper his name? That's so embarrassing." I sighed.
"Eh, don't worry about it to much. I think he was just glad you wanted him over Krum." Harry chuckled and I shook my head.
We made it to Hagrid's and after I gave him a great, big hug, for scaring the devil out of him. Later through the night, we made our way through the woods. The sun was starting to set, the forest was dark, and a light fog set in.
"Now, I remember, I remember when I first met you all. Biggest bunch of misfit's I ever set eyes on. Suppose ya, remind me of meself a little. And here we all are, four years later." Hagrid said happily.
"We're still a bunch of misfits." Ron chuckled.
"Well, maybe, but we've all got each other. Harry and Olivia, of course." Hagrid let out a big grin, as Harry and I walked a bit away from them. "Soon to be the youngest Triwizard Champions there's ever been! Hooray!" Hagrid yelled into the night air and laughed.
They began to sing the Hogwarts school song, and Harry and I walked along silently. Our scars began to burn and I grabbed Harry's hand to steady myself. He stopped with me, but I tugged on his hand and pointed out a bowler hat on the ground. We both groaned slightly, walked forward and around a tree before we saw feet. We moved closer to reveal the still body of Mr. Crouch.
"Mr. Crouch?" Harry called out.
"Hagrid!" I yelled out for him.
Hagrid came stomping over, with our friends right by his side. Hagrid hurried us back to the castle and later on Harry and I were summoned to Professor Dumbledore's office, since we'd discovered the body. Harry and I walked to Dumbledore's tower, a place we were most used to being by now. Going up the Griffin Statue, and walking towards the office door. Harry held back my sleeve for a moment as we heard voices.
"A man has died here, Fudge. And he won't be the last." Dumbledore insisted adamantly. "You must take action!"
"I will not!" Fudge shot back stubbornly. "In times like these, the wizard world look's to it's leaders for strength, Dumbledore!"
"Then for once show some!" Dumbledore demanded.
Harry and I crept closer to the door listening in to the conversation, waiting for the right time to interrupt and knock.
"The Triwizard tournament will not be cancelled. I will not be seen as a coward!"
"A true leader does what is right, no matter what others think." Dumbledore indicated.
"What did you say?" Fudge said angrily. "What did you say to me?"
Harry and I both put our hands up to knock, but there was another voice that echoed through the room.
"Excuse me, gentlemen. It may interest you to know this conversation is no longer private." Professor Moody informed them. The door to Dumbledore's office swung open, revealing Harry and I, standing there, ready to knock.
"Oh, Harry, Olivia." Fudge greeted us happily. "How good to see you both again."
"We can come back later, Professor." I offered quickly.
"Oh, not necessary, Olivia. The Minister and I are done. I'll be back in a moment." Dumbledore explained, moving towards the door way. "Minister? After you. There you are, your hat. Oh, Olivia, Harry do feel free to indulge in a little Licorice Snap in my absence. But I have to warn you, they're a wee bit sharp." He winked at us after grabbing one and leaving the room after the Minister of Magic.
The door closed as they all left, leaving Harry and I alone in the office. Harry went right for the sweets and I went for Fawkes, greeting him. I turned to see Harry had grabbed a handful of the candies.
"Harry, be careful, he wasn't kidding those are supposed to be..." I stopped speaking as he gasped.
They came alive, like little leaches and began biting Harry, jumping from his hand. Harry quickly moved away from the bowl and I went after him. I grabbed some and tossed them to the floor and started stomping on them with my feet. Harry flung them off himself and began helping. We aimed for each one to make sure there wasn't any straggler's left. A suddenly clanking caught out attention and we turned. The cabinet Harry had bumped into opened slowly.
The inside had a faint blue glow, a mirror behind a stand, that had a bowl filled with water. I gasped slightly and walked over closer to examine the device.
"What is it?" Harry asked softly.
"I-I think it's a Pensieve. I've never seen a real one, only read about them. Very interesting devices, useful for looking back. It looks like Dumbledore had a memory in here..." I explained.
Harry and I moved even closer. I bent down close admiring the handiwork and Harry waved his wand over the water. The silvery memory that was inside began to glow and before we could move, it felt as though we were sucked in. Harry and I screamed as it felt like we were falling. We each landed in a chair beside each other and I looked around. We were in the Ministry of Magic, a court room to be precise. We were both beside Dumbledore and the room was filled with light chatter. The center of the room had a large metal cage, with spikes on the inside, surrounded by books and files.
"Professor?" Harry asked Dumbledore.
"Harry, it's a memory, he can't hear you." I explained.
I gasped as someone came over and greeted Dumbledore, sticking their hand straight through Harry and I's chest's. I shivered understanding how ghosts feel. The cage in the center of the room began to rise with someone coming up inside it. In stripped Azkaban prisoner clothing, stood none other than Igor Karkaroff.
"Igor Karkaroff," Mr. Crouch said. The entire room, including Harry and I turned to see him address the prisoner. "You have been brought from Azkaban at your own request to present evidence to this council. Should your testimony prove consequential, council may be prepared to order your immediate release. Until such a time, you remain in the eyes of the Ministry a convicted Death Eater. Do you accept these terms?"
"I do, sir." Karkaroff said.
"And what do you wish to present?"
"I-I have names, sir. Uh, there was a, uh, Rosier. Evan Rosier." Karkaroff ratted out.
A few people beside Mr. Crouch who was the acting judge, looked through paperwork and passed it up to him.
"Rosier is dead." Mr. Crouch informed him.
"Dead?"
"Yeah, took a piece of me with him, though, didn't he?" Professor Moody chuckled in a whisper to Dumbledore.
"I didn't know." Igor said sadly.
"If that is all the witness has to offer..."
"No, no, no! There was Rockwood! He was a spy!" Karkaroff spat out quickly.
"Augustus Rockwood? Of the Department of Ministries?" Crouch asked surprised.
"Yeah, yeah, the same." Karkaroff nodded. "He passed information to You-Know-Who from inside the Ministry itself."
"Very well." Crouch agreed. "Council will deliberate. In the meantime, you will be returned to Azkaban."
"No!" He yelled desperately. "Wait! Wait, please! Please, I have more! What about Snape? Severus Snape?"
Harry and I both looked at each other shocked, in a way it wasn't so surprising, and yet, he was a close confident of Dumbledore and a school teacher. Dumbledore leaned forward in his seat.
"As the council is very much aware of given evidence on this matter." Dumbledore explained. "Severus Snape was indeed a Death Eater and, prior to Lord Voldemort's downfall, turned spy for us at great personal risk."
Harry and I couldn't believe what we'd just heard.
"That's a lie!" Karkaroff cried out.
"Today he is no more a convicted Death Eater than I am." Dumbledore's voice rose over his cries of desperation.
"Severus Snape remains faithful to the Dark Lord!"
"Silence!" Barty knocked on the podium with his judges hammer. "Unless the witness possesses any genuine name of consequence, this session is now concluded!"
"Oh no, no, no, no, no. I've heard about one more." He said breathlessly.
"What's that?"
"The name."
"Yes?"
"I know for a fact, this person took part in the capture and by means of the Cruciatus Curse, torture of the Auror Frank Longbottom and his wife!" Karkaroff shouted as the room waited in anticipation, Harry and I were nearly on the edge of our seats.
"The name! Give me the wretched name!" Crouch shouted angrily annoyed.
A man that I gasped and pulled Harry desperately to look at was standing to escape the room. He gasped too as it was the same man in our dreams.
"Barty Crouch!" He shouted and the room gasped, looking at judge Barty Crouch. "Junior." Karkaroff finished dramatically.
Crouch Junior glared at Igor and tried to make a run from the room. Professor Moody, took out his wand and blasted him, making him fall to the floor on all the paperwork and files that laid around the cell. The entire room was in an uproar and Barty Crouch Sr. sat in disbelief as the auroras in the room came forward to grab him.
"Hold him down!" One of the auror's called out.
Barty junior kept trying to lunge angrily at the cage that held Karkaroff. It was clear he didn't like being ratted out.
"Get your filthy hands off me, you pathetic little men!" Barty screamed in anger.
He was brought forward to the judges podium. His tongue continuously poked out like a snakes would and retracted. I swear I'd seen that happen before...
"Hello, Father." Barty growled.
"You are no son of mine." Mr. Crouch spoke while still in shock. Barty screamed in anger and was dragged away.
Harry and I were lifted from the memory, falling backwards onto the floor of Dumbledore's office. We both quickly looked around realizing we were out, and Dumbledore himself was back, standing next to the pensieve.
"Curiosity is not a sin, Harry an Olivia. But you should exercise caution." Dumbledore said softly. "It's a Pensieve. Very useful, if like me, you find your mind a wee bit stretched. It allows me to see once more things I've already seen. I'm sure you are well aware of that, Olivia." He said and I nodded. "You see, I have searched and searched for something. Some small detail. Something I might have overlooked. Something that would explain why these terrible things have happened. Every time I get close to an answer, it slips away. It's maddening."
Dumbledore took a seat on the small steps leading up to his desk. Harry and I looked at each other and knew now was finally the time to let Dumbledore in our nightmare. This man, Mr. Crouch's son, couldn't be a coincidence.
"Sir," Harry started. "Mr. Crouch's son. What exactly happened to him?"
"He was sent to Azkaban. Destroyed Barty to do it. But he no choice. The evidence was overwhelming. Why do you ask?" Dumbledore gave us both a curious look.
"Because Harry and I, both, have been having dreams about him. It was in the summer, before school. In our dream, which is the exact same by the way, we were in a house. And Voldemort was there, only he wasn't quite human... And Wormtail was there too, along with Mr. Crouch's son. We had no idea who he was up until now, seeing that memory." I explained carefully.
Dumbledore was quick to get up from his seat on the floor and approach us both.
"Have there been others like this dream?" He pried gently.
"Yes." Harry nodded. "It's always the same one. Sir, these dreams, what Liv and I see... You don't think it's actually happening do you?" He asked worriedly.
"I think it is unwise for either of you to linger over these dreams, Harry. I think it's best if you simply just... cast them away."
Dumbledore took out his wand and put it up to his temple as he spoke, making long, silvery strands of memory come out. With one flick of his wand the memory was cast into the pensieve. Harry and I both took our leave as it was late into the night and walked back towards the Gryffindor Common Room. We were shortly to pass Snape's Potion's store's, when we heard voices.
"It's a sign, Severus. You know what it means, as well as I." Karkaroff's voice sounded angry.
The potion's closet door swung open to reveal he, and Snape inside. Karkaroff was standing there with his sleeve up, showing his dark mark tattoo. Harry and I didn't mean to stop and stare, but we did and we were caught. Karkaroff stared angrily at the both of us, quickly pulling down his sleeve. His menacing glare didn't stop as he left the room until he was out of sight. We put our heads down and began to walk again towards the common room, but it wasn't enough.
"Potter's!" Snape hissed, coming from the closet. "What's your hurry?" Reluctantly, we turned around and stood in front of Professor Snape. "Congratulation's. Your performances in the Black Lake was inspiring. Glad to see you've made it out of the hospital wing, Miss Potter. You have no excuses for not keeping up on your homework. Now, Gillyweed, am I correct?"
"Yes, sir." Harry and I replied in unison.
"Ingenious." Snape walked back into the Potion's store room and began to speak once more while clearly looking for something. "A rather rare herb, Gillyweed. Not something found in your everyday garden. Nor is this." He stepped down the ladder with a small black bottle in hand. "Know what it is?"
"Yes, sir. Draco and I just made you that bottle. It's Veritaserum." I told him firmly.
"The you should know, three drops of this and You-Know-Who himself would spill his darkest secrets. The use of it on students is... regrettably forbidden. However, should you ever steal from my personal stores again, my hand might just slip... over your morning Pumpkin Juice's." Snape threatened in his monotone voice.
"Olivia, nor I have stolen anything." Harry shot back with a deep scowl.
"Don't lie to me." Snape pronounced slowly. "Gillyweed may be innocuous, but boomslang skin, lacewing flies? You two and your little friends are brewing Polyjuice Potion. And believe me, I'm going to find out why!" Snape exclaimed and slammed the potions door in our faces.
"Polyjuice Potion..." I hmm'd thoughtfully to myself as we walked along. "Harry, we really need to be more careful. What... What if, Barty Junior has somehow gotten into the school, disguised as someone else. I'd guarantee you anything, that if it's him, he was the one who put our names into the Goblet. The dream, all the bad happening to us this year. It's all connected it's got to be." I sighed. Harry rubbed my arm.
"I agree with you, Liv. We will figure it out, we always do."