I wiped my face of the tears. I pushed my dark blue hair back. I then took Draco's jacket off and put it on his chest. I left my hand there as I thought...
"Uh, Morana?" Draco asked. "What're you doing?"
"Thinking..." I answered. I let go of Draco's jacket as I looked at his sister. "Shouldn't they be here?"
"Yes," Aura nodded, her voice cracking. "Yes, they should..."
"They should..." I looked at the maze. The only ones that had returned were Fleur and Viktor. No Harry and Cedric. I stood up, pointing towards the maze. "They should be here!" I half-yelled, though nobody important heard me.
"F**k it!" Tess said as she stood up. "Dumbledore has to kn-"
Before Tess could even finish her sentence Harry and Cedric appeared in front of the maze.
"Looks like he will," Xenia said.
People were talking about what had happened. Others were going towards Harry and Cedric. Others screamed.
"Di... Is Cedric dead?" Draco asked as him and Pansy stood up.
"Yeah," I said, my voice cracking. "Yeah, he is. He...was there when he shouldn'd have been..."
Draco looked at me. "He was where?"
I looked back at Draco. "He was with the Dark Lord. When he came back."
Draco's jaw dropped slightly. "He...he's back? The Dark Lord...he's back?"
"Yes. Your dad was there. And so was my mom... So if you don'd believe me ask your father."
I looked forward at Pansy, who was busy staring at Cedric as she walked forward. Her hands were over her mouth.
Draco's hand touched my shoulder. I turned and looked at him. "Hey, I'll always believe you." I smiled at him, and he smiled at me too.
"Harry! Harry!" Dumbledore said.
I couldn't hear what else was going on for a while. Aura, Tess, Xenia, Crabbe, and Goyle were all standing at this point. Draco was hugging me from behind (but nothing else from behind...yet ;) ). [Okay Aura's now mad at me for that last part. Worth it, though. ;P ]
"What's going on? What's happened?" I heard Cornelius Fudge ask.
After a few seconds people started shouting...
"He's dead!"
"He's dead!"
"Cedric Diggory! Dead!"
I stiffened underneath of Draco. Watching somebody die, even if it's indirectly...it can affect a person.
"You okay?" Draco whispered into my ear.
I shook my head. "Tess..." I whispered back. "She had a vision...saw everything with the Dark Lord...showed it to us... I watched Cedric die..."
Draco kissed my neck. "It'll be okay, Rana."
After a little bit the crowd kept bringing the subject up.
"What's happened?"
"What's wrong with him?"
"Diggory's dead!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THE TRUTH ABOUT MOODY~~~~~~
Those words echoed through my head.
Cedric Diggory...
Cedric Diggory is dead...
I still couldn't believe it...
They got the crowd to leave, eventually. Xenia made her way towards Maxwell and practically tackled him with a hug. She started crying into his chest.
"Hey hey hey!" Maxwell said. "What happened?"
"I-I watched him die!" Xenia sobbed. "Tess - visions -" Xenia cried into her boyfriend.
Maxwell hugged her back and started crying too. "He was a good friend of mine... I'll miss him..."
Tess didn't look for Duncan, but she didn't need to. Duncan found her.
"Hey! Tess! Are you okay?"
Tess just looked at Duncan and started crying again.
"Okay, come here." Duncan hugged Tess.
"I...I used to like him..." Tess's sobs became muffled into Duncan's chest. "But...either way...he was still..." She sniffled. "A great friend..."
Aura looked like she was going to cry too. I realized that although Xenia, Tess, and I had boyfriends to go to to cry...Aura didn't. No Luna. No Robert. Nobody.
So I volunteered.
"Aura?" I asked.
"Yeah?"
I opened my arms out to her. "Come here. You need a hug."
Aura hugged me and cried. I cried too.
"Th-thank you, Morana..."
I smiled. "No problem, Aura... I bet Tess and Mudblood would do the same."
Aura giggled at this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THE TRUTH ABOUT MOODY~~~~~~
There's more to it than we thought, Tess thought and shared with us. Come to the girls' bathroom nearest to Ravenclaw Tower. I'll explain there.
So that's where we all went.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THE TRUTH ABOUT MOODY~~~~~~
"There's a Death Eater at Hogwarts," Tess told us in the bathroom. "Vol-He made a point in saying that... So who could it be? Any ideas?"
"Snape," Aura said immediately. "He was a Death Eater. He seems like he'd do this."
"No no no," Xenia said. "I have a feeling it's not him...but someone new..."
I frowned. "Well the only new person is Professor Moody. An Auror."
"Not true," Xenia said. "Durmstang. Speciality is Dark Magic."
"That's right!" Aura agreed. "Could be Karkaroff!"
Tess gasped. "V-vision... Can't-t-t...make it...s-s-stop..."
And she also shared this one with us too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THE TRUTH ABOUT MOODY~~~~~~
"There's a Death Eater at Hogwarts!" Harry said. "There's a Death Eater here - they put my name in the Goblet of Fire, they made sure I got through to the end -" He tried to stand up. Professor Moody pushed him back down in his seat.
"I know who the Death Eater is," Moody said quietly.
"Karkaroff?" Harry asked wildly. "Where is he? Have you got him? Is he locked up?"
"Karkaroff?" Moody asked with an odd laugh. "Karkaroff fled tonight, when he felt the Dark Mark burn upon his arm. He betrayed too many faithful supporters of the Dark Lord to wish to meet them...but I doubt he will get far. The Dark Lord has ways of tracking his enemies."
"Karkaroff's gone? He ran away? But then - he didn't put my name in the goblet?"
"No," Moody answered slowly. "No, he didn't. It was I who did that."
What the actual f**k?!?!
"No you didn't," Harry argued. "You didn't do that...you can't have done..."
"I assure you I did." His magical eye fixed on the door. Moody drew out his wand and pointed it at Harry. "He forgave, then? The Death Eaters who went free? The ones who escaped Azkaban?"
"What?" Harry was looking at Moody's wand.
"I asked you," Moody said quietly, "whether he forgave the souls who never even went to look for him. Those treacherous cowards who wouldn't even brave Azkaban for him. The faithless, worthless bits of filth who were brave enough to cavort in masks at the Quidditch World Cup, but fled at the sight of the Dark Mark when I fired it into the sky."
"You fired... What are you talking about...?"
"I told you, Harry...I told you. If there's one thing I hate more than any other, it's a Death Eater who walked free. They turned their backs on my master when he needed them most. I expected him to punish them. I expected him to torture them. Tell me he hurt them, Harry..." His face lit up with an insane smile. "Tell me he told them that I, I alone remained faithful...prepared to risk everything to deliver to him the one thing he wanted above all...you."
"You didn't...it-it can't be you..."
"Who put your name in the Goblet of Fire, under the name of a different school? [So Xenia was right... Again.] I did. Who frightened off every person I thought might try to hurt you or prevent you from winning the tournament? I did. Who nudged Hagrid into showing you the dragons? I did. Who helped you see the only way you could beat the dragon? I did." His magical eye left the door and went to Harry. "It hasn't been easy, Harry, hiding you through these tasks without arousing suspicion. I have had to use every ounce of cunning I possess, so that my hand would not be detectable in your success. Dumbledore would have been very suspicious if you have managed everything too easily. As long as you got into the maze, preferably with a decent head start - then, I knew, I would have a chance of getting rid of the other champions and leaving your way clear. But I also had to contend with your stupidity. The second task...that was when I was most afraid you would fail. I was keeping watch on you, Potter. I knew you hadn't worked out the egg's clue, so I had to give you another hint-"
"You didn't," Harry said hoarsely. "Cedric gave me the clue-"
"Who told Cedric to open it underwater? I did. I just said that he should pass the information on to you. Decent people are so easy to manipulate, Potter. I was sure Cedric would want to repay you for telling him about the dragons, and so he did. But even then, Potter, even then you seemed likely to fail. I was watching all the time...all those hours in the library. Didn't you realize that the book you needed was in your dormitory all along? I planted it there early on, I gave it to the Longbottom boy, don't you remember? Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean. It would have told you all you needed to know about gillyweed. I expected you to ask everyone and anyone you could for help. Longbottom would have told you in an instant. But you did not...you did not... You have a streak of pride and independence that might have ruined all. So what could I do? Feed you information from another innocent source. You told me at the Yule Ball a house-elf called Dobby had given you a Christmas present."
"What?" Aura shrieked. "Dobby - he's here?!"
"Sh!" I said abruptly.
"I called the elf to the staff room to collect some robes for cleaning," Moody continued. "I staged a loud conversation with Professor McGonagall about the hostages who had been taken, and whether Potter would think to use gillyweed. And your little elf friend ran straight to Snape's office and then hurried to find you... You were so long in that lake, Potter, I thought you had drowned. But luckily, Dumbledore took your idiocy for nobility, and masked you high for it. I breathed again. You had an easier time of it than you should have in that maze tonight, of course. I was patrolling around it, able to see through the outer hedges, able to curse many obstacles out of your way. I stubbed Fleur Delacour as she passed. I put the Imperius Curse on Krum, so that he would finish Diggory and leave your path to the cup clear."
Harry stared at Moody.
Moody then whispered, "The Dark Lord didn't manage to kill you, Potter, and he so wanted to. Imagine how he will reward me when he finds what I have done it for him. I gave you to him - the thing he needed above all to regenerate - and then I killed you for him. I will be honored beyond all other Death Eaters. I will be his dearest, his closest supporter...closer than a son... The Dark Lord and I have much in common. Both of us, for instance, had very disappointing fathers...very disappointing indeed. Both of us suffered the indignity, Harry, of being named after those fathers. And both of us had the pleasure...the very great pleasure...of killing our fathers to ensure the continued rise of the Dark Order!"
"You're mad - you're mad!"
"Mad, am I?" Moody asked, his voice rising uncontrollably. "We'll see! We'll see who's mad, now that the Dark Lord has returned, with me at his side! He is back, Harry Potter, you did not conquer him - and now - I conquer you!" He raised his wand and opened his mouth.
"Stupefy!" came a voice and Moody was stupefied. That voice was Dumbledore. Him along with McGonagall and Snape were in Moody's office with Harry.
The vision fast-forwarded. At the time it was weird, but now I can compare it to how you Muggles fast forward your movies.
Snape then spoke in the doorway, "Crouch! Barty Crouch!"
Sure enough, Moody had turned into Barty Crouch Jr.
The vision ended.
"Soo..." I began. "Professor Moody was actually Barty Crouch Jr. this whole time?"
"With the help of some Polyjuice Potion, yes," Xenia said.
I was silent. "Well okay then! I think I need do go do bed now! On behalf of my sanity, I'm gonna go do bed!"