Note: That's actually the title of this chap in the real book but I thought it was cool so I'm using it.
Enjoy!
Even if Merida was in an enchanted sleep, yelling voices will wake anyone up. Especially if they are accompanied by banging doors. When the hospital doors burst open, Merida jerked upright in her bed and very nearly yelled out. She swept her hair out of her face and climbed out of the bed, cracking the curtains just a bit to watch.
"Where's Dumbledore?" a voice demanded angrily. Merida turned to the left to see Cornelius Fudge through the thin sliver of space between the curtains. Professor McGonagall looked absolutely livid, and Fudge was furious. Snape, trying to conceal his anger, was with them.
"He's not here," said another voice. Merida couldn't see who it was, but she recognized the voice as Ron's mother's. "This is a hospital wing, Minister, don't you think you'd do better to --"
The door opened again. Merida swivelled to see Dumbledore striding inside.
"What has happened?" he said sharply, glancing between Fudge and McGonagall. "Why are you disturbing these people? Minerva, I'm surprised at you -- I asked you to stand guard over Barty Crouch --"
"There is no need to stand guard over him anymore, Dumbledore!" she shrieked. "The Minister has seen to that!" Merida had never seen her like this before. Her cheeks were flushed, and her hands were balled into fists. She was trembling with fury.
"When we told Mr. Fudge that we had caught the Death Eater responsible for tonight's events," said Snape in a low, dangerous voice, "he seemed to feel his personal safety was in question. He insisted on summoning a dementor to accompany him into the castle. He brought it up to the office where Barty Crouch --"
"I told him you would not agree, Dumbledore!" fumed McGonagall. "I told him you would never allow dementors to set foot inside the castle, but --"
"My dear woman!" yelled Fudge, "as Minister of Magic, it is my decision whether I wish to bring protection with me when interviewing a possibly dangerous --"
But McGonagall drowned out Fudge as she continued, "The moment that -- that thing entered the room, it swooped down on Crouch and -- and --"
Merida dropped the curtains with a gasp. The dementor -- it had turned Crouch into a living shell. He was worse than dead.
"By all accounts, he is no loss!" shouted Fudge. "He seems he had been responsible for several deaths!"
"But he cannot give testimony how, Cornelius," said Dumbledore. Merida had not drawn the curtains back again, but she knew he was staring hard at Fudge. "He cannot give evidence about why he killed those people."
"Why he killed them? Well, that's no mystery, is it?" blustered Fudge. "He was a raving lunatic! From what Minerva and Severus have told me, he seems to have thought he was doing it all on You-Know-Who's instructions!"
"Lord Voldemort was giving him instructions, Cornelius," said Dumbledore. "Those people's deaths were mere by-products of a plan to restore Voldemort to full strength again. The plan succeeded. Voldemort has been restored to his body."
For a moment, there was silence. Merida listened hard. "You-Know-Who... returned? Preposterous. Come now, Dumbledore..."
"As Minerva and Severus have doubtless told you," said Dumbledore, "we heard Barty Crouch confess. Under the influence of Veritaserum, he told us how he was smuggled out of Azkaban, and how Voldemort -- learning of his continued existence from Bertha Jorkins -- went to free him from his father and used him to capture Harry. The plan worked, I tell you. Crouch has helped Voldemort to return."
"See here, Dumbledore," said Fudge, "you -- you can't seriously believe that. You-Know-Who -- back? Come now, come now... certainly, Crouch may have believed himself to be acting upon You-Know-Who's orders -- but to take the word of a lunatic like that, Dumbledore..."
"When Harry touched the Triwizard Cup tonight, he was transported straight to Voldemort. He witnessed Lord Voldemort's rebirth. And he was not alone, either. I will explain it all to you if you will step up to my office."
There was a slight pause. Then Dumbledore continued, "I am afraid I cannot permit you to question Harry tonight."
The hint about Merida did not seem to reach Fudge, however, because when he spoke, he gave no sign that he had noticed. "You are -- er -- prepared to take Harry's word on this, are you, Dumbledore?"
There was a moment of silence, and Merida heard Sirius growling.
"Certainly, I believe Harry," said Dumbledore. "I heard Crouch's confession, and I heard Harry's and his friend's account of what happened after they touched the Triwizard Cup; the stories make sense, they explain everything that has happened since Bertha Jorkins disappeared last summer."
Again, it seemed Dumbledore's mentions of Merida seemed to fly right over Fudge. "You are prepared to believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, on the word of a lunatic murder, and a boy who... well..."
"You've been reading Rita Skeeter, Mr. Fudge," said Harry's voice quietly.
"And if I have?" demanded Fudge. "If I have discovered that you've been keeping certain facts about the boy very quiet? A Parselmouth, eh?" (A Parselmouth is a person who could talk to snakes, a skill famous with Lord Voldemort and Salazar Slytherin, the creator of Slytherin House.) "And having funny turns all over the place --"
"I assume that you are referring to the pains Harry has been experiencing with his scar?" said Dumbledore coolly.
"You admit that he is having these pains, then?" said Fudge quickly. "Headaches? Nightmares? Possibly -- hallucinations?"
Merida felt a stab of anger. She was there, too! Harry wasn't hallucinating! If Fudge would listen to Dumbledore, he would know this!
"Listen to me, Cornelius," said Dumbledore. "Harry is as sane as you or I, or our other witness. That scar upon his forehead has not addled his brains. I believe it hurts him when Lord Voldemort is close by, or feeling particularly murderous."
Merida was sure Fudge would acknowledge her this time. Dumbledore has said it straight out --
"You'll forgive me, Dumbledore, but I've never heard of a curse scar acting as an alarm bell before..."
"Look, I saw Voldemort come back!" yelled Harry. "I saw the Death Eaters! I can give you their names! Lucius Malfoy --"
As he spoke, Merida cracked open the curtains again. She made eye contact with Dumbledore, who shook his head the tiniest bit. She understood this to mean she was not to reveal herself, not yet. She closed the curtains again.
"Malfoy was cleared!" roared Fudge. "A very old family -- donations to excellent causes --"
"Macnair!"
"Also cleared! Now working for the Ministry!"
"Avery -- Nott -- Crabbe -- Goyle --"
"You are merely repeating the names of those who were acquitted of being Death Eaters thirteen years ago! You could have found those names in old reports of the trials! For heaven's sake, Dumbledore -- the boy was full of some crackpot story at the end of last year too --"
And again, Merida was stung by anger. She was there then, too!
"-- his tales are getting taller, and you're still swallowing them -- the boy can talk to snakes, Dumbledore, and you still think he's trustworthy?"
"You fool!" cried McGonagall. "Cedric Diggory! Mr. Crouch! These deaths were not the random work of a lunatic!"
"I see no evidence to the contrary!" shouted Fudge. "It seems to me that you are all determined to start a panic that will destabilize everything we have worked for these last thirteen years!"
"Voldemort has returned," said Dumbledore firmly. "If you accept that fact straightaway, Fudge, and take the necessary measures, we may still be able to save the situation. The first and most essential step is to remove Azkaban from the control of the dementors --"
"Preposterous! Remove the dementors? I'd be kicked out of office for suggesting it! Half of us only feel safe in our beds at night because we know the dementors are standing guard at Azkaban!"
"The rest of us sleep less soundly in our beds, Cornelius, knowing that you have put Lord Voldemort's most dangerous supporters in the care of creatures who will join him the instant he asks them! They will not remain youal to you, Fudge! Voldemort can offer them much more scope for their powers and their pleasures than you can! With the dementors behind him, and his old supporters returned to him, you will be hard-pressed to stop him regaining the sort of power he had thirteen years ago!
"The second step you must take -- and at once," continued Dumbledore, "is to send envoys to the giants."
"Envoys to the giants?" Fudge shrieked. "What madness is this?"
"Extend them the hand of friendship, now, before it is too late," said Dumbledore, "or Voldemort will persuade them, as he did before, that he alone among wizards will give them their rights and their freedoms!"
"You -- you cannot be serious! If the magical community got wind that I had approached the giants -- people hate them, Dumbledore -- end of my career --"
"You are blinded," roared Dumbledore, "by the love of the office you hold, Cornelius! You place too much importance, and you always have done, on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be! Your dementor has just destroyed the last remaining member of a pure-blood family as old as any -- and see what that man chose to make of his life! I tell you now -- take the steps I have suggested, and you will be remembered, in office or out, as one of the bravest and greatest Ministers of Magic we have ever known. Fail to act -- and history will remember you as the man who stepped aside and allowed Voldemort a second chance to destroy the world we have tried to rebuild!"
"Insane," whispered Fudge. "Mad..."
There was a pause. Merida collapsed onto her bed, shocked by Fudge's ignorance.
"If your determination to shut your eyes will carry you as far as this, Cornelius," said Dumbledore, "we have reached a parting of the ways. You must act as you see fit. And I -- I shall act as I see fit."
"Now see here, Dumbledore," bristled Fudge. "I've always given you free rein, always. I've had a lot of respect for you. I might not have agreed with some of your decisions, but I've kept quiet. There aren't many who'd have let you hire werewolves, or keep Hagrid, or decide what to teach your students without reference to the MInistry. But if you're going to work against me --"
"The only one against whom I intend to work is Lord Voldemort. If you are against him, then we remain, Cornelius, on the same side."
Another pause. Merida heard quiet squeaks as Fudge rolled back and forth on his feet. Finally he said pleadingly, "He can't be back, Dumbledore, he just can't be..."
Footsteps toward Fudge, then Snape spoke. "There. The Dark Mark. It is not as clear as it was an hour or so ago, when it burned black, but you can still see it. Every Death Eater had the sign burned into him by the Dark Lord. It was a means of distinguishing one another, and his means of summoning us to him. When he touched the Mark of any Death Eater, we were to Disapparate, and Apparate, instantly, at his side. This Mark has been growing clearer all year. Karkaroff's, too. Why do you think Karkaroff fled tonight? We both felt the Mark burn. We both knew he had returned. Karkaroff fears the Dark Lord's vengeance. He betrayed too many of his fellow Death Eaters to be sure of a welcome back into the fold."
"I don't know what you and your staff are playing at, Dumbledore," whispered Fudge, "but I have heard enough. I will be in touch with you tomorrow, Dumbledore, to discuss the running of this school. I must return to the Ministry."
A pause, then a clattering of money. "Your winnings," said Fudge, supposedly to Harry. "One thousand Galleons. There should have been a presentation ceremony, but under the circumstances..."
As soon as Merida was sure that Fudge was gone, she ripped open her curtains and stared at the closed doors furiously. She wanted to chase after him, and she had almost done so. Dumbledore turned to the group around Harry's bed. He gave instructions to the group, but since they did not pertain to her, Merida did not listen well. Bill, Ron's older brother, left, then McGonagall, then Madam Pomfrey. She was still so filled with senseless fury that, as Dumbledore forced Sirius and Snape to make a truce, she paced around her bed, not listening still. Sirius then left, followed by Snape. A few minutes later, Dumbledore left to find the Diggorys. Merida went to join the crowd around Harry.
Mrs. Weasley reached for Harry's sleeping potion. "Youve got to take the rest of your potion, Harry," she said. "You have a good long sleep. Try and think about something else for a while... think about what you're going to buy with your winnings!"
"I don't want that gold," said Harry in a hollow voice. "You have it. Anyone can have it. I shouldn't have won it. It should've been Cedric's."
"It wasn't your fault, Harry," whispered Mrs. Weasley.
"I told him to take the cup with me," he said.
"If only I'd realized it was a Portkey a bit sooner," moaned Merida, finally admitting what had been bothering her since she had watched Cedric crumple. She buried her face in her hands.
Mrs. Weasley set down the potion and wrapped her arms around them both. Merida was reminded strongly of her own mother, but she doubted that her mother could ever have timed that hug as right as Mrs. Weasley did. This was the moment when Merida needed it most. She returned the hug, screwing her eyes shut to fight the tears.
There was a slamming sound. They broke apart, and turned to find Hermione by the window holding something in her hand. "Sorry," she whispered.
"Your potion, Harry," said Mrs. Weasley quickly, handing him the goblet. Harry drank it and fell asleep almost instantly. Mrs. Weasley followed Merida back to her own bed, and Merida dropped onto the pillows thinking of her mother and how much she would have given to be home.
Poor Merida :(
If only I had some of that potion .. it would seriously help me fall asleep at night. Lol.
Bye!