FOURTEEN
VERITASERUM
SUDDENLY, ALBUS DUMBLEDORE ENTERED the office followed by Professor Snape, and Professor McGonagall. The fake Moody had been stun and unable to move, however, Valentina remained in place and made no intention to move.
"Valentina, if you may please step back," said Dumbledore, "I think you will find he isn't going anywhere."
"I can't," she said.
"Valentina, please," Dumbledore tried once again. "I understand your pain, but you need to step back so that we can get some answers."
A few moments passed. Valentina stayed in her place, debating her next move. Finally, she lowered her wand and stepped back.
Professor McGonagall was trying to haul Harry out of the room, Valentina too. Dumbledore stopped her.
No," he said sharply.
"Dumbledore, they ought to — look at both of them — they have been through enough tonight —"
"They will stay, Minerva, because they need to understand," said Dumbledore curtly. "Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery. Harry needs to know who has put him in the ordeal he has suffered tonight, and why. Valentina needs to know who is responsible for the murder of her loved one."
"Moody," Harry said. He was in a state of disbelief. "How can it have been Moody?"
"This isn't Alastor Moody," said Valentina quietly.
"You have never known Alastor Moody," said Dumbledore. He turned to Harry. "The real Moody would not have removed you from my sight after what happened tonight. The moment he took you, I knew — and I followed."
Dumbledore bent down over Moody's limp form and put a hand inside his robes. He pulled out Moody's hip flask and a set of keys on a ring. Then he turned to Professors McGonagall and Snape.
"Severus, please fetch me the strongest Truth Potion you possess, and then go down to the kitchens and bring up the house-elf Winky. Minerva, kindly go down to Hagrid's house, where you will find a large black dog sitting in the pumpkin patch. Take the dog up to my office, tell him I will be with him shortly, then come back here."
If either Snape or McGonagall found these instructions peculiar, they hid their confusion. Both turned at once and left the office. Dumbledore walked over to the trunk with seven locks, fitted the first key in the lock, and opened it. It contained a mass of spellbooks. Dumbledore closed the trunk, placed a second key in the second lock, and opened the trunk again. The spell books had vanished and quills, and what looked like a silvery Invisibility Cloak. Valentina continued to watch as Dumbledore continued to go through each of the locks, each revealing something different. Finally, he placed the seventh key in the lock and threw open the lid. Valentina heard Harry let out a cry of amazement. She too, was shocked.
She was looking down into a pit, an underground room, and lying on the floor some ten feet below, apparently fast asleep, thin and starved in appearance, was the real Mad-Eye Moody. His wooden leg was gone, the socket that should have held the magical eye looked empty beneath its lid, and chunks of his grizzled hair were missing.
Dumbledore climbed into the trunk, lowered himself, and fell lightly on the floor beside the sleeping Moody. He bent over him.
"Stunned — controlled by the Imperius Curse — very weak," he said. "Of course, they would have needed to keep him alive. Harry, throw down the imposter's cloak — he's freezing. Madame Pomfrey will need to see him, but he seems in immediate danger."
Harry did as he was told; Dumbledore covered Moody in the cloak, tucked it around him, and clambered out of the trunk again. Then he picked up the hip flask that stood upon the desk, unscrewed it, and turned it over. A thick glutinous liquid splattered onto the office floor.
"As Valentina has already figured out, Polyjuice Potion, Harry," said Dumbledore. "You see the simplicity of it, and the brilliance. For Moody never does drink except from his hip flask, he's well known for it. The imposter needed, of course, to keep the real Moody close by, so that he could continue making the potion. You see his hair..." Dumbledore looked down on the Moody in the trunk. "The imposter has been cutting it off all year, see where it is uneven? But I think, in the excitement of tonight, our fake Moody might have forgotten to take it as frequently as he should have done...on the hour...every hour.... We shall see."
Dumbledore pulled out the chair at the desk and sat down upon it, his eyes fixed upon the unconscious Moody on the floor. Harry stared at him too. Valentina grew impatient. Her tears had dried up and all she could think about was knowing the truth. Minutes passed in silence....
Then, before Valentina's eyes, the face of the man on the floor began to change. The scars were disappearing, the skin was becoming smooth; the mangled nose became whole and started to shrink. The long mane of grizzled gray hair was withdrawing into the scalp and turning the colour of straw. Suddenly, with a loud clunk, the wooden leg fell away as a normal leg regrew in its place; next moment, the magical eyeball had popped out of the man's face as a real eye replaced it; it rolled away across the floor and continued to swivel in every direction.
Valentina saw a man lying before her, pale skinned, slightly freckled, with a mop of fair hair. She knew who he was. He was arrested at the same time as her mother. Barty Crouch Jr.
There were hurried footsteps outside in the corridor. Snape had returned with a house elf, whom Valentina assumed was Winky, at his heels. Professor McGonagall was right behind him.
"Crouch!" Snape said, stopping dead in the doorway. "Barty Crouch!"
"Good heavens," said Professor McGonagall, stopping dead and staring down as the man on the floor.
The house elf's mouth went wide and she let our a piercing shriek.
"Master Barty, Master Barty, what is you doing here?"
She flung herself forward onto the young man's chest.
"You is killed him! You is killed him! You is killed Master's son!"
"He is simply Stunned, Winky," said Dumbledore. "Step aside, please. Severus, you have the potion?"
Snape handed Dumbledore a small glass bottle of completely clear liquid. Valentina recognised it as Veritaserum. Dumbledore got up, bent over the man on the floor, and pulled him into a sitting position against the wall beneath the Foe-Glass, in which the reflections of Dumbeldore, Snape, and McGonagall were still glaring down upon them al. Winky remained on her knees, trembling, her hands over her face. Dumbledore forced the man's mouth open and poured three drops inside it. Then he pointed his wand at the man's chest and said, "Rennervate."
Crouch's son opened his eyes. His face was slack, his gaze unfocused. Dumbledore knelt before him, so that their faces were level.
"Can you hear me?" Dumbledore asked quietly.
The man's eyelids flickered.
"Yes," he muttered.
"I would like you tell us," said Dumbledore softly, "how you came to be here. How did you escape Azkaban?"
Crouch took a deep, shuddering breath, then began to speak in a flat expressionless voice.
"My mother saved me. She knew she was dying. She persuaded my father to rescue me as a last favour to her. He loved her as he had never loved me. He agreed. They came to visit me. They gave me a draught of Polyjuice Potion containing one of my mother's hairs. She took a draught of Polyjuice Potion containing one of my hairs. We took on each other's appearance."
Winky was shaking her head, trembling.
"Say no more, Master Barty, say no more, you is getting your father into trouble!"
But Crouch took another deep breath and continued in the same flat voice.
"The dementors are blind. They sensed one health, one dying person entering Azkaban. They sensed one healthy, one dying person leaving it. My father smuggled me out, disguised as my mother, in case any prisoners were watching through their doors.
"My mother died a short while afterward in Azkaban. She was careful to drink Polyjuice Potion until the end. She was buried under my name and bearing my appearance. Everyone believed her to be me."
The man's eyelids flickered.
"And what did your father do to you, when he had got you home?" said Dumbledore quietly.
"Staged my mother's death. A quiet, private funeral. That grave is empty. The house-elf nursed me back to health. Then I had to be concealed. I had to be controlled. My father had to use a number of spells to subdue me. When I had recovered my strength, I thought only of finding my master...of returning to his service."
"How did your father subdue you?" said Dumbledore.
"The Imperius Curse," Crouch said. "I was under my father's control. I was forced to wear an Invisibility Cloak day and night. I was always with the house-elf. She was my keeper and caretaker. She pitied me. She persuaded my father to give me occasional treats. Rewards for my good behaviour."
"Master Barty, Master Barty," sobbed Winky through her hands. "You isn't ought to tell them, we is getting in trouble...."
"Did anybody ever discover that you were still alive?" said Dumbledore softly. "Did anybody know except your father and the house-elf?"
"Yes," said Crouch, his eyelids flickering again. "A witch in my father's office. Bertha Jorkins. She came to the house with papers for my father's signature. He was not home. Winky showed her inside and returned to the kitchen, to me. But Bertha Jorkins heard Winky talking to me. She came to investigate. She heard enough to guess who was hiding under the Invisibility Cloak. My father arrived home. She confronted him. He put a very powerful Memory Charm on her to make her forget what she's found out. Too powerful. He said it damaged her memory permanently."
"Why is she coming to nose into my master's private business?" sobbed Winky. "Why isn't she leaving us be?"
"Tell me about the Quidditch World Cup," said Dumbledore.
"Winky talked my father into it," said Crouch, still in the same monotonous voice. "She spent months persuading him. I had not left the house for years. I had loved Quidditch. Let him go, she said. He will be in his Invisibility Cloak. He can watch. Let him smell fresh air for once. She said my mother would have wanted it. She told my father that my mother had died to give me freedom. She had not save me for a life of imprisonment. He agreed in the end.
"It was carefully planned. My father led me and Winky up to the Top Box early in the day. Winky was to say she was saving a seat for my father. I was to sit there, invisible. When everybody had left the box, we would emerge. Winky would appear to be alone. Nobody would ever know.
"But Winky didn't know that I was growing stronger. I was starting to fight my father's Imperius Curse. There were times when I was almost myself again. There were brief periods when I seemed outside his control. It happened, there, in the Top Box. It was like waking from a deep sleep. I found myself out in public, in the middle of the match, and I saw, in front of me, a wand sticking out of a boy's pocket. I had not been allowed a wand since Azkaban. I stole it. Winky didn't know. Winky is frightened of heights. She has her face hidden."
"Master Barty, you bad boy!" whispered Winky, tears trickling between her fingers.
"So you took the wand," said Dumbledore, "and what did you do with it?"
"We went back to the tent," said Crouch. "Then we heard them. We heard the Death Eaters. The ones who had never been to Azkaban. The ones who had never suffered for my master. They had turned their backs on him. They were not enslaved, as I was. They were free to seek him, but they did not. They were merely making sport of Muggles. The sound of their voices awoke me. My mind was clearer than it had been in years. I was angry. I had the wand. I wanted to attack them for their disloyalty to my master. My father had left the tent; he had gone to free the Muggles. Winky was afraid to see me so angry. She used her own brand of magic to bind me to her. She pulled me from the tent, pulled me into the forest, away from the Death Eaters. I tried to hold her back. I wanted to return to the campsite. I wanted to show those Death Eaters what loyalty to the Dark Lord meant, and to punish them for their lack of it. I used the stolen wand to cast the Dark Mark into the sky.
"Ministry wizards arrived. They shot Stunning Spells everywhere. One of the spells came through the trees where Winky and I stood. The bond connecting us was broken. We were both Stunned.
"When Winky was discovered my father knew I must be nearby. He searched the bushed where she had been found and felt me lying there. He waited until the other Ministry members had left the forest. He put me back under the Imperius Curse and took me home. He dismissed Winky. She had failed him. She had let me acquire a wand. She had almost let me escape."
Winky let out a wail of despair.
"Now it was just Father and I, alone in the house. And then... and then..." Crouch's head rolled on his neck, and an insane grin spread across his face. "My master came for me.
"He arrived at our house late one night in the arms of his servant Wormtail. My master had found out I was still alive. He had captured Bertha Jorkins in Albania. He had tortured her. She told him a great deal. She told him about the Triwizard Tournament. She told him the old Auror, Moody, was going to teach at Hogwarts. He tortured her until he broke through the Memory Charm my father had placed upon her. She told him I had escaped from Azkaban. She told him my father kept me imprisoned to prevent me from seeking my master. And so my master knew that I was still his faithful servant — perhaps the most faithful of all. My master conceived a plan, based upon the information Bertha had given him. He needed me. He arrived at our house near midnight. My father answered the door."
The smile spread wider over Crouch's face, as though recalling the sweetest memory of his life.
"It was very quick. My father was placed under the Imperius Curse by my master. Now my father was the one imprisoned, controlled. My master forced him to go about business as usual, to act as though nothing was wrong. And I was released. I awoke. I was myself again, alive as I hadn't been in years."
"And what did Lord Voldermort ask you to do?" said Dumbledore.
"He asked me whether I was ready to risk everything for him. I was ready. It was my dream, my greatest ambition, to serve him, to prove myself to him. He told me he needed to place a faithful servant at Hogwarts. A servant who would guide Harry Potter through the Triwizard Tournament without appearing to do so. A servant who would watch over Harry Potter. Ensure he reached the Triwizard Cup. Turn the Cup into a Portkey, which would take the first person to touch it to my master. But first —"
"You needed Alastor Moody," said Dumbledore. His blue eyes were blazing, though his voice remained calm.
"Wormtail and I did it. We had prepared the Polyjuice Potion beforehand. We journeyed to his house. Moody put up a struggle. There was a commotion. We managed to subdue him just in time. Forced him into a compartment of his own magical trunk. Took some of his hair and added it to the potion. I drank it; I became Moody's double. I took his leg and his eye. I was ready to face Arthur Weasley when he arrived to sort out the Muggles who had heard a disturbance. I made the dustbins move around the yard. I told Arthur Weasley I had heard intruders in my yard, who had set off the dustbins. Then I packed up Moody's clothes and Dark Detectors, put them in the trunk with Moody, and set off for Hogwarts. I kept him alive, under the Imperius Curse. I wanted to be able to question him. To find out about his past, learn his habits, so that I could fool even Dumbledore. I also needed his hair to make the Polyjuice Potion. The other ingredients were easy. I stile boomslang skin from the dungeons. When the Potions master found me in his office, I said I was under orders to search it."
"And what became of Wormtail after you attacked Moody?" said Dumbledore.
"Wormtail returned to care for my master, in my father's house, and to keep a watch over my father."
"But your father escaped," said Dumbledore.
"Yes. After a while he began to fight the Imperius Curse just as I had done. There were periods when he knew what was happening. My master decided it was no longer safe for my father to leave the house. He forced him to send letters to the Ministry instead. He made him write and say he was ill. But Wormtail neglected his duty. He was not watchful enough. My father escaped. My master guessed that he was heading for Hogwarts. My father was going to tell Dumbledore everything, to confess. He was going to admit he had smuggled me from Azkaban.
"My master sent me word of my father's escape. He told me to stop him at all costs. So I waited and watched. I used the map I had taken from Harry Potter. The map that had ruined everything."
"Map?" said Dumbledore quickly. "What map is this?"
"Potter's map of Hogwarts. Potter saw me on it. Potter saw me stealing more ingredients for the Polyjuice Potion from Snape's office one night. He thought I was my father. We have the same first name. I took the map from Potter that night. I told him my father hated Dark wizards. Potter believed my father was after Snape.
"For a week I waited for my father to arrive at Hogwarts. At last, one evening, the map showed my father entering the grounds. I pulled on my Invisibility Cloak and went down to meet him. He was walking around the edge of the forest. Then Potter came, and Krum. I waited. I could not hurt Potter; my master needed him. Potter ran to get Dumbledore. I stunned Krum. I killed my father."
"Noooo!" wailed Winky. "Master Barty, Master Barty, what is you saying?"
"You killed your father," Dumbledore said, in the same soft voice. "What did you do with the body?"
"Carried it into the forest. Covered it with the Invisibility Cloak. I had the map with me. I watched Potter run into the castle. He met Snape. Dumbledore joined them. I watched Potter bringing Dumbledore out of the castle. I walked back out of the forest, doubled around behind them, went to meet them. I told Dumbledore Snape had told me where to come.
"Dumbledore told me to go and look for my father. I went back to my father's body. Watched the map. When everyone was gone, I transfigured my father's body. He became bone... I buried it, while wearing the Invisibility Cloak, in the freshly dug earth in front of Hagrid's cabin."
There was complete silence now, except for Winky's continued sobs. Then Dumbledore said, "And tonight..."
"I offered to carry the Triwizard Cup into the maze before dinner," whispered Barty Crouch. "Turned it into a Portkey. My master's plan worked. He is returned to power and I will be honoured by him beyond the dreams of wizards."
The insane smile lit his features once more, and his head dropped onto his shoulder as Winky wailed and sobbed at his side.
Dumbledore stood up. He stared down at Barty Crouch for a moment with disgust on his face. Then he raised his wand once more and ropes flew out of it, ropes that twisted themselves around Barty Crouch, binding him tightly. He turned to Professor McGonagall.
"Minerva, could I ask you to stand guard here while I take Harry upstairs?"
"Of course," said Professor McGonagall. She looked slightly nauseous, as though she had just watched someone being sick. However, when she drew her wand and pointed it at Barty Crouch, her hand was quite steady.
"Severus" — Dumbledore turned to Snape — "please tell Madam Pomfrey to come down here; we need to get Alastor Moody into the hospital wing. May you also escort Valentina to be treated for shock."
"I don't need treatment for shock!" the young girl snapped. "What I need is to know why Cedric was murdered! Why did he have to die?!"
"Valentina, I understand you're in pain right now," said Dumbledore calmly, "but I shall advise you to go to the hospital wing and after I have finished speaking to Harry I want to invite you to my office."
Valentina hesitated. She was internally battling her thoughts. If Voldemort was indeed back the consequences would not be good for her. Would he expect her to join him? Did this mean that it would only be a matter of time until her mother was back by her side; her family would be reunited?
She needed to know what happened to Cedric before she could understand what this meant. She came to a split-second decision to take this moment of shock that everyone was experiencing, particularly after her outburst, and enter Harry's mind. She knew it was wrong, especially to do so in front of Dumbledore, but she had to know. She needed to see it to understand.
"Legilimens," she said internally.
She dove into his memories. It didn't take long until she found it. She noticed the short man wearing a hooded cloak, carrying in his arms what looked like a baby. It stopped beside a towering marble headstone, only six feet from Cedric and Harry. Then, Harry clutched his scar in pain and fell to the ground.
A high, cold voice said, "Kill the spare." Then, with a swishing noise and a second voice, which screeched the words to the night: "Avada Kedavra!"
A blast of green light blazed through Valentina's eyes. She watched as Cedric fell to the ground beside Harry. He was dead.
She snapped back into reality and exited Harry's mind.
"Ok," she replied to Dumbledore, before storming out of the office.
She had been wrong. Seeing Cedric's death had not helped her understand anything. The only thing she had realised was that this wasn't the first time she had seen him die.