HARRY POTTER Book 4: Chapter 35
Chapter 35
VERITASERUM
Harry falls hard onto the ground. His face presses into the grass. The smell of the grass is strong. He keeps his eyes closed. He does not move. All the air leaves his body. His head spins, like the ground is moving under him. He holds on tightly to two things. The Triwizard Cup. And Cedric’s body.
He does not let go of either of them. If he lets go, he feels like he will fall into darkness. His scar burns on his forehead. He is in shock. He is exhausted. He waits for something terrible to happen to him.
Voices shout around him. People scream. The sound is loud and confusing. Harry stays where he is. His eyes are still closed. It feels like a bad dream. Suddenly, hands grab him and turn him over. “Harry! Harry!” He opens his eyes. He sees a face close to him. It is Dumbledore. He is not in the cemetery anymore. He is back at Hogwarts. At the edge of the maze.
Harry lets go of the cup. But he holds Cedric. He looks at Dumbledore. “He's back,” Harry whispers. “Voldemort is back!” Another face appears. It is Cornelius Fudge. He looks pale and afraid. “My God… Diggory…” he says. “Dumbledore, he’s dead…”
People hear Harry. They repeat the words. “He’s dead!” “Cedric Diggory is dead!” “Harry, let go of him,” Fudge says. Harry does not let go. Dumbledore leans closer. “Harry, you can’t help him now. It’s over. Let go.”
“He wanted me to bring him back,” Harry says weakly. “He wanted me to bring him back to his parents…” “That’s right, Harry,” Dumbledore says softly. “Let go now.” Dumbledore lifts Harry to his feet. His head hurts. His leg cannot hold him.
“He needs the hospital wing!” Fudge says loudly. “He’s injured! Diggory’s parents are here… in the stands.” “I’ll take Harry,” says another voice. “No,” says Dumbledore. “I would prefer to take him.” “Dumbledore, Diggory’s father is coming. You should tell him before he sees his boy,” the voice says. “Harry, stay here,” Dumbledore says.
“It’s all right,” says the voice. “Come on… hospital wing…” “Dumbledore said for me to stay,” Harry says slowly. “You need to lie down,” the voice says. Strong arms pull him through the crowd. Harry is taken across the grass. Past the lake. Past the Durmstrang ship. The man holding him breathes heavily. They reach the stone steps of the castle.
“What happened, Harry?” the man asks finally. Harry can hear a familiar sound next to him. Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. It is MadEye Moody. “The Cup was a Portkey,” Harry says. “It took me and Cedric to a graveyard… Voldemort was there…” Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. They go up the steps. “The Dark Lord was there?” Moody asks. “What happened?”
“He killed Cedric…” Harry says. “They killed Cedric…” Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. They walk down a corridor. “And then?” “They made a potion… they got his body back…” “The Dark Lord has returned? His body is whole again?" “And the Death Eaters came… then we dueled…” “You dueled with him?”
“He got away… my wand did something strange… I saw my mother and father… They came out of his wand, like ghosts.” Moody opens a door. “In here,” he says. Harry hears a key turn in a lock. “Sit down… drink this…” A cup is pushed into his hands. “Drink it,” Moody says. “You’ll feel better.”
Harry drinks. The liquid burns his throat. His head becomes clearer. He can see better now. Moody is staring at him. Both eyes fixed on his face. “Voldemort is back?” Moody says. “You’re sure? How did he do it?” “He used things,” Harry says. “From his father’s grave… from Wormtail… from me…”
“What did he take from you?” “Blood,” Harry says. He shows his arm. Moody lets out a slow breath. “And the Death Eaters? They returned?” “Yes,” Harry says. “Many of them…” “How did he treat them?” Moody asks quietly. “Did he forgive them?”
Harry suddenly remembers. He should have said something to Dumbledore. “There’s a Death Eater at Hogwarts!” he says. “Someone here helped him! They put my name into the Goblet of Fire! They helped me get to the final challenge.”
He tries to stand, but Moody pushes him back down. “I know who it is,” Moody says quietly. “Karkaroff?” Harry says desperately. “Did you find him? Do you have him?” Moody laughs strangely. “Karkaroff? No, Harry. He ran away when he felt the Dark Mark on his arm. He has betrayed too many supporters of the Dark Lord. But the Dark Lord has ways of finding his enemies.”
“Karkaroff’s gone,” Harry says in disbelief. “Then who is the traitor? If he didn’t put my name in the Goblet, who did?” Moody looks at him. “It was me.” Harry shakes his head. He cannot believe what he is hearing. “No… you didn’t… You can’t have done it…” “Oh, but I did,” Moody says.
He points his wand at Harry. “So the Dark Lord forgave the Death Eaters who supported him? Even the ones who did not look for him?” Moody says. “What?” Harry says. Harry feels cold. Something is wrong. “Did he forgive the Death Eaters who ran away at the Quidditch World Cup when I fired the Dark Mark into the sky?" “You fired the… What are you talking about?”
“I told you, Harry,” Moody continues. “I hate the supporters of the Dark Lord who abandoned him. They left him when he needed them most. Tell me the Dark Lord punished them. Tell me he tortured them. Tell me he hurt them.” Moody’s face looks insane now. “I was his most loyal follower. I risked everything to bring him the one thing he wanted most… You.” “It can’t be true,” Harry says.
“I put your name in the Goblet, Potter,” Moody says. “I helped you in every task. I made sure you reached the end. It was not easy. I did not want Dumbledore to discover me. Your stupidity made it very difficult. I told Cedric about putting the egg in the water. I knew he would tell you. Good people are easy to manipulate.”
Harry looks at Moody’s wand. It is pointing at his heart. “I was in the Maze tonight. I prevented many of your obstacles. I stunned Fleur. I put the Imperius Curse on Krum, so he could stop Diggory. The Cup was yours, Potter.” Harry cannot believe any of it. This was Dumbledore’s friend, MadEye Moody, the great Auror. The one who caught so many Death Eaters. None of it makes any sense to Harry.
Moody looks at Harry with his crazy eye. “You brought the Dark Lord back,” he says softly. “You gave him what he needed. And I will be at his side. But he did not kill you, like he wanted. But I will destroy you now.” Harry thinks of only one thing: my wand. Moody raises his wand and at the same instant, Harry reaches into his robes for his. BIG BLAST!
A bright red flash fills the room. The door explodes open with a crash. Moody is thrown backward and onto the floor. Harry turns. Dumbledore stands in the doorway. Snape and McGonagall are behind him. Dumbledore steps forward, his wand ready to attack again. His face is cold. His face is terrible, full of anger and fury. He looks down at Moody.
Professor McGonagall helps Harry. “We must take him to the hospital building,” she says. “He has suffered a lot tonight.” “No, Minerva,” Dumbledore says. “Harry will stay.” Harry stares. “Harry, you must understand what has happened here,” Dumbledore says kindly. You will only be able to heal and recover if you understand everything.” “Moody? How can it be Moody?” Harry says in disbelief.
“This is not Alastor Moody,” Dumbledore says quietly. Dumbledore puts his hand in Moody’s robes. He takes out a metal flask of liquid and some keys. “Severus, please bring me the strongest Truth Potion you have. Minerva, please go to the kitchens and bring the house-elf called Winky. Then go to Hagrid’s house. You will find a large black dog there. Take the dog to my office. Tell him I will be there soon. Then come back here.” Neither Snape nor McGonagall think his instructions are strange. Dumbledore then walks over to the large trunk in Moody’s office. The trunk has seven locks on it.
He uses one key and opens the trunk. It is full of spell books. He closes it again and uses another key in the second lock. He opens the trunk. He does this five more times. When he lifts the top of the seventh trunk, Harry gives a cry of amazement.
Instead of a normal trunk, Harry looks down into a hole in the ground, like a pit, many feet deep. There, at the bottom, is the real Alastor Moody. He looks terribly weak and thin. He looks dead. His wooden leg is gone. His magical eye is gone, too. There is only a hole where it used to be.
Harry looks at the two bodies, one at the bottom of the trunk, and one on the floor of the office. He cannot believe it. Dumbledore climbs inside the trunk. He checks Moody. “He’s stunned, but alive,” he says. He climbs out again. He picks up Moody’s metal flask. He opens it and pours liquid from it onto the floor. “Polyjuice Potion, Harry,” he says. “But its effects will end soon. You must drink the potion every hour for it to continue.”
They wait. Slowly, the fake Moody changes. His face becomes smooth. His hair turns blond. Suddenly, with a wooden CLUNK, his fake leg falls off. A normal leg begins to grow in its place. His scars disappear. His magical eye falls out and rolls on the floor. A different man lies on the floor. Harry recognizes him. He has seen him before. In the Pensieve. It is the man who was taken away by dementors in the vision. It is Barty Crouch, Jr.
Soon, Snape returns with Winkey. McGonagall is right behind him. “Crouch!” Snape yells. “Barty Crouch!” “Oh, my goodness!” cries Professor McGonagall when she sees the body on the floor. Winky enters. She is dirty and her clothes are ripped. “Master Barty!” she cries. “You is killed! You is killed Master’s son!” “He is only unconscious, Winky,” Dumbledore says.
“Severus, do you have the potion?” Snape gives Dumbledore a glass bottle of clear liquid. Dumbledore pours three drops into the man’s mouth and says, “Ennervate.” Crouch’s son opens his eyes. He looks confused. “Can you hear me?” Dumbledore asks. “Yes,” Crouch says. “Tell us what happened,” Dumbledore says. “How did you get here? How did you escape from Azkaban?” Crouch begins to speak.
Crouch takes a deep breath. His body shakes. His voice is flat. There is no emotion. “My mother saved me,” he says. “She knew she was dying. She asked my father to help me. He agreed. He loved her more than he loved me. We used Polyjuice Potion. We changed faces. The dementors did not know. My mother died in Azkaban. Everyone thought she was me. My father took me out of Azkaban, looking like her.”
Winky shakes her head and cries. “Say no more, Master Barty… you is getting your father into trouble…” “What did you father do after he took you from Azkaban,” Dumbledore asks. “My father brought me home,” he says. “He had to hide me. He had to control me. He used the Imperius Curse. I stayed under an Invisibility Cloak. I could not leave. Only Winky was with me. She took care of me.”
Dumbledore watches him. “Did anyone find you?” he asks. “Did anyone know you were still alive?” “Yes,” Crouch says. “A witch came. Bertha Jorkins. She worked in my father’s office. She heard Winky talking to me under the invisibility cloak. She understood. When my father returned, he put a Memory Charm on her. It damaged her mind.” Winky cries louder. “Tell me about the Quidditch World Cup,” Dumbledore says.
“I went to the Quidditch World Cup,” he says. “Winky asked my father many times. She knew I loved Quidditch. She asked him for months. Finally he said yes. I wore the invisibility cloak. I watched the match. But I was getting stronger. I started to fight the Imperius Curse. I saw a wand in a boy’s robes. I stole it. I had not used one for years. Then back in the tent I heard the Death Eaters. They were laughing. They were not loyal to the master. I was angry. I wanted to punish them. I went into the forest. I used the wand. Winky tried to stop me, but I cast the Dark Mark.”
Dumbledore stays silent. “My father found me in the forest,” Crouch says. “He controlled me again. He took me home. He sent Winky away.” Winky cries out in sadness.
“I was alone in the house, with just my father. Then my master came for me,” he says. “He found Bertha Jorkins in Albania. He hurt her. She told him everything. She told him I was alive. She told him about the Tournament.” He takes a slow breath. “My master came to our house. He controlled my father with the Imperius Curse. I was free again.” Crouch smiles, remembering the memory of his master.
Dumbledore speaks. “What did he ask you to do?” Crouch’s eyes shine. “He asked me to serve him,” he says. “I said yes. He told me to go to Hogwarts as his servant. I had to help Harry Potter in the Tournament. I had to make sure he reached the Cup. We captured Moody,” he says. “We used Polyjuice Potion. I became him. I locked the real Moody in his trunk. I learned how to act like him. I controlled him with the Imperius Curse.”
Dumbledore listens. “I helped Harry,” Crouch says. “In every task. I made sure he won. I turned the Cup into a Portkey. Wormtail returned to his master in my house to watch my father.” “But your father escaped,” Dumbledore says. “Yes. He broke free of the Imperius Curse. He came to Hogwarts. He wanted to tell the truth.” “No!” Winky screams.
“I waited for him,” Crouch says. “I used the map I took from Harry Potter. I found him. I stunned Krum. I killed my father.” Dumbledore speaks quietly. “What did you do with the body?” “I hid it,” Crouch says. “I changed it. I buried it near Hagrid’s house.” There is silence. Only Winky is crying.
Dumbledore speaks again. “And tonight?” Crouch smiles. “I put the Cup in the maze,” he says. “I turned it into a Portkey. My master’s plan worked. He has returned. He is strong again. He will reward me for my loyalty.” His head falls to one side. Winky cries beside him.
