As Harry, Cedric and Wormtail landed back at the school, Harry said in a low voice, "Cedric! You're awake! Don't say anything until you get your father to call Amelia Bones. Trust me!" Cedric looked over at Harry confused but nodded his head. He really didn't know what was happening. He could have sworn he had been stupefied from behind, and the next thing he knew he was in a graveyard grabbing the cup.
As screams could be heard in the background, Harry saw Dumbledore hurrying over with Amos Diggory and his wife not far behind. Also, he could see Hermione and Ron staring at him like he was a ghost, until Hermione shrieked and started running over.
Dumbledore was very concerned. Two of his students had disappeared from the maze and 20 minutes later had shown back up via a portkey. As he Dumbledore arrived, he said "Cup was a portkey. We ended up in some graveyard. Did anyone check the cup before the task?" Dumbledore's eyes widened. He had specifically sent Alastor Moody to check the maze for traps and place the cup. His mind was working a mile a minute. Harry then looked over Dumbledore's shoulder and said quietly to him, "Why does Professor Moody look like he's about to attack?"
Dumbledore whirled around quite nimbly for an old man and shot Moody with a Stupefy. Everyone around was shocked for a moment.
As Amos got to Cedric, Cedric told his father, "Call Madam Bones!" Amos had no clue what was going on, but if his son thought that he should call Amelia, he was bloody hell going to do it.
At the same time Hermione arrived and knocked Harry over again, sobbing into him. As Harry tried to calm Hermione down, he felt cold all of a sudden. He saw Fudge coming over with his dementor guard. He grabbed his wand, and thinking about the girl wrapped around him, yelled out, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" His stag patronus leaped out of his wand and barreled down directly toward the approaching dementor. He wasn't going to allow Fudge to have Crouch Jr. kissed this time if he could help it. He also had Wormtail there and didn't want to take any chances.
Fudge looked outraged that his guard had been driven back by The-Boy-Who-Lived. He was the Minister for Magic for Merlin's sake and he had a right to his guard! "What's the meaning of this!?"
Harry stood there watching Fudge with one arm around Hermione and the other with his wand pointed straight at Fudge.
Dumbledore, seeing that things were getting out of hand, tapped his wand against his throat and said, "Sonorus. All students and staff! Report to the Great Hall. An announcement will be made shortly! Professors McGonagall, Sprout, and Snape please remain!" After a quick Quietus, Dumbledore looked over at Fudge and said, "Cornelius. Please wait until we can sort out exactly what occurred." He looked over at Harry and asked, "My dear boy, what happened?" He looked down at Harry's feet and saw the stupefied form of Peter Pettigrew and his eyes widened.
Harry looked at Dumbledore and replied, "Amos Diggory has called Madam Bones. I think we should wait until she arrives so that I only have to repeat this once!" Harry looked at Hermione and whispered to her, "Go to the Great Hall. I'll tell you all about it after it's done."
Hermione, who had settled down, looked at Harry and said, "No, Harry. I'm not letting you out of my sight until I know you're all right!" Harry looked around and saw Ron, Ginny and Mrs. Weasley looking upset and trying to come over with Bill just looking confused. They were being held back by Professor Flitwick. He waved over to them and yelled out, "I'm alright! I'll see you after all this is sorted out!"
The Weasleys didn't look happy but one look at Dumbledore's face and they decided to wait in the Great Hall with everyone else.
Harry looked down at Hermione and said, "Well, if you are going to stick around, keep an eye on Wormtail and if he so much as twitches, stupefy him again!" Hermione looked down at the man on the ground and saw that it was indeed Pettigrew. As Dumbledore was over talking to Fudge, Harry walked over to Professor McGonagall and asked her to bind Moody. McGonagall had seen Albus Stupefy him and so didn't object although her face was set in an expression of deep disapproval. Her only reply was, "I hope there is a sufficient explanation for all of this or you will be in detention through the next year!"
Harry could only smile at his head of house as he said, "And if when we're done, you feel my actions are unjustified, I'll do them!" McGonagall shook her head and hurried over to the prone form of Alastor Moody.
Soon, Amos Diggory could be seen hurrying over from the door of Hogwarts with Madam Bones behind him accompanied by two Aurors. Harry was delighted to see that it was Tonks and Shacklebolt.
Amelia Bones looked around and was shocked to see what was happening. Diggory was over in one area with his son who was being helped up by his wife and Professor Sprout. Another student with a wand was standing over a man lying on the ground while Madam Pomfrey was cauterizing his wrist. It looked as though his hand had been cut off. And Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape were standing over the form of Alastor Moody bound in ropes. Fudge was blustering at Dumbledore and Harry Potter was standing in the middle of it all, with his TriWizard uniform in tatters and what looked like blood dripping from his arm.
She hurried over to Harry and asked, "Mr. Potter, are you alright? Your arm is bleeding! What is going on here?"
Harry Potter looked at his arm and then looked at her and laughed, "Well, this isn't really my blood. If we can get everyone to Professor Dumbledore's office, I can explain just about everything; he has a pensieve which I can use to show you. If you would though, that man over there was my parents' true secret keeper and he's an animagus. Could you ask your Aurors to secure him?" Amelia looked over at the man that Pomfrey was just finishing with again and her eyes widened when she saw that it was Peter Pettigrew. But he was dead! Amelia ordered Tonks to shackle Pettigrew with magic-suppression cuffs.
Amelia hurried over to Dumbledore and Fudge and saw the dementor coming back over. She called Shacklebolt over and ordered him to herd it away from the group. She was going to be damned if she let Fudge's paranoia interfere with her finding out the truth!
As she got over to them, she heard Fudge say, "This was obviously just a plot by Sirius Black to kidnap Harry Potter again!" Amelia interrupted him.
"Professor Dumbledore, can we move this inside? I know you have a pensieve and I would request that we use it to review exactly what happened here!"
Albus Dumbledore smiled over at Amelia with he eyes twinkling madly, "Ah. Madam Bones. It's so good to see you. An excellent idea if I do say so! Well, Cornelius, would you like to accompany us and get to the heart of the matter?"
Cornelius Fudge didn't look happy to have the head of the DMLE there, but couldn't object.
Harry moved back over to Hermione and Tonks, and Tonks introduced herself. "Wotcher, Harry Potter! I'm Tonks. Pleased to meet you."
Harry hid his smirk and asked, "Is that your last name or first name?" Hermione narrowed her eyes. She knew Harry and it seemed he knew something and was amused.
Tonks looked sour for a moment and replied, "Last name. I don't use my first name! So it's just Tonks." She smirked, "Kinda like one of them muggle rock stars, like 'Sting'!"
Harry laughed and said, "Well, it's nice to meet you. Can you bring this person to Professor Dumbledore's office? We're going there to sort all of this out."
Everyone, except Shacklebolt who was keeping the dementor at bay, followed Dumbledore to his office, with Hermione following Harry wondering what the hell had happened. She was going to get some answers, and soon, or she was going to bite her best friend's head off.
As they passed into the door of Hogwarts, Dumbledore asked McGonagall to have Filius dismiss the students in the Hall back their dormitories in 10 minutes, allowing them time to reach his office, and then to join them in his office. He took over levitating "Alastor Moody" and asked Severus to obtain some Veritaserum from his stock. As McGonagall moved away, Harry called out to her, "Professor! Possibly you ask Ron to join us? He was a witness to some of what happened and he might be needed!" Minerva looked over at Dumbledore and he nodded his head slightly. She agreed and moved off.
As they arrived at his office, Albus turned to Hermione. "Ah, my dear, if you could do me a favor. Earlier, I found a delightful stray dog which I have in my office. A perfectly friendly dog, which I was going to place in a good home when I had the time. If you could look after him while we get to the bottom of things?" Albus's eyes twinkled merrily. Hermione looked startled.
"Of course, sir. If you have a leash I'll keep him out of the way." Hermione suppressed her urge to smile.
"If you would give me a moment, I'll take care of leashing Snuffles and you all can join me." Albus passed into his office and about a minute later called them all in.
"Let me take arrange things." With a flick of his wand, several well stuffed chairs popped into existence around the room as well as two wooden chairs with arm and leg restraints right in front of the desk. The room was almost packed to the gills
Just as the form of Alastor Moody was placed in the chair, he started changing. The magical eye fell out and the wooden leg jumped off his body as Alastor Moody turned into Barty Crouch Jr.
Everyone in the room except Harry stared at him in shock. Dumbledore waved his wand and the chair restraints on both chairs closed.
Just then Severus Snape arrived in the office with Veritaserum. Right behind, Professor McGonagall arrived with Ron in tow. She didn't notice the beetle that was perched on the back of her bun which dropped off into a corner of the room, but Harry was on the lookout. He didn't do anything yet. But soon. Very soon.
Amelia was extremely shocked. She had arrived to find her old friend bound in ropes and all of a sudden he had turned into a dead death eater! What the hell was going on? She asked Dumbledore, "Can I use your floo to call the ministry? I believe I will need more Aurors."
"I quite agree, but if I might suggest we hold off for a moment to find out where the real Alastor Moody is. Time may be of the essence."
Amelia agreed and asked for the Veritaserum. Snape, his face a calm mask, handed it to her, even as his eyes darted around.
Severus Snape was in a peculiar mood. He had felt the Dark Mark come alive right before the brat had showed up again and hadn't had an opportunity to alert the Headmaster. However, instead of the call that he had been expecting, nothing happened afterwards. And now, Barty Crouch Jr. was bound in the Headmaster's Office. Something very strange was going on.
Amelia administered the serum to Crouch Jr. and waited for it to take effect before casting an Enervate on him. She began the questioning.
"What is your name?"
"Bartemius Crouch."
"Why are you at Hogwarts?"
"To further my Master's plan."
"Where is the real Alastor Moody?"
"Locked in his trunk in the Defense teacher's office." Dumbledore nodded over to Madam Pomfrey and she hurried out to take care of Moody.
"What was your Master's plan?"
"To get Harry Potter through the Tri-Wizard's tournament so that I could send him to my Master."
"What did he plan to do?"
"Use Potter for a ritual to return."
"How long have you been impersonating Alastor Moody?"
"Since August 31st."
"How did you escape Azkaban?"
"My mother traded places with me."
"Where have you been since then?"
"At my father's house, under the Imperious Curse."
"Did your father help you escape?"
"Yes."
"Where is your father?"
"Dead."
"Did you kill him?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"He had overcome my Master's Imperious Curse enough to come to Hogwarts. When I saw Potter and Krum with him, I knew that he had to die to preserve my secret."
"Where is his body?"
"In the Defense Against the Dark Arts office. I transfigured it to a walking stick to keep it with me until I could turn it over to my Master to make it an Inferius."
Dumbledore motioned to Amelia to get permission to ask a few questions of his own. Amelia nodded to him.
"How were you involved with the Tri-Wizard tournament?"
"I placed Potter's name in the cup under a fourth school, making the name of the school on the parchment invisible. I then guided him to overcome the first task. During the second task, I guided Diggory to the secret of the egg, as I knew he would tell Potter as Potter had told him about the dragons of the first task. I gave the Longbottom boy a book on water plants hoping that Potter would ask for help, but he never did. So I talked loudly in front of the house elf that worships Potter to ask McGonagall if he would think to use gillyweed. For the last task, after turning the Cup to a portkey when I placed it in the maze, I Imperioed Krum to get rid of the competition to get Potter a free shot at the cup."
All around the room, most of the spectators were in a state of shock, outrage and a bit of nausea at the callous plan that unfolded. Hermione had buried her head in Harry's shoulder and was quietly sobbing into him as Padfoot buried his head into Harry's leg. Harry used his two hands to comfort his best friend and dogfather as best he could as he looked on. He looked over at Ron, who before the questioning had been looking over at him with a weird look as Harry had his arm around Hermione's shoulder. He saw that now he was just saying to himself his stock phrase of "Bloody Hell." Take that you jealous piece of hippogriff dung.
All around the room things were happening. Amelia was calling the ministry for more Aurors, while Dumbledore was talking with Fudge and Amos Diggory. Professor's Snape and McGonagall were with them. Cedric was just looking wildly at Barty Crouch Jr. while his mother had him in a death grip. Ron was trying to talk to Hermione while Sirius just sat there staring at Pettigrew, waiting for the secrets to spill out.
Harry surreptitiously pulled off a section of his robe and transfigured it into a jar. A silent Accio and the beetle form of Rita Skeeter was trapped. Hermione's eyes widened when she saw this and she was about to say something when Harry put his finger to his lips to indicate that he'd tell her about it later.