"Father," said the boy with the straw-colored hair. "Father... Please."
"Father, I didn't!" shrieked the boy in chains below. "I didn't, I swear it, Father don't send me back to the dementors ---"
"Mother!" screamed the boy below, and the wispy little witch beside Crouch began to sob, rocking backward and forward.
"Mother, stop him, Mother, I didn't do it, it wasn't me!"
"No! Mother, no! I didn't do it, I didn't do it, I didn't do it, I didn't know! Don't send me there, don't let him!"
"I'm your son!" he screamed up at Crouch. "I'm your son!"
"Father! Father, I wasn't involved! No! No! Father, please!"
"What happened, Harry?" the man asked at last as he lifted Harry up the stone steps. Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. It was Mad-Eye Moody.
"The Dark Lord was there? What happened then?"
"And then?"
"The Dark Lord got his body back? He's returned?"
"You dueled with the Dark Lord?"
"In here Harry... In here, and sit down... You'll be all right now... drink this..."
"Drink it... You'll feel better... Come on, now Harry, I need to know exactly what happened..."
"Voldemort's back, Harry? You're sure he's back? How did he do it?"
"And the Death Eaters? They returned?"
"How did he treat them?" Moody asked quietly.
"Did he forgive them?"
Harry tried to get up, but Moody pushed him back down.
"I know who the Death Eater is," he said quietly.
"Karkaroff?" said Moody 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."
"No," said Moody slowly. "No, he didn't. It was I who did that."
"I assure you I did, "said Moody, and his magical eye swung around and fixed upon the door, and Harry knew he was making sure there was no one outside . At the same time, Moody drew out his wand and pointed it at Harry.
"He forgave them?" he said. "The Death Eaters who went free? The ones who escaped Azkaban?"
"I asked you," said Moody quietly, "Whether he forgave the scum 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."
"I told you, Harry... I told you. If there's something 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...." Moody's face was suddenly lit 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."
"Who put your name in the Goblet of Fire, under the name of a different school? I did. Who frightened off every person I thought might try to hurt you to 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."
Moody's magical eye had now left the door. It was fixed upon Harry. His lopsided mouth leered more widley than ever.
It hasn't been easy, Harry, guiding 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 had managed everything too easily. As long as you got into that 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 we 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 --"
"Who told Cedric to open it under water? I did. I trusted that he would 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 need 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. I called the elf to the staff room to collect some robes for cleaning. 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.."
Moody's wand was still pointing directly at Harry's heart. Over his shoulder, foggy shapes were moving in the foe-glass on the wall.
"You were so long in that lake, Potter, I thought you had drowned. But luckily, Dumbledore took your idiocy for nobility, and marked you high for it. I breathed again.
"You had an easier time of it than you should have in that maze tonight, of course," said Moody. "I was patrolling around it, able to see though the outer edges, able to curse many obstacles out of your way, I stunned 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."
"The Dark Lord didn't manage to kill you, Potter, and he so wanted it," whispered Moody. "Imagine how we will reward me when he finds 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," said Moody, and he looked completely insane now, towering over Harry, leering down at him, "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!"
"Mad , am I" said Moody, 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!"
Moody raised his wand, he opened him mouth; Harry plunged his own hand into his robes --
"My mother saved me. She knew she was dying. She persuaded father to rescue me as a last favor to her. He loved her as he had never loved me. He agreed -- They came to visit me. They gave me a drought of Polyjuice Potion containing one of my mother's hairs. She took a drought of Polyjuice Potion containing one of my hairs. We took on each other's appearance."
"The dementors are blind. The sensed one healthy, one dying person entering Azkaban. They sensed one healthy, one dying person leaving it. My father smuggled me out, disguised me 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."
"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."
"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 behavior."
"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 at home. Winky showed her inside and returned to 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 maker her forget what she'd found out. Too powerful. He said it damaged her memory permanently."
"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 saved 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 that she was saving a seat for my father, I was to sit there, invisible. When everyone 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 before Azkaban. I stole it. Winky didn't know. Winky is frightened of heights. She had her face hidden."
"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 fr 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 use was broken. We were both stunned."
"When Winky was discovered, my father knew I must be nearby. He searched the bushes 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 him acquire a wand. She had almost let me escape. "
"Now it was just father and I, alone in the house. And then... and then..." Crocuh's head rolled on his neck, and an insane grin spread a crossed his face. "My master came for me."
"He arrived at our house one night in the arms of his servant Wormtail. My master had found out that 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 on 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 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. Winky's petrified brown eyes were visible through her fingers. She seemed too appalled to speak.
"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 his business as usually, 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."
"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 Triwizrd 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 ----"
"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 in my 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 stole boom slang skin from the dungeons. When the Potions master found me in his office, I said I was under orders to search it."
"Wormtail returned to care for my master, in my father's house, and to keep watch over my father."
"Yes. After a while he began to fight the Imperius Curse just as I had done. Thee 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 that he 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 waited. I used the map I had taken from Harry Potter. The map that had almost ruined everything."
"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 that my father had 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 on 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."
"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 brining 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. Went back to my father's body. Watched the map. When everyone was gone, I transfigured my father's body. He became a bone. --- I buried it, while wearing the invisibility cloak, in the freshly dug earth in front of Hagrid's cabin."
"I offered to carry the Triwizard Cup into the maze before dinner," whispered Barty Crouch. "I turned it into a Portkey. My master's plan worked. He is returned to power and I will be honored 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.
"If?" whipered the second voice. "If? If you follow the plan, Wormtail, the Ministry need never know that anyone else has died. You will do it quietly and without fuss; I only wish that I could do it myself, but in my present condition.... Come, Wormtail, one more death and our path to Harry Potter is clear. I am not asking you to do it alone. By that time, my faithful servant will have re-joined us ---"
"Wormtail, I need somebody with brains, somebody whose loyalty has never been wavered, and you, unfortunately, fulfill neither requirement."
"And here we have six missing Death Eaters... three dead in my service. One, too cowardly to return... he will pay. One, who I believe has left me forever... he will be killed, of course... and one, who remains my most faithful servant, and who has already reentered my service."
"She told me that the Triwizard Tournament would be played at Hogwarts this year. She told me that she knew of a faithful Death Eater who would be only too willing to help me, if I could only contact him. She told me many things... but the means I used to break the Memory charm upon her were powerful, and when I had extracted all useful information from her, her mind and body were both damaged beyond repair. She had now served her purpose. I could not possess her. I disposed of her."
"Why... by using Bertha's information, of course. Use my one faithful Death Eater, stationed at Hogwarts, to ensure that the boy's name was entered into the Goble of Fire. Use my Death Eater to ensure that the boy won the tournament -- that he touched the Triwizard Cup first --- the cup which my Death Eater had turned into a Portkey, which would bring him here, beyond the reach of Dumbledore's help and protection, and into my waiting arms. And here he is... the boy you all believed to be my downfall...."