Chapter Twenty-Seven: Concerns with Crouch
The twins went down to the common room to write a letter to their brother while Harish and Daphne headed inside the Great Hall and found their other friends already seated at dinner. Harish quietly told Draco, Ginny, and Hermione what they had talked about and where the twins were.
The next day, Harish and the others agreed that they should send food to Sirius by owl. So, Harish and the twins went down to the kitchen later that day. Harish tickled the pear on the tapestry and it giggled, hardening into a handle. Harish turned the handle to see house elves all around, bowing and curtsying and bustling around making tea.
"No chance of any chocolates, is there?" the twins asked.
Soon, a platter of chocolates was zooming toward the three teens, supported by four house elves.
"Come on guys, we need to get stuff for Sirius," Harish said. The twins nodded, stuffing what chocolates they couldn't fit in their mouths into their pockets. Harish shook his head before turning to the elves and asking, "Could we have some extra food?"
They bowed delightedly and hurried off to get some more food. Harish glanced around the kitchen as a pudding was stuffed into his hands. Immediately one house elf stood out. Instead of wearing pristine white towels, like the rest of the Hogwarts elves wore, this one wore clothes that were so ragged, that they blended in with the blackened chimney behind it. The house-elf sat on a stool in front of the fire, surrounded by butterbeer bottles. Harish walked over in disgust, and realized a second later that it was Crouch's old elf, Winky.
Harish turned to call the twins over, only to discover that they had followed him. He then turned back to Winky. She was clutching a butterbeer, swaying, and staring into the fire. As they watched her, she gave an enormous hiccup. Winky hiccupped again and the elves that had brought the chocolates gave her disapproving looks as they returned to work.
"Hey Winky," Harish said, struck by a sudden realization. "you don't know what Mr. Crouch might be up to, do you? Because he's stopped turning up to judge the Triwizard Tournament."
Winky's eyes flickered. Her enormous pupils focused on Harish. She swayed slightly again and then said, "M-Master is stopped—hic—coming?"
"Yeah," Harish replied. "We haven't seen him since the first task. The Daily Prophet is saying that he is ill."
Winky swayed some more, staring blurrily at Harish.
"Master—hic—ill?"
Her bottom lip began to tremble.
"Master is needing his—hic—Winky! Master cannot—hic—manage—hic—all by himself…"
"Well, I'm sure he is managing his housework fine," Harish said.
"Winky—hic—is not only—hic—doing housework for Mr. Crouch!" Winky squeaked indignantly. That was the response Harish had hoped for. "Master is—hic—trusting Winky with—hic—the most important—hic—the most secret—"
"What?" the twins asked in unison.
Winky shook her head very hard, spilling butterbeer on herself. Harish shot them a glare. She had almost told them.
"Winky keeps—hic—her master's secrets," she said mutinously, swaying very heavily now, frowning up at the redheads with her eyes crossed. "You is—hic—nosing, you is."
Harish, who found himself losing patience, snapped, "Wizards don't nose! Mr. Crouch is no longer your master. Since you work here, we are your masters! I order you to tell us what secrets!"
"You is nosing—hic—into master's—hic—private and secret—hic—Winky keeps her silence—hic—Winky is a good house elf—hic—people trying to—hic—pry and poke—hic—"
Winky's eyelids drooped and suddenly, without warning, she slid off her stool into the hearth, snoring loudly. The empty bottle of butterbeer rolled away across the stone-flagged floor. Half a dozen house-elves hurried forward, looking disgusted. One of them picked up the bottle; the others covered Winky with a large checked tablecloth and tucked the ends in neatly, hiding her from view.
"We is sorry you had to see that, sirs!" a nearby elf squeaked, shaking his head and looking very ashamed. "We is hoping you will not judge us all by Winky, sirs!"
"What is she doing here?" Harish asked. "Obviously she isn't doing any work."
"Master Dumbledore hired her out of pity, sirs," another elf told them. "But she is drinking too many butterbeers to be working, sirs. House-elves have no right to be unhappy when there is work to be done and masters to be served!"
All of the other elves nodded in agreement.
"It's all right," Harish said finally. "You all do plenty of good work to make up for it."
"Thank you, sir!" they all chimed. Harish had more food stuffed into his hands.
"Well," he finally said. "We need to be off."
"Goodbye!" several of them squeaked. Harish left and he and the twins went straight up to the Owlry.
"That was no use," Harish finally said as he sent a whole ham off with two owls.
The twins nodded. Harish leaned forward and looked out of the window, watching Hagrid dig around in a patch of ground in front of his cabin.
"It's too bad too," Fred said.
"We could have gotten good stuff about Crouch," George continued for him.
"If Winky had only not fainted after you ordered her to talk."
Harish nodded and turned away from the window.
"Come on," he said. "Let's go down."
So the three of them went down to the common room.
As the days passed, each growing closer to the Easter holidays, more and more work was piled on top of them. The fourth years were preparing to take OWL's the next year and the sixth years were preparing to take NEWT's in their next year, though Harish was seriously debating on whether he should return or not. It all depended on whether he won the tournament, which he had little doubt of doing so, and whether Voldemort started the war up before the school year started again.
The start of April came and went. On the first the twins turned seventeen. Harish normally enjoyed seeing them celebrate their birthday, but this year he found it very hard to enjoy. Although it reminded him that he would be turning seventeen last, he forced himself to put on a smile and enjoy the day for their sakes. As it got later into April, each Saturday they increased the distance between them and their hoops, preparing almost everyone for the Apparition Tests.
Between that and the mounds of homework, Harish found time to send food to Sirius at least once a week. Although he had never been properly hungry in his life, the reason he kept sending food was because he didn't want to imagine it. With every package of food, he also enclosed notes to Sirius, telling him that all was well, and that they were still waiting for an answer from Percy.
Hedwig didn't return until the end of the Easter holidays. Percy's letter was enclosed in a package of Easter eggs that Mrs. Weasley had sent. Harish, the twins, Hermione, Ginny, and Daphne all received ones that were as big as dragon eggs and full of homemade toffee. Draco received one as well, but it was smaller than a chicken egg. His face fell when he saw the others.
Then, he shrugged and said, "It's surprising I received one at all."
"My dad probably convinced her to do it," Ginny said. "Since she sent one to everyone else, it would have seemed rude if you hadn't received one."
He nodded.
Meanwhile, Harish had opened the letter from Percy and was reading it. It was short and irritated.
As I am constantly telling the Daily Prophet, Mr. Crouch is taking a well-deserved break. He is sending in regular owls with instructions. No, I haven't actually seen him, but I think I can be trusted to know my own superior's handwriting. I have quite enough to do at the moment without trying to quash these ridiculous rumors. Please don't bother me again unless it's something important. Happy Easter.
On the first week of May came the Apparition Tests, that both twins passed very well. That day there were only three or four students in each of the classes, so Harish had extra time to do homework. Although Harish didn't take the test, he congratulated them for their achievement.
The start of the summer term would normally have meant that Harish was training hard for the last Quidditch match of the season. This year, however, it was the third and final task in the Triwizard Tournament for which he needed to prepare, but he still didn't know what he would have to do. Finally, in the last week of May, Professor McGonagall held him back in Transfiguration.
"You are to go down to the Quidditch field tonight at nine o'clock, Blake," she told him. "Mr. Bagman will be there to tell the champions about the third task."
Harish winced. They had been practicing human transfiguration that day and George, who had been Harish's partner, had not properly changed Harish back from a dog. He looked completely human, but he had a hunch that his senses were still slightly off. Everything seemed too loud to be normal. Harish intended to go to Madam Pomfrey after he went to the Quidditch field, if his senses still didn't seem right.
At half past eight that night, Harish left the others in the common room and went upstairs. He crossed the empty entrance hall and exited the building. He walked down the dark lawn to the Quidditch stadium, turned through a gap in the stands, and walked out onto the field.
Instantly, Harish stopped and his jaw dropped.
The Quidditch field was no longer smooth and flat. It looked as though someone had been building long, low walls all over it that twisted and crisscrossed in every direction.
Harish bent over the nearest one and realized they were hedges.
"Hello there!" a cheery voice called. Harish heard the as clearly as if its owner was standing right next to him.
But the voice's owner wasn't. Ludo Bagman was standing in the middle of the field with Krum and Fleur. Harish made his way toward them, climbing over the hedges. Fleur smiled at him briefly and Krum looked as excited as ever—or really as bored as ever.
"Well, what d'you think?" Bagman asked happily as Harish climbed over the last hedge. "Growing nicely, aren't they? Give them a month and Hagrid'll have them twenty feet high. Don't worry," he added, grinning, as he noticed the less-than-happy expression on Harish's face, "you'll have your Quidditch field back to normal once the task is over! Now, I imagine you can guess what we're making here?"
No one spoke for a moment. Then—
"Maze," Krum grunted.
"That's right!" Bagman said loudly, causing Harish to cringe. "A maze. The third task's really very straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the center of the maze. The first champion to touch it will receive full marks."
"We seemply 'ave to get through the maze?" Fleur asked.
"There will be obstacles," Bagman replied happily, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Hagrid is providing a number of creatures…then there will be spells that must be broken…all that sort of thing, you know. Now, the champions will enter the maze in order of how many points they have. So Mr. Blake will have a head start into the maze," Bagman grinned at Harish. "Then Mr. Krum will enter…then Miss Delacour. But you'll be in with a fighting chance, depending on how well you get past the obstacles. Should be fun, eh?"
All of them nodded politely.
"Very well…if you haven't got any questions, we'll go back up to the castle, shall we, it's a bit chilly…"
They then made their way out of the stadium. Fleur walked briskly, taking long strides to get back to the Beauxbatons carriage. Bagman was behind her and Harish and Krum walked behind him. Harish headed directly for the castle, and Krum walked with him.
"You fly very vell," he said, breaking the silence. "I vos votching at the first task."
"Thanks," Harish replied. "I saw you at the Quidditch Cup. The Wronski Feint, you really—" he paused very suddenly and cocked his head.
"Vot is it?" Krum asked.
"I hear something," Harish replied, listening. It sounded as though someone was staggering around the woods. He could hear twigs snapping and low mumbling, but he couldn't make out any words.
"You look like a dog," Krum pointed out.
"I know," Harish said with a scowl. "George didn't transfigure me back properly."
Then he froze as he heard more crashing coming from the woods.
"Stay here," he said, turning toward the woods.
The teen made his way over to the edge of the forest cautiously to see someone moving within the trees. Krum followed with curiousity. Harish drew his wand and edged forward, motioning for Krum to be quiet.
Suddenly a man staggered out from behind a tall oak. For a moment, Harish didn't recognize him…then he realized it was Mr. Crouch.
He looked as though he had been traveling for days. The knees of his robes were ripped and bloody, his face scratched; he was unshaven and gray with exhaustion. His usually neat hair and mustache were both in need of a wash and a trim. His strange appearance, however, was nothing to the way he was behaving. Muttering and gesticulating, Crouch appeared to be talking to someone that he alone could see.
"Vosn't he a judge?" Krum asked, staring at Mr. Crouch. "Isn't he vith your Ministry?"
Harish nodded, hesitated for a moment, then walked slowly toward Crouch, who did not look at him, but continued to talk to a nearby tree.
"…and when you've done that, Weatherby, send an owl to Dumbledore confirming the number of Durmstrang students who will be attending the tournament, Karkaroff has just sent word there will be twelve…"
"Mr. Crouch?" Harish asked. His voice was tinted with both caution and curiosity.
"…and then send another to Madame Maxime, because she might want to up the number of students she's bringing, now Karkaroff's made it a round dozen…do that, Weatherby, will you? Will you? Will…"
Crouch's eyes were bulging. He stood staring at the tree, muttering soundlessly at it. Then, he staggered sideways and fell to his knees.
"Mr. Crouch?" Harish repeated.
"Vot is going on?" Krum asked quietly.
"That's what I want to know," Harish replied.
Mr. Crouch's eyes were now rolling in his head. Harish looked at Krum, who was looking down at Crouch in alarm.
"Vot is wrong vith him?"
Harish was starting to feel annoyed.
"No idea," he said calmly. His voice betrayed no impatience. "Maybe one of us should go get someone—"
"Dumbledore!" Mr. Crouch gasped. He reached out and seized a fistful of Harish's robes, dragging him closer, though his eyes were staring over Harish's head. "I need…see…Dumbledore…"
"God his grip is tight," Harish muttered as he tried to pull himself away from Crouch.
"I've done…stupid…thing…" Mr. Crouch breathed. He looked utterly mad. His eyes were rolling and bulging, and a trickle of spittle was sliding down his chin. Every word he spoke seemed to cost him a terrible effort. "Must…tell…Dumbledore…"
"Well get up," Harish said loudly. "I can't move with you on me!"
Crouch's eyes rolled forward onto Harish.
"Who…you?" he whispered.
"I'm a student at the school," Harish said, looking around at Krum for some help, but Krum was hanging back.
"You're not…his?" Crouch whispered, his mouth sagging.
"No," he said without the faintest idea what the man was talking about.
"Dumbledore's?"
"That's right," Harish replied.
Crouch was pulling him closer; Harish tried to loosen Crouch's grip on his robes, but it was too powerful.
"Warn…Dumbledore…"
"I'll get Dumbledore if you let go of me," Harish said.
"Thank you, Weatherby, and when you have done that, I would like a cup of tea. My wife and son will be arriving shortly, we are attending a concert tonight with Mr. and Mrs. Fudge."
Crouch was now talking fluently to a tree again, and seemed completely unaware that Harish was there, which surprised Harish so much he didn't notice that Crouch had released him.
"Yes, my son has recently gained twelve OWL's, most satisfactory, yes, thank you, yes, very proud indeed. How, if you could bring me that memo from the Andorran Minister of Magic, I think I will have time to draft a response…."
Not sure what to do and not wanting to leave a clearly insane Barty Crouch with Krum, Harish sent a patronus to Dumbledore, hoping the man would get there soon.
"He is mad," Krum muttered, staring incredulously at Crouch, who was still gabbling to the tree, apparently convinced it was Percy.
Harish stood up and noticed that it was growing dark. His movement seemed to trigger another abrupt change in Mr. Crouch, who seized him hard around the knees and pulled Harish back to the ground.
"Don't…leave…me!" he whispered, his eyes bulging again. "I…escaped…must warn…must tell…see Dumbledore…my fault…all my fault…Bertha…betrayed…all my fault…my son…my fault…tell Dumbledore…Harry Potter…not dead…the Dark Lord…returns…Neville Longbottom…"
Harish stared at the man incredulously. How did he know that Harry Potter wasn't dead? And how did he know that Voldemort was planning a return? This was very bad. Dumbledore couldn't know that!
Harish glanced up at the table to see several dark figures come out of the castle. Krum turned and looked as well. Then, Harish realized that it was unnaturally silent. He turned back to see that there was no sign of Mr. Crouch.
"Where did he go?" he asked rather loudly.
Krum turned back as well to see that Crouch had disappeared.
A minute later, Dumbledore appeared out of the now darkened grounds. He could hear a muttered, "Lumos," and suddenly a light was shining in his face.
"What is this, Harish, my boy? What is going on?"
"I-I don't know, Professor," Harish said.
"Where is Crouch?" asked another voice. Harish peered beside Dumbledore, but couldn't make anyone out. Because of the light shining in his face, all he could see was the silhouettes of two men.
"I don't know," Harish replied. "He was just here, but—"
"He disappeared," Krum said. "He vos going on, talking to a tree and ve turned to look at the castle—"
"And when we looked back, he was gone!"
Dumbledore marched forward, holding out his wand. He lit up the trees in the general area, but no man was in sight.
"He really was here," Harish said.
Dumbledore looked at him over his half-moon spectacles for a long moment before saying, "I believe you. What did he say?"
"It was kind of hard to make out," Harish replied. "Something about something being his fault, his son, Bertha Jorkins…oh, and he kept asking for you."
Dumbledore looked very concerned for a moment. Then, the emotions cleared from his face, he turned toward Hagrid's cabin, and sent off a patronus. The sound of thunderous footfalls reached them a few minutes later, and Hagrid came panting into sight with Fang at his heels. He was carrying a crossbow.
"Perfessor Dumbledore?" he asked, his eyes widening. "Harish—what the—?"
Hagrid, I need you to fetch Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore said. "His student is out here with us. When you've done that, kindly alert Professor Moody—"
"No need, Dumbledore," said a wheezy growl. "I'm here."
Moody was limping toward them, leaning on his staff, his wand lit.
"I heard a commotion and saw you leaving the castle." He informed them. "What's happened? Snape said something about Crouch—"
"Crouch?" Hagrid asked blankly.
"Karkaroff, please, Hagrid!" Dumbledore said sharply.
"Oh yeah…right y'are Perfessor…" and he turned and disappeared among the dark trees, Fang trotting after him.
"I don't know where Barty Crouch is," Dumbledore told Moody, "but it is essential that we find him."
"I'm onto it," Moody growled, and he limped away into the forest.
No one spoke and the forest remained silent until Harish could heard Hagrid and Karkaroff growing nearer. Soon they could see Karkaroff hurrying toward them. He was wearing sleek furs, and he looked pale and agitated.
"What is this?" he cried when he saw Krum, Harish, and Dumbledore. "What's going on?"
"We have a stray student of yours, Igor," Dumbledore replied. "He may need some hot chocolate, he and Harish here had a rather nerve wracking experience."
Then he turned to Hagrid.
"Please take Harish up to the castle, Hagrid," he said.
Hagrid nodded, placing a giant hand on Harish's back and steering him to the castle.
"I'll leave Fang with yeh, Headmaster," Hagrid said. "Stay Fang. C'mon, Harish."
The marched in silence for a while. Then, once they reached the castle, Harish asked, "Can I go to the Hospital Wing?"
"What fer?" Hagrid asked.
"I don't think George transfigured me back from a dog properly in class today," he replied. "That's why I heard Crouch from where I was."
Hagrid nodded and said, "I'll take yeh there."
Once they arrived in the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey asked, "What have you done this time?"
Harish explained to her his predicament and she scanned him. Sure enough, his senses were still dog-like and she fixed that within seconds. Then, Hagrid took him to the Slytherin common room. Harish bid him a polite goodnight at the entrance to the dungeons, and hurried into the common room to tell the others what happened.