Chapter 110: Mr Crouch

Hagrid didn't show up anywhere the entire week. A temporary Care of Magical Creatures teacher Professor Grubbly-Plank, took his place. To Chris's great disappointment, the Professor started to keep away the creatures from Chris as much as possible. She didn't like the fact that the creatures obeyed Chris more than her.

"She's just doing her job. She can't favour a student just because the creature like it." Jason said to Chris. Jason usually liked to spend the classes, unnoticed; so he always stood at the end. And now because of Professor Grubbly-Plank, Chris got to stand with him at the back of the entire class.

"Don't you dare take her side." Chris snapped. "This is not right. I miss Hagrid."

"That's the actual point." Jason chuckled. "You miss Hagrid."

"I'm just thinking how that Rita Skeeter found out about Hagrid. I think she have spies in Hogwarts." Chris said angrily.

"Possible. She always found out confidential informations." Jason said casually. "I don't think Hagrid will teach us again. You should make peace with Professor Grubbly-Plank."

"I'll figured..."

"Miss Norton, will you pay attention?" Professor Grubbly-Plank barked from the front. "Magical Creatures classes are only not about patting the creatures, Miss Norton, it's about knowing them theoretically."

Many Slytherins laughed. Jason didn't. Chris gritted her teeth, without looking away from Professor Grubbly-Plank, which annoyed her.

"If you disturb my class again Miss Norton then I'm going to take house points from Gryffindor." She said narrowing her eyes.

Chris clenched her fist tightly, still looking at Grubbly-Plank. Suddenly, Jason touched her clenched fist. She sharply turned to him, but he was looking at Grubbly-Plank, casually. He gave her hand a squeeze(without looking) and Chris stared at him. Grubbly-Plank just saw that Chris was finally looking away, so she started to teach again. Jason let go her hand and smirked as he saw her surprised face. Chris looked away from him. They didn't talk for the rest of the class. Soon the bell rang and Chris walked back towards the castle without waiting.

"We've to get back Hagrid." Colin said catching up with Chris.

"I agree." Ginny replied walking with Colin.

Though they were saying this for weeks, the truth was, all seven of them, including Harry, Ron and Hermione went to Hagrid's cabin many times but he was ignoring it completely.

Malfoy was whispering to them whenever there was a teacher around, so that he was safe from their retaliation. But he underestimated Chris a little bit.

"Missing your half-breed pal?" he shouted, one afternoon, in Great Hall, when Snape was near.

And Chris delivered a strong punch direct on his nose.

As expected Snape took thirty points from Gryffindor and gave detention to Chris. But Ginny, Luna, Colin, Harry, Ron and even Chris herself thought that it was worth seeing Malfoy's broken nose. Jason just sighed as he watch all of this.

Another Hogsmeade trip came at January twelve. Chris knew, this trip was going to be different from the previous one, as Luna planned to meet Shawn there, Ginny was going with her new boyfriend Michael Corner and Chris planned to meet Sirius there. Chris explained this to Colin, and Colin happily agreed to go Hogsmeade with his roommates.

So Chris decided to leave with Harry, Ron and Hermione as Sirius wanted to talk with four of them.

Chris, Harry, Ron, and Hermione left the castle together on Saturday and set off through the cold, wet grounds toward the gates. As they passed the Durmstrang ship moored in the lake, they saw Viktor Krum emerge onto the deck, dressed in nothing but swimming trunks. He was very skinny indeed, but apparently a lot tougher than he looked, because he climbed up onto the side of the ship, stretched out his arms, and dived, right into the lake.

"He's mad!" said Harry, staring at Krum's dark head as it bobbed out into the middle of the lake. "It must be freezing, it's January!"

"It's a lot colder where he comes from," said Hermione. "I suppose it feels quite warm to him."

"Don't you think Hermione, Krum had told you many more things, inspite of their school secrecy?" Chris asked.

"Yeah." Hermione blushed. "Even Professor Karkaroff is not happy with this but Victor doesn't mind. He said that he can talk to me all day."

"That's a big commitment, I guess, considering the fact that I never heard him talking." Chris grinned.

As they walked down the high street, they found Sirius waiting for them in front of Zonko's joke shop.

"Hello, Sirius," said Harry and hugged his Godfather.

He greeted them one by one and asked them to follow him.

"Though I'm allowed to enter Hogwarts to meet you, I tought I'll be able to talk more freely here than in Hogwarts." Sirius explained as they climbed a slope towards the Shrieking Shack. The place was as usual deserted.

"Now tell me who do you all think, put Harry's name in that Goblet of Fire?" Sirius asked as soon as they reached near the Shrieking Shack.

Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other.

"I don't know but Mad-Eye doubts Karkaroff." Chris answered.

"Hmm.." Sirius said thoughtfully. "I guessed that much when I was talking to Dumbledore."

"What? But why? And Chris why didn't you tell us this?" Harry asked surprised.

"I didn't, cause I don't think it's Karkaroff." Chris replied casually.

"Why Chris? Do you know Karkaroff was a Death Eater. You know what Death Eaters are, don't you?" Sirius said.

"he — what?" Harry, Ron and Hermione said together.

"Look Dumbledore was preventing me to tell you few things but I think you need to know." Sirius said. "Karkaroff was caught, he was in Azkaban with me, but he got released. That's why Dumbledore wanted an Auror at Hogwarts this year — to keep an eye on him. Moody caught Karkaroff. Put him into Azkaban in the first place."

"Karkaroff got released?" Harry said slowly. "Why did they release him?"

"He did a deal with the Ministry of Magic," said Sirius bitterly. "He said he'd seen the error of his ways, and then he named names … he put a load of other people into Azkaban in his place. … He's not very popular in there, I can tell you. And since he got out, from what I can tell, he's been teaching the Dark Arts to every student who passes through that school of his."

"But... Victor doesn't look like that..." Hermione said quietly.

"Victor?" Sirius repeated surprised.

"Victor Krum. Durmstrang champion." Chris replied as Hermione went red. "But I think he didn't because I'd noticed Karkaroff, he wasn't happy when Harry's name came out. He wants Krum to win and he sees Harry like a threat on their way. He even suspects that Dumbledore is teaching Harry some advanced things, so he could win."

"But we know he's a good actor," said Sirius, "because he convinced the Ministry of Magic to set him free, didn't he? Also I'm suspicious about the attack on Moody, the night before he started at Hogwarts. Don't you think someone is trying to stop him from coming to Hogwarts? I think someone knew their job would be a lot more difficult with him around. And no one's going to look into it too closely; Mad-Eye's heard intruders a bit too often. But that doesn't mean he can't still spot the real thing. Moody was the best Auror the Ministry ever had. But I also agree with you Chris, it's unlikely, Karkaroff to go back to Voldemort unless he knew Voldemort was powerful enough to protect him. Because he knows everyone will suspect him, first."

"Someone wants Harry dead. I understood that much." Chris said. "And it's someone related to Riddle. But how did he found out about the tournament? It's was secret news between the ministry isn't?"

"Riddle?" Ron asked surprised.

"It's Voldemort's actual name." Harry said. "Tom Riddle."

"Right. It was between the ministry but one ministry employee is still missing." Sirius hesitated.

"Bertha Jorkins?" Chris, Harry, Ron and Hermione said at the same time.

"Exactly … she disappeared in Albania, and that's definitely where Voldemort was rumored to be last … and she would have known the Triwizard Tournament was coming up, wouldn't she?"

"Yeah, but … it's not very likely she'd have walked straight into Voldemort, is it?" said Hermione.

"Listen, I knew Bertha Jorkins," said Sirius grimly. "She was at Hogwarts when I was, a few years above your dad and me. And she was an idiot. Very nosy, but no brains, none at all. It's not a good combination, Harry. I'd say she'd be very easy to lure into a trap."

There was tensed silence.

"I shouldn't have told you that much. You're still young." Sirius shook his head.

"What about the person I asked you about Sirius?" Chris asked seriously.

"Crouch? Right. Well I'll be honest with you, Crouch was the one who gave the order for me to be sent to Azkaban — without a trial." Sirius said quietly.

"What?" said Ron and Hermione together.

"Any particular reason?" Chris asked calmly.

"Not even a question about why didn't I mentioned it before?" Sirius smiled looking at Chris.

"You didn't trust me before, I understand." Chris replied.

"Crouch used to be Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He was tipped for the next Minister of Magic," said Sirius. "He's a great wizard, Barty Crouch, powerfully magical — and power-hungry. Oh never a Voldemort supporter," he said, reading the look on Harry's face. "No, Barty Crouch was always very outspoken against the Dark Side."

"Then?" Chris asked curiously.

"When Voldemort was powerful, every week, news came of more deaths, more disappearances, more torturing … the Ministry of Magic was in disarray, they didn't know what to do, they were trying to keep everything hidden from the Muggles, but meanwhile, Muggles were dying too. Terror everywhere … panic … confusion … Well, times like that bring out the best in some people and the worst in others. Crouch's principles might've been good in the beginning — I wouldn't know. He rose quickly through the Ministry, and he started ordering very harsh measures against Voldemort's supporters. The Aurors were given new powers — powers to kill rather than capture, for instance. And I wasn't the only one who was handed straight to the dementors without trial. Crouch fought violence with violence, and authorized the use of the Unforgivable Curses against suspects. I would say he became as ruthless and cruel as many on the Dark Side. He had his supporters, mind you — plenty of people thought he was going about things the right way, and there were a lot of witches and wizards clamoring for him to take over as Minister of Magic. When Voldemort disappeared, it looked like only a matter of time until Crouch got the top job. But then something rather unfortunate happened. …" Sirius smiled grimly. "Crouch's own son was caught with a group of Death Eaters who'd managed to talk their way out of Azkaban. Apparently they were trying to find Voldemort and return him to power."

"Crouch's son was caught?" gasped Hermione.

"Yep, nasty little shock for old Barty, I'd imagine. Should have spent a bit more time at home with his family, shouldn't he? Ought to have left the office early once in a while … gotten to know his own son." Sirius said.

"Was his son a Death Eater?" said Harry.

"No idea," said Sirius, still stuffing down bread. "I was in Azkaban myself when he was brought in. This is mostly stuff I've found out since I got out. The boy was definitely caught in the company of people I'd bet my life were Death Eaters — but he might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, just like the house-elf."

"And he did the same thing with his son. Cut him out, didn't he?" Chris said grimly.

"Right. Anything that threatened to tarnish his reputation had to go; he had dedicated his whole life to becoming Minister of Magic." Sirius gave a dry laugh. "Crouch's fatherly affection stretched just far enough to give his son a trial, and by all accounts, it wasn't much more than an excuse for Crouch to show how much he hated the boy … then he sent him straight to Azkaban."

"He gave his own son to the dementors?" asked Harry quietly.

"That's right," said Sirius, and he didn't look remotely amused now. "I saw the dementors bringing him in, watched them through the bars in my cell door. He can't have been more than nineteen. They took him into a cell near mine. He was screaming for his mother by nightfall. He went quiet after a few days, though … they all went quiet in the end … except when they shrieked in their sleep. …"

"So he's still in Azkaban?" Harry said.

"No," said Sirius dully. "No, he's not in there anymore. He died about a year after they brought him in."

"He died?" Hermione gasped.

"He wasn't the only one," said Sirius bitterly. "Most go mad in there, and plenty stop eating in the end. They lose the will to live. You could always tell when a death was coming, because the dementors could sense it, they got excited. That boy looked pretty sickly when he arrived. Crouch being an important Ministry member, he and his wife were allowed a deathbed visit. That was the last time I saw Barty Crouch, half carrying his wife past my cell. She died herself, apparently, shortly afterward. Grief. Wasted away just like the boy. Crouch never came for his son's body. The dementors buried him outside the fortress; I watched them do it."

"So that's why he got angry, when I called him out like that." Chris said. "My words were kind of reminding him about his son."

"Possible. You see, old Crouch lost it all, just when he thought he had it made," Sirius sighed. "One moment, a hero, poised to become Minister of Magic … next, his son dead, his wife dead, the family name dishonored, and, so I've heard since I escaped, a big drop in popularity. Once the boy had died, people started feeling a bit more sympathetic toward the son and started asking how a nice young lad from a good family had gone so badly astray. The conclusion was that his father never cared much for him. So Cornelius Fudge got the top job, and Crouch was shunted sideways into the Department of International Magical Cooperation."