There was a brief silence in the office. Everyone was immersed in sadness.
Then, everyone noticed that Harry's arm was still bleeding. Sirius hurried over to help him treat the wound under his robe.
At the same time, Elwyn found his own school robe and put it on. He took off Gabriel's torn robe.
"I don't understand. Why did Lord Voldemort have to use Harry's blood?" Sirius asked, looking at Harry's wound.
"He said that using my blood would be more effective than using other people's blood, and that it would make him stronger." Harry said, extending his arm for Sirius to bandage his wound. "He said that protective power, the power that my mother left in my body, he wanted to have it too. He was right. When he met me again, he wouldn't be injured. After he resurrected, he touched my face … "
For a brief moment, Harry seemed to see a flash of joy in Dumbledore's eyes.
But Harry quickly decided that his eyes were playing tricks on him, for Dumbledore immediately looked as old and tired as he had been before.
"Lord Voldemort defeated that unusual obstacle!" Dumbledore said, turning his eyes to Barty Crouch Jr., who was sitting on a chair. "He's back. That's an indisputable fact. The question now is what we should do … Although we already know most of the truth, there are still some details that need to be clarified. Severus, please get your strongest truth-telling potion, and go to the kitchen and find a house-elf called Twinkle. "
Snape nodded and immediately turned to leave.
"Right, what happened after we left the school?" Elwyn asked. "Krum seems to have been hit by the Soul Snatch Curse. Is he okay?"
"He's fine. He's receiving treatment in the hospital now! After the three of you were taken away by the Door Key, the merpeople immediately rushed up to inform me. I was right next to this lunatic! " As Sirius spoke, he pointed at Barty Crouch Jr. "I was going to catch him as planned, but we got into a fight. Foggy seemed to be frightened and followed me to the school hospital. Then, we brought him back to the castle. On the way back, he changed back to his original appearance. Dumbledore said that you two were here … "
Sirius recounted what happened after they left. The fight between him and Barty Crouch Jr. was huge, and a large group of merfolk had come out to warn them. The sudden turn of events shocked everyone present and caused chaos.
Until now, the outside of the castle was still in a mess. The professors were trying their best to maintain order and let the students return to their respective common rooms.
Fortunately, apart from Cedric who was still missing, there were no casualties, which could be considered a blessing in disguise.
The only one who was more seriously injured was probably Ron. He was brutally tortured by Krum's Heart-Drilling Curse. Then, he was hit by a Stun Curse and fell into the water plants full of Gridilo. They probably treated him as food and bit him a few times …
Fortunately, the crying Myrtle was beside him at the time. She went to inform the others, and the nearby merfolk saved him.
"Barty Crouch Jr. pretended to be Moody. Where's the real Moody?" Harry asked.
"If I'm not mistaken, he should be in this room. They need to keep him alive and keep him by their side, so that they can take a part of his body at any time to make a Compound Decoction," Dumbledore said as he dug out a bunch of keys from Barty Crouch Jr.
He took the keys and walked straight to the box with seven locks in the corner and inserted the first key into the keyhole.
Dumbledore opened the box. Inside was a pile of spell books.
He closed the box and inserted the second key into the second lock. When he opened it again, the box was no longer filled with spell books. Instead, there were broken speculars, some parchments, quills, and a silver invisibility cloak.
"That's the seventh one, Professor!" Elwyn reminded him, knowing what he was going to do.
Dumbledore inserted the seventh key into the lock and opened the lid. Harry and Sirius screamed at the same time.
There was a large pit under the box, like a basement.
A man lay on the floor about six feet deep. He was as thin as a stick and seemed to be asleep. He was the real Mad Eye Moody.
His wooden legs were gone, and the eyelids of his magic eyes were empty. A few tufts of white hair were missing.
Dumbledore climbed into the box and landed gently next to the sleeping Moody. He leaned over to look at him.
"He's fainted. He's very weak because of the curse," he said. "Fortunately, his life is not in danger. Let's leave him in the care of Mrs. Panchfrey for a while. He'll gradually get better."
Dumbledore and Sirius lifted Moody up and laid him on the sofa by the fire.
Just then, there was the sound of hurried footsteps in the corridor. Snape came back with Glitter in tow.
Glitter poked her head out from beside Snape's feet and saw Barty Crouch, Jr., tied to a chair.
She opened her mouth wide and let out a piercing scream.
"Master Barty, Master Barty, what are you doing here?" she screamed and rushed over. "You killed him! You killed him! You killed the master's son! "
"We just subdued him, Glitter," said Dumbledore. "Step aside, please, Severus. Did you bring the potion?"
Snape handed Dumbledore a small bottle of clear liquid. It was the potent truth-telling potion he had brewed.
Dumbledore pried open Barty Crouch Jr.'s mouth and poured three drops of the potion into it.
Glitter was still kneeling there, hands over her face, trembling and looking at them in horror.
After a few seconds, Barty Crouch Jr.'s eyes opened. His gaze was dull and his cheeks slack.
Dumbledore crouched in front of him, face to face.
"Can you hear me?" Dumbledore asked calmly.
"Yes," he whispered, his eyelids fluttering a few times.
"Good, the truth-telling potion is working. We'd better start with the easy questions!" Dumbledore said gently. "I want you to tell us why you're here. How did you escape from Azkaban?"
Young Crouch Jr. took a deep, trembling breath and began to speak in a flat, emotionless tone.
"My mother saved me. She knew she was going to die, so she begged my father to save me as a last favor for her. My father loved her, even though he never loved me. He agreed, and they came to see me together. They gave me a potion containing my mother's hair. My mother drank the potion containing my hair, and we exchanged looks. "
Glitter shook her head and trembled.
"Stop, Young Master Barty. Stop! You'll bring trouble to your father!"
But Young Crouch Jr. took another deep breath and continued to speak in a flat voice.
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