Chapter - 59 : The Dark Revelation part - 3

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"I'll take him," Sirius volunteered.

"No, I need you here." the headmaster ordered. "As well as Remus and Severus."

"I'll accompany the boy," Moody said, then heaved himself from his chair. "Come on now, Potter."

The last thing Harry wanted to do was leave his godfather and honorary uncle alone with the headmaster, but he was far too exhausted to be able to make any sort of argument so he simply nodded and followed Moody out of the office.

"Do you mind if we stop by my office before we head to the infirmary? Need to pick something up." Harry shook his head blearily and allowed the grizzled ex-auror to lead him to his office. "Sit down, Potter."

From his seat in front of Moody's desk, Harry watched as his professor tried and failed to look nonchalant as he rifled through a stack of papers. "You said he forgave them? The Death Eaters who went free? The ones who escaped Azkaban?"

The question was so sudden, it took Harry's weary brain several seconds to comprehend it. "Y-yeah, that's what I said. He put a few of the bastards under the Cruciatus, but he more or less forgave them after they did a bit of groveling."

All traces of badly faked flippancy were gone, Moody looked furious. "They don't deserve to be forgiven," he growled. "Those scum never even went to look for him. Those treacherous cowards wouldn't even brave Azkaban for him. They are faithless, worthless bits of filth who thought themselves brave when they cavorted in their masks at the Quidditch World Cup, but fled at the sight of the Dark Mark when I fired it into the sky."

"Okay, I'm sorry, I must be really tired." Harry said. "Did you just say you were the one who fired the Dark Mark?"

"I told you before, Harry, there's nothing I hate more than 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. To make them beg and plead for forgiveness only to spurn their pleas and torture them more."

Harry groaned and let his head fall back against his chair. "Don't tell me your Voldemort's faithful servant."

Moody drew himself up proudly. "Yes, it was I who put your name in the goblet, who made the cup into a portkey, who made it possible for my master to rise again. And it is I who will be rewarded above all others.

"The Dark Lord didn't manage to kill you Potter, and he so wanted to," whispered Moody "Imagine how he 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…"

"All right, this is getting weird," Harry held out a hand and, before the man could even move to defend himself, sent a concentrated bolt of magic right at Moody, it hit him square in the chest, threw him into the wall, and knocked him unconscious. "That's better."

Harry tiredly climbed to his feet (that bit of magic hadn't done anything for his already exhausted state) and shuffled over to Moody's side where he proceeded to pat the old man down and retrieve his silver flask, a key ring, and, of course, his wand. The fourth year took a quick whiff at the contents of the flask, and, instead of smelling the sharp stench of spirits, inhaled the musky scent of a potion; it was only when he poured a bit onto the desk that he recognized the muddy texture as Polyjuice.

Sighing, he bound the unconscious man tightly in conjured ropes, then sent a patronus off to Dumbledore. "Let the adults handle this," he muttered, stumbling his way to the infirmary, "I'm going to sleep."

He didn't get to sleep.

The adults had, for some odd reason, been upset that he'd left imposter moody (who, after the polyjuice wore off, turned out to be Barty Crouch Jr.) alone in his office. Even though the man hadbeen knocked unconscious and trussed up like a hog, they thought him irresponsible for leaving a dangerous and very insane man unchecked while he went to sleep. Harry's rebuttal that he thought them irresponsible for allowing said dangerous and very insane man to roam around the school unchecked as well as interact with students was only met with even more disapproval.

After wasting at least a quarter of an hour berating the Slytherin who obviously couldn't care less what he thought, Dumbledore finally got around to asking what had happened to reveal the fake Moody's true identity. Harry, who was feeling far less charitable than he'd been an hour or so previous, of course made the old man work to get his answers.

But, in the long run, none of it mattered as the idiot Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge allowed a dementor to steal Crouch Jr.'s soul, leaving the imposter as nothing more than an empty husk and rendering him useless for any future interrogations.

"By all accounts, he is no loss!" Fudge tried to defend himself when both Dumbledore and McGonagall chewed him out for his stupidity. "Don't think I've forgotten all of the people he murdered and tortured when You-Know-Who was still alive."

"I didn't think you would," Dumbledore said tiredly, "but we needed Barty Crouch."

"Needed him for what?" Fudge blustered.

"Answers, it seems young Mr. Crouch was behind many of this year's unfortunate occurrences, some of which he enacted under someone else's orders/"

"And who might that be?"

"Voldemort." The Minister flinched violently at the name, but Dumbledore continued on ruthlessly. "All of the year's events were a part of a larger plan to restore Voldemort to full strength, and that plan succeeded. Voldemort has returned."

"And on what grounds do you base this outrageous assumption?"

"Are you suggesting that I hallucinated Voldemort's return?" Harry asked quietly.

Fudge seemed to realize the danger he had just put himself in, but had no idea how to fix his mistake. "I…well no-that is to say-"

"From what I see you have two choices, Minister," Harry said, calmly cutting off the older man.

"You can stick your head right back in the sand and pretend the only things you have to worry about are the upcoming elections, or you can, for once, buck up, prove yourself worthy of the title Minister of Magic, and begin preparing for a second war with Voldemort, because it will happen.

"But if, for some outlandish reason, you decide to go with the former I hope that when the blood of thousands are on your hands and you realize the true gravity of your error you are able to live with your mistake."

Fudge gulped heavily watching Harry with large frightened eyes, and then he turned and hurried out of the infirmary. He hadn't said anything, but then again he hadn't needed to, everything Harry needed to know was showcased clear as day in the man's eyes, he had made his choice.

Harry was going to war, but not with Voldemort.

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Loving the story so far? There's a whole world of magic and mystery waiting for you with over 85+ chapters still to come! By supporting my Patreon.

You not only get early access to new chapters but also exclusive content, behind-the-scenes insights, and special perks just for fans like you.

Join us on this enchanted journey and help shape the future of the tale. Your support makes all the difference—discover more and become part of the adventure today!

http//patreon.com/Kun_kanshi

(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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