The Reveal of the Traitor
“Harry, what has happened? What happened to Cedric?” Dumbledore asked gripping his shoulder and trying to stand him up to get to Cedric’s body below him.
“He’s back, Voldemort is back, and he killed Cedric, he’s back.” He cried desperately as a different set off hands came to rest on his shoulder and gently leading him up off the body.
“That’s it you need to let go off him, he’s gone Harry, let him rest.” McGonagall spoke to him calmly turning him away from the body to try and calm him. Everything sounded fuzzy, he could hear someone calling Cedric’s name desperately, but he couldn’t make out who it was.
“Where’s Severus?” He asked quietly.
“Something happened to his dark mark, he was taken to the hospital wing as well as Lucius. Remus, Sirius and Narcissa had to help because the two men were refusing to leave without seeing you were alright, but they desperately needed medical attention.” McGonagall was still speaking softly keeping a hand firmly on his shoulder to keep him grounded.
“Minerva, I need you to help me here, get Flitwick and keep everyone in their seats, we can’t have anyone else running down here.” Dumbledore called.
“Harry stay here, we will get everything calmed down and we will get you up to the hospital wing, but we need you to stay here right now, ok.” McGonagall then rushed off to stop the students trying to come down for a closer look leaving him feeling slightly lost.
“I will take him to get help, he is clearly injured.” Moody came and stood next to him.
“No Alastor, we need him to stay here.” He heard Dumbledore shout, but Moody was already walking him towards the castle and there was nothing he could do about it with the strength of the grip on his shoulder.
“Dumbledore wants me to stay, shouldn’t we listen to him.” He protested but his voice was weak and tired.
“Everyone is a bit stressed; he will thank me later.”
He was led through the corridors off the castle, however due to the rustling of his injuries causing him to be in agony he didn’t notice that they weren’t actually heading towards the hospital wing until he was being sat down in a chair in Moody’s personal office.
“What was it like being in his presence?” Moody asked randomly, searching through the office for something.
“Terrifying, he didn’t look human, he had a body, but it was tall and thin, and his skin was scaly, and he only had slits for a nose like he was a snake. His eyes though, they were the worst, they were blood red and filled with so much hatred towards me.”
“So, he managed to regain a body?” Moody questioned stopping searching for a minute, but the man was turned away from him, so he didn’t notice the smirk etched onto the injured face.
“Yes, there was some potion thing that he was placed into. They used my blood, the blood of an enemy, as well as one of his father’s bones and wormtails hand. He said because he used my blood that my mother’s protection was cancelled, he was able to touch me.”
“That’s why he waited to use your blood.” Moody’s voice sounded a bit strange but he couldn’t place why.
“What? How do you know he waited?” He asked suspiciously.
“Well, he could have used anyone really, he has a lot of enemies so why would he want to wait to be able to capture you.”
He watched Moody carefully, the man acting even stranger than usual desperately digging through boxes for something.
“Are you alright professor?” He asked wanting to know what was happening.
“Yes, yes I’m fine, you are the one who has just fought the dark lord in the graveyard, you shouldn’t be worrying about me.” The man said absentmindedly.
Something clicked in his head with that, Moody had said the Dark Lord, and he was sure he hadn’t mentioned the graveyard since he returned. Voldemort had said something about a loyal follower in Hogwarts. It all made sense now, Moody was the imposter.
“You, you are one of his death eaters, you aren’t on Dumbledores side at all.” He accused weakly trying to stand up and get out the room but immediately he was pushed back down to sit on the chair. “Why did you try to help me earlier before the third task? Why were you trying to help me if you are with him?”
“I have helped you a lot more than that, you really think Hagrid would have thought to show you those Dragons if it wasn’t for me, but then you went and told everyone else anyway, so it wasn’t much of an advantage. You won though, which was all I needed, then when I overheard you in the library saying you had no idea how to hold your breath, I knew you wouldn’t find it on your own, so I brought Neville to you after giving him that book with Gilly weed in it. Then for the third task after you refused my help, I knew I would have to do something in the challenge to make sure you won so I cast the imperious curse on Viktor Krum and made him attack Cedric but of course once again your bloody loyalty got in my way, I did manage to eliminate Fleur though by making her making her fall inot one of the hedges meaning she had to send up sparks before it buried her. So with her out and Krum under the imperious all I had to worry about was Cedric. I nearly had to step in again when you offered him the cup but since the two of you went together, I knew he would sort out the extra once you arrived. You see, I have been pulling the strings since all this started, who do you think put your name in the Goblet?”
“Why did you need me to win though, why not just give me a portkey earlier in the year? Why go to so much effort?”
“You are always surrounded by your friends or Severus, the maze secluded you and no one would have any idea you were missing because no one could see in and who would suspect Dumbledore’s best friend, the renowned auror, of having tampering with the cup.”
“How did you even enter me in the cup?” He could feel his energy draining but he was trying to stall the man for as long as possible so that maybe someone would realise, he was missing.
“Just told it you were from a fourth school; it was pretty simple really. Now I have had enough of talking about this, it is time I finish what the dark lord set out to do, I will show him I am his most loyal follower.” Moody’s face done a weird twitch, the man’s tongue flicking out like a weird tic. “You should never have escaped but he will be proud of me for sorting you out before you can do more damage. Crucio.” He screamed and thrashed in his chair as the torture spell rushed through his body once more. The spell was cancelled quickly but his already weak body was still trembling. “Not so good at resisting that one, are we?” Moody mocked, the weird tic happening again but he didn’t have long to think about what it meant before the spell hit him again, this time for much longer.
“Expelliarmus.” He heard someone call and the spell was cancelled leaving him a shaking, trembling mess on the chair. Hands came and carefully cupped his face making him look into the familiar eyes of his guardian.
“Y-y-you... be… the… h-h-hospital w-wing.” He stuttered, his mind reeling from the last bout of torture.
“Madam Pomphrey fixed me up, you were more important than lounging in that bed after I was healed.” Severus was looking for him over in concern, but he was too busy focusing on the altercation between the rest of the group and Moody. Although, Moody’s face was currently morphing into that of someone else’s that he didn’t recognise.
“Barty Crouch Jr, surely it can’t be.” He heard Lucius mutter staring at the thin man who was sweating and twitchy, the previous tic even more aggressive now.
“In the flesh.” Barty smirked. “The Dark Lord isn’t the only person making a reappearance from the dead today.”
“What have you done with Alastor Moody?” Dumbledore questioned.
“Don’t worry, he is still alive, he had to be kept close for me to keep collecting the hairs. Although no one should care about him when the most powerful wizard has just been resurrected.” Barty then raised up the sleeve covering the dark mark, which was moving fiercely, dark against the pale skin. “You two must have gotten a lovely shock when he sent your surprise through, too bad Karkaroff ran away when it first started darkening tonight before we could see his reaction.” Barty taunted Lucius and Severus, apparently not fazed by the 6 wands aimed at him.
“If you are so proud of the mark, you won’t mind going to prison for it then.” Sirius said, wand raised at Barty’s throat, raising a chuckle from the man.
“You would know all about Azkaban wouldn’t you, although you aren’t special when it comes to escaping, I was the one who done it first. Yes, my dear mum died in there under polyjuice potion and I have been kept hidden under the imperious curse by my father, that was until I became strong enough to overthrow it and control him.”
“You may have been able to control Barty but there is no way we are letting you go now.” Remus said darkly, eyes sparkling orange showing the wolf was close to the surface.
“I have already completed my task; my purpose is done.” Barty sneered before being hit by a stunner causing the man to go still, everyone looking round to see who had cast the spell.
“Sorry, I know we need information but right now I think we would be better to get Harry to the hospital wing and we can hear more from Jr later.” Narcissa spoke coming over to help Severus lever him up. He whimpered in pain at the movement, all energy leaving his body causing him to be a dead weight between the two.
“Harry, this might hurt but I’m going to pick you up so we can get you up there faster, you are in no state to be walking, even supported by us two.” Severus warned him before picking him up like a child, he cried out at the movement making his entire body ache. “Sorry, I’m sorry, it will be over son, I promise we will be upstairs soon, the madam Pomphrey can give you something to help with the pain.”
Each step Severus took was agony as he was jostled so he took to silently crying into the man’s neck. He could feel the guilt radiating off his guardian, but he couldn’t stop the tears flowing as the events of the night caught up to him. Eventually they reached the hospital wing, Viktor and Fleur already peacefully tucked into beds, but once Madam Pomphrey caught sight of him the silence of the wing was disrupted.
“Bring him over here, Severus get those clothes off and get him into a gown quickly so I can properly treat him. Remus, go get a full potions kit and bring your post-moon box as well we may need some of the pain reliefs from in there. Narcissa, Lucius, Sirius and Remus once you are done, I need you to be on watch at the door, no one gets in, not even the headmaster I need to be completely focused on Harry. When his friends arrive, you need to keep them out there no matter their argument for coming in, do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am we will keep everyone out, just please help him and if possible, get us an update at some point.” Sirius replied, leading a protesting Lucius and Narcissa out the room. “She was like this with Remus after the moon, you are better to comply.” He heard Sirius say quietly to the two just before the doors closed behind them.
After a painful process, he had been changed into a medical gown and Madam Pomphrey was casting charm after charm on him to find out everything that was wrong, the list beside her was growing longer and longer by the second.
“Broken leg; Acromantula Venom Poisoning; blood loss; muscle damage in the left arm; nerve damage all over but especially in the hands and feet; heart under pressure; magical exhaustion; dehydration; shock.” The medi-witch muttered reading over the list, Severus gripping his hand even tighter with each new injury. “How you have even survived this much is unbelievable, your body will reach its breaking point soon though so I want to heal what I can right now then place you into a magical coma to allow you to rest and regain some energy before I heal the rest, are you alright with that?” He simply nodded and then the woman set to work. Potions were poured down his throat, spells were cast over his arms and legs and bandages were wrapped around him. The whole time Severus kept a firm and comforting grip on his hand which would squeeze tighter whenever he let out a whimper of pain. “The rest of the nerve damage is going to need to be repaired when you are stronger so I am going to place you into the coma right now, don’t worry everything will be completely fine, you won’t feel any pain while you are in it, you just need time to rest.” Madam Pomphrey’s wand was waved above him and then everything went quiet and dark.
***
“There is a chance that we haven’t done enough, he has went through so much tonight that I don’t know if he will be able to recover fully, if at all. You need to prepare for the possibility that he might not wake up, that he won’t have the energy or after what he has seen, the will to fight.” Madam Pomphrey spoke once Harry was under, despite the words being spoke softly, each one felt like a stab to his chest. “Go out to the others, Harry will need to know he is loved and feel the support from everyone, even if it is just someone being present beside his bed. Everyone can come in to see him for five minutes but then we will have to limit it to two guests at a time.”
“Severus, is he alright? What’s going on?” Narcissa asked him as he closed the door behind him, standing up from where she and Lucius had been comforting Draco.
“Madam Pomphrey has healed everything she can right now, but his body needs rest before she can attempt to heal his nerve damage, from the severity of it there is only one curse that could have caused it, and it would have had to have been cast more than once.” His voice cracked and he broke, the thought of his son going through the torture of the cruciatus curse at all never mind more than once was unbearable. The sight of his son, broken and bloody in that bed and now in a coma; the possibility of Harry not waking up because he failed to do his job, because he failed to protect that innocent boy caused his heat to ache and the tears to flow.
His legs gave out but someone caught him and lowered him gently to the floor before wrapping him in strong familiar arms. He sobbed then, letting everything he was feeling out.
“He is going to be ok; he just needs to rest a few days then Pomphrey will fix him up like she always does. He will be ok.” Remus whispered into his ear as he sobbed on the man’s shoulder uncontrollably. He didn’t even care that the kids were watching him breakdown completely, only able to focus on the fear of losing his boy.
“Are we allowed to visit him?” Draco asked softly, looking nearly as bad as he did.
“Yes, he is allowed visitors, Madam Pomphrey said that all of you could come in for 5 minutes just to see him but after that there is a 2 person rule.”
Remus helped him up, his legs feeling like lead under the weight of his guilt, and they all went into the hospital wing to stand around Harry’s bed. His son looked so small in the bed and so innocent as if just in a deep sleep. He sat down heavily in the chair he had not long vacated, Remus’s hand a constant pressure on his shoulder as he watched Draco crying heavily despite Narcissa and Lucius’s attempts at reassurance. The rest of Harry’s friends weren’t much better: Hermione was quietly crying, the other four girls in a similar situation as Blaize and Theo tried to comfort them despite their own worry showing through. Sirius and Remus were trying to be strong for him, optimistic that Harry would be better soon, but he could see the depth of their pain in their eyes.
They were all silent, even when Madam Pomphrey came to reluctantly kick everyone out not a word was said. Remus had been the designated person to stay, probably more for him than for Harry since everyone loved the boy equally.
“Harry, I don’t know if you can here me, but keep fighting. I know everything hurts; I know you are in more pain than just the physical kind but please keep fighting. I can help you through this, I can help you through anything I just need you to wake up because if you don’t, if you don’t, I don’t think I could make I through that.” He said clutching onto Harry’s hand like a lifetime as Remus wrapped him in a hug with one arm and gripping onto his and Harry’s hand with the other.