Harry Potter and Shafik

Chapter 74 Old Crouch Was Killed
In the last week of May, when Hilbert and Harry were about to pack up their things and leave after their Transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall stopped them, "Potter, Shafik, you come to the office below at nine o'clock tonight." Quidditch pitch," Professor McGonagall told him, "where Mr. Bagman will tell the warriors what the third item is."

So, at 08:30 that night, Harry parted ways with Ron and Hermione in Gryffindor Tower and went downstairs.Hilbert was coming out of the Slytherin common room when he walked across the hall.

"What do you think it could be?" Hilbert asked Harry as the two walked down the stone steps together into the overcast night. "Fleur keeps talking about underground tunnels. She thinks we're looking Treasure."

"That's not so bad," said Harry, thinking he'd just have to borrow a Niffler from Hagrid and let it do the work.

They walked down the pitch-black lawn towards the Quidditch pitch and entered through a gap between the stands.

"Hello!" shouted a cheerful voice.

Ludo Bagman stands in the middle of the court, next to Klum and Fleur.Harry and Hilbert stepped over the low walls towards them.Fleur smiled brightly at Hilbert as he approached.Since he rescued her sister from the lake, she's done a 180 with him.

"Well, what do you think?" Bagman asked cheerfully as Harry and Hilbert climbed over the last low wall. Ten feet tall. Don't worry," he said with a smile, seeing the displeasure on Harry's and Hilbert's faces. "As soon as the Tournament is over, your Quidditch pitch will be back to normal! Well, I miss you You can probably guess what we're going to do here, right?"

No one spoke for a while, and then—

"Maze," Krum said gruffly.

"That's right!" Bagman said. "It's a maze. The third item is very simple and clear. The Triwizard Tournament Cup is placed in the center of the maze, and whoever can touch it first will get full marks."

"We just have to go through the maze?" Fleur said.

"There's going to be a lot of obstacles," Bagman said cheerfully, hopping on tiptoe, "Hagrid's got a bunch of animals to offer... and some spells that have to be broken... and stuff like that, you know. Yes, the warrior with the leading score enters the maze first." Bagman smiled at Harry and Hilbert, "Mr. Depends on your ability to go through obstacles. Should be fun, right?"

"Fine... If you have no questions, let's go back to the castle, shall we? It's kind of cold in here..."

Krum and Fleur walked in the front, and Hilbert took out a small bottle of energy potion from his arms and handed it to Harry for him to take a few sips to warm up.

After taking a few sips, the two of them felt their bodies warmed up, and then they walked slowly and chatted about the third project.

Suddenly, there was unusual movement in the bushes behind Harry.Having had some experience with things hidden in the forest, Harry instinctively grabbed Hilbert's arm and pulled him towards him.

"what happened?"

Harry shook his head, staring at where there had been movement.He reached inside his robes, fumbling for his wand.

At this time, a man suddenly stumbled out from behind a tall oak tree.Harry didn't recognize it for a moment...then he realized it was Mr. Crouch.

He looked as if he had been adrift for many days, his robes were torn at the knees and stained with blood, his face was also scarred, unshaven, and gray and haggard.His otherwise neat hair and beard needed washing and trimming.His appearance was strange, but the strangest thing was his behavior.Mr. Crouch seemed to be talking to someone whom only he could see.He kept muttering and gesticulating.As soon as Harry saw him, he thought of an old tramp he had met once when he and the Dursleys were out shopping.The man was also frantically talking into the air.Aunt Petunia grabbed Dudley's hand and pulled him across the road, away from the maniac.Uncle Vernon, on the other hand, took advantage of the situation, harping on to the family endlessly about how he planned to treat beggars and bums.

The two looked at each other, hesitated for a moment, and then walked slowly towards Mr. Crouch.Mr. Crouch didn't look at him, but kept talking to a nearby tree.

"...Wetherby, after you've done this, send an owl to Dumbledore to confirm the number of students Durmstrang participated in the competition. Karkaroff sent a letter that there were twelve indivual……"

"Mr. Crouch?" said Harry carefully.

"...and then send an owl to Madame Maxime, who may also increase the number of students, since Karkaroff's number has increased to twelve...let's do it, Weatherby, okay? Okay? Okay…”

Mr. Crouch's eyes bulged.He stood there, staring straight at the tree, muttering silently.Then, he staggered a few steps to the side, and fell to his knees.

"Mr. Crouch?" Harry called out. "Are you all right?"

Crouch suddenly grabbed their arms. "Dumbledore!" Mr. Crouch gasped.He lunged forward, grabbed Harry by the robes, and pulled him closer to him, but his eyes were fixed directly on top of Harry's head. "I want to... see... Dumbledore..."

"Okay," said Harry, "as soon as you get up, Mr. Crouch, and we'll find—"

"I did... a... stupid thing..." Crouch gasped.He looked utterly mad, his eyes bulging out and rolling, drool dripping down his chin. "You must... tell... Dumbledore!"

Mr. Crouch rolled his eyes and stared at Harry.

"Warning Dumbledore..."

"If you let me go, I'll go to Dumbledore," said Harry. "Let me go, Mr. Crouch, and I'll go to him..."

"Thank you, Wetherby. I'd like a cup of tea after you've done that. My wife and son are coming soon, and we're going to a concert with the Fudges tonight."

Crouch was babbling again to a tree, seemingly forgetting Harry for a moment.Harry was so surprised that he didn't notice that Crouch had let go of him.

"Yes, my son has recently passed the Twelve Ordinary Wizarding Ranks with satisfactory grades, thank you, yes, very proud of him indeed. Well, if you would send that memo from the Minister of Magic of Andorra Give it to me, and I'll probably have time to draft a reply..."

"Harry, come on, follow me to Headmaster Dumbledore!" Hilbert said as he broke away from Crouch's restraint, pulling Harry along as he ran.

"Don't...leave...me!" Crouch whispered, his eyeballs popping out again, "I... escaped... must be reminded... must be told... I want to see Dumbledore... it's all my fault... ...it's my fault...Bertha...is dead...it's my fault...my son...it's my fault...tell Dumbledore...Harry Potter...Dark Lord...got strong...Harry Potter..."

Five minutes later, the two rushed towards a stone monster standing in the middle of the empty corridor.

"Ice - iced lemonade!" Hilbert panted to it.

It was the password to the secret staircase leading to Dumbledore's office - at least two years ago.However, the password had obviously changed, and instead of jumping to one side, the stone monster stood motionless, glaring at Harry viciously.

"Get out of the way!" Harry yelled at it, "Hurry up!"

But there's never been anything at Hogwarts that you'd get out of the way if you yelled at it.Harry knew it wasn't going to work.He looked around in the dark corridor.Maybe Dumbledore was in the staff room?He started running desperately toward the stairs again—

"Potter!"

Looking back, Snape had just emerged from the secret staircase behind the stone monster.Just as he beckoned Harry back, the wall behind him slowly closed.

"What are you doing here, Potter?"

"I want to see Professor Dumbledore!" said Harry, running back down the corridor before gliding and stopping in front of Sneaker. "It's Mr. Crouch...he's here...he's in the woods . . . he offered to—”

"What nonsense!" said Snape, his black eyes shining. "What are you talking about?"

"That's how it happened! Godfather, we met Mr. Crouch on the stadium, he was talking nonsense, let's find Principal Dumbledore!"

The stone wall behind Snape opened silently, and Dumbledore stood there, wearing long green robes, with a slightly surprised expression on his face. "Is something wrong?" he asked, looking from Harry to Snape.

"Professor!" Harry said, taking a sideways step away from Snape before he could speak, "Mr. Crouch is here - in the forest, and he wants to talk to you!"

Harry expected Dumbledore to ask some questions, but he was relieved that Dumbledore didn't ask any.

"Lead the way ahead." Dumbledore said without hesitation, and hurried away along the corridor with Harry, leaving Snape standing beside the monster in a daze, with an even uglier expression on his face.

The three rushed down the stairs. "What did Mr. Crouch say, Harry?" asked Dumbledore as they rushed down the marble stairs.

"Said he wanted to remind you...that he had done something terrible...and mentioned his son...and Bertha Jorkins...and--and Voldemort...as if Voldemort had become Stronger..."

"Really?" said Dumbledore, quickening his pace, and hurried out into the darkness of night.

"Hi! Good evening, everyone, where are you going?" Taoist Lingxu came out of the kitchen.

"Hurry up, Mr. Crouch is back and crazy, go and watch him!" Hilbert shouted hastily.

Taoist Lingxu heard the words, set up auspicious clouds, and flew out of the castle.

When the three arrived, Hagrid appeared out of breath, followed by Fang.He holds his bow and arrows in his hand.

"Professor Dumbledore!" he said, his eyes widening. "Harry - how do you -?"

Dumbledore said to Hagrid, "Go to Professor Moody, and then inform the other two principals and Mr. Bagman!"

"There's no need, Dumbledore," said a low voice, wheezing, "I'm here."

Moody was limping toward them on crutches, his wand also lit.

"Damn legs," he said angrily, "should have come quickly... what happened? Snape seemed to say that Crouch—"

They entered the forest, and suddenly Harry clutched the scar on his head and cried out in pain.Dumbledore dragged Harry forward, and the further he walked, the more Harry's scar ached.Taoist Lingxu stood under a big tree, with Mr. Barty Crouch lying beside him.

"How's it going, Professor!" Dumbledore asked.

"Dead, died from the killing curse, Mr. Crouch left a line," everyone looked along Taoist Lingxu's hand, "he is back, be careful of me..."

(End of this chapter)