[HP] Astringent

Vanessa didn't startle the snake, but secretly observed Moody, but he was too invulnerable.Just when she was about to dispel her doubts, a big event happened.

She ran into Harry when she returned to the office from the library. Outside the principal's office, Harry looked flustered and shouted to see Dumbledore, but Snape obstructed him in every possible way—he would not let any of "Potter" Opportunity to wish for.

"I must see Dumbledore! Mr. Crouch has appeared in the woods, and he wants to warn Dumbledore..."

"Black currant soda." Vanessa ignored Snape and gave the password for Harry.Snape's eyebrows furrowed together.The stone wall opened silently, and a staircase appeared behind it. Dumbledore came down in his long green robes, and he looked at Harry with some surprise.

"Professor! Mr. Crouch is here—in the woods, and he wants to talk to you!"

"Lead the way ahead." Dumbledore said without hesitation, and hurried away along the corridor with Harry, and Vanessa followed without thinking. She was now very sensitive about Crouch's affairs.They left Snape standing beside the monster in a daze, his face pale.

"I asked Krum to keep an eye on him..." Harry explained the situation as he walked. "He was not very conscious, and kept repeating that his son had done something terrible..."

They talked and walked to the forest. Krum lay curled up where Crouch had been, looking delirious, and there was no Crouch around.The sound of thunderous footsteps reached their ears, and Hagrid appeared out of breath, followed by Fang.

"Hagrid, hurry up and call Professor Karkaroff, his student has been beaten." Dumbledore said, "Then please inform Professor Moody—"

Before the words had finished, a deep voice said, "No need, Albus. I'm here." Moody limped towards them on crutches.

Vanessa blurted out and asked, "Why are you here?"

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

Black also hurried over, holding up his lit wand: "Snape went looking for you too? What's going on? He's stammering."

Vanessa frowned, it was impossible for Snape to tell two people at the same time in such a short time.

Dumbledore didn't notice anything unusual, and said to them: "The top priority is that we must find Barty Crouch."

"Let's find each other," Moody said gruffly, and then he raised his wand and burrowed into the forest on the east side.

Vanessa followed Moody closely, and said to Blake, "I'll go in the middle, you go to the other side." Soon they also walked into the woods.

But she didn't go in the middle, but chased along another path.She cast a Silencing Charm, trying not to touch any branches.At last she saw Moody, and he bent down and pulled a man or corpse out of the bushes.

Vanessa's heart was pounding, and she silently threw a disarm.Moody turned around in panic, but it was too late, the wand arced out and landed at Vanessa's feet.She walked out with her wand in hand, fixed her eyes on him, and asked in a hoarse and trembling voice, "Who are you?"

"Of course I'm—" He paused for a moment, both true and false eyeballs looked at her, especially in the dark forest, he laughed, and the scar on his face also laughed, "Alastomu Dee." At the same time he finished speaking, he drew another wand from his waist - Crucifix.Vanessa fell to the ground, writhing and screaming in pain.

"Woman who is in the way!" Her cry will definitely attract others, but he must quickly revise her memory.Just when he raised his wand again, Vanessa also raised her wand with all her willpower and shouted the spell: "Shen Feng Wu Ying!"

Moody's body was cracked with countless openings, and blood gushed out.He fell straight into the pool of blood and kept pulling out.Vanessa looked at the person in front of her coldly, she was also trembling, the strong blood made her retch.

she killed?She kills!

There was a sound of footsteps, and more and more people crowded around her. Someone put clothes on her body and hugged her shoulders.A group of people tried many methods but couldn't stop the blood flowing, and Moody's breath became weaker and weaker.

Dumbledore's voice was as if through a wall, and a phoenix flew out of his wand, disappeared through the woods into the night sky.

Not long after, Snape came over, crouched down beside Moody, repeated a spell softly, the blood began to flow back into Moody's body, and the wound on his body was also healing.

He walked up to Dumbledore and whispered a few words, and Dumbledore turned his head and looked over: "Sirius, take Vanessa back to rest first."

Blake nodded and helped Vanessa stand up: "It's okay, it's okay."

Vanessa broke free from Blake's hand, stubbornly unwilling to leave.

"I want to stay..." She didn't know if she was qualified to say that, because it looked like she had screwed up everything.

Dumbledore looked at Snape, waiting for him to speak.

Snape looked at Vanessa and said pleadingly, "She deserves to know the truth." Vanessa looked at him almost gratefully.

Dumbledore nodded softly: "Vanessa, you and Severus go back to get the veritaserum. Sirius, you and Hagrid take them to the medical wing together."

Vanessa knew that staying here would not be of any help, but she still reminded: "He has two wands, one is where I was just now." After she finished speaking, she lowered her head and stepped on Snape's shadow step by step Go back to the castle.

The two walked back to the office, and Vanessa sat on the sofa waiting for her.Snape found it very slowly, and thanks to this gap, Vanessa's mood stabilized.About a quarter of an hour later, he came back with the medicine.

There were two clusters of faint anger in his eyes, but he didn't show it on his face.He looked at Vanessa sternly: "Is this what you call you don't need me to do anything for you?"

Vanessa silently endured the reproach, and asked timidly, "Did I... kill someone?"

"Almost." He sighed imperceptibly, "You are too kind...you can't make up your mind to kill people at all."

She felt a little scared in hindsight: "Is he really Barty Crouch Jr.?"

"I'm afraid so." He used a test tube to drop four or five drops of pale pink liquid into a bottle of colorless and transparent potion. After finishing everything, he strode to the door: "Albus is still waiting. If If you don't want to attend, you can stay... go back to your office."

"No, I'm going with you."

When they arrived, everyone's atmosphere became more dignified.The person lying on the hospital bed has changed, it's not Moody, it's Barty Crouch Jr.!

"The Polyjuice Potion has failed." Dumbledore pointed to the flagon with the lid open on the table.Snape went over to check it, then put it back.

Dumbledore continued: "Get the Veritaserum ready, I'm going to wake him up."

In just three drops, Crouch says it all.For example, his mother was executed instead of him under the kiss of a dementor.He has been living under the control of the Invisibility Cloak and his father's Imperius Curse.One day he broke free from the Imperius Curse, and happened to be discovered by Berkinssa who came to the house to deliver documents to Old Claus.He snatched the wand and knocked her unconscious, then hid her in the closet.He ordered Shiny not to speak out, or he would give her a dress.The unexpected joy was more than this one, his master Voldemort found him the next day.Although he is still in the state of ghost, what does it matter, he is the most loyal servant.They came up with a brilliant plan. He could pretend to be Moody to teach at Hogwarts, and Bertha Jorkins, who had been cast with the Imperius Curse, served Voldemort. They also controlled several other wizards with low magic power.Winky is also under control.Everything was done in secret, he sneaked home every day before his father got off work and pretended nothing had happened, until the Quidditch World Cup, he knew he could start to implement the plan.

Because Voldemort had found a way to be resurrected, Crouch was going to bring Harry to him in the final stage of the Triwizard Tournament.

"Notify Fudge?" Black asked.

"I don't think so." Dumbledore raised his hand and lowered it. He shook his wand, and a light blue light fell into Crouch's forehead. "I modified his memory. Sirius, give him a little more." Compound Potion. Then you and Hagrid will find a clean place to bury old Batty at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. As for Alastor..." He thought for a while, "Let's wrong him for a while."

Blake asked puzzledly, "Why?"

Dumbledore took off the half-moon eye and wiped it clean.Without the cover of the glasses, his eyes seemed to be able to see through everything: "I will explain, but not now." He raised his hand to stop Black from asking further, "Severus and Vanessa, follow me."

The two of them sat in the office, and Dumbledore said bluntly, "We must ensure that Voldemort is resurrected."

"Why?" Vanessa exclaimed in shock.

"Because no spell has hitherto killed a wandering spirit," Snape explained, his voice trembling.Making sure Voldemort is alive is the craziest thing in the world.

"I thought the situation wouldn't deteriorate so quickly." Dumbledore said worriedly, "but more and more unknown wizards are missing."

"What are we doing?" Vanessa asked.

"You two are optimistic about Barty Crouch and Karkaroff." He looked at Vanessa sternly, "Don't be arrogant, can you do it?"

Vanessa clenched her fists, her nails piercing her palms: "I will work hard."

Dumbledore winked at Snape, he needed Snape to take care of Vanessa.Snape nodded.

"How to ensure Harry's safety?" Vanessa thought of the most critical question.

"I have my own arrangements." Dumbledore twisted his gray beard, "Go back and rest."

The two got up to leave, and when they reached the door, Vanessa turned around and said, "Can I ask for a few days off?"

Dumbledore smiled, his eyes filled with distress and understanding: "Of course."

In mid-March, when the willows began to shoot new shoots, Vanessa returned to Hogwarts only after she finally believed that she could perform well against the fake Moody.

She stayed at home all this time.Dumbledore helped her find a substitute teacher for Muggle Studies so she wouldn't have to worry.Vanessa guessed that it was either the previous Professor Bubaji or Minerva.She left her lesson preparation notes, reference materials, and schedule at school, and the substitute teacher had already sent her the end-of-class assignments of the students at the end of February.

The course has progressed to the third section of art, which she plans to divide into three small topics: literature, music, and fine arts.The course is not difficult. The main thing is to appreciate excellent works in various fields. Students can complete their homework based on the topics they like. Those who choose literature need to create a small poem. Artists copy a gouache painting, like a small interest class hope.

This section is what Vanessa is looking forward to the most, and it is a pity that she could not teach them completely.

It was almost ten o'clock when she arrived at school, and they should be appreciating poetry by now, and they don't know if they like the substitute teacher's style.

Vanessa went directly to the classroom, she deliberately lightened her steps, wanting to make a surprise attack.The ears were pressed tightly against the door panel, but there was silence inside.Then a voice as deep and magnetic as a cello, melodiously read Shelley's verse: "I am afraid of your kisses, gentle girl, you need not be afraid of mine; For you." That voice was composed into a piece of music by beautiful rhymes, gentle and affectionate; but he did not exaggerate the love in the verses, which was cold and unfeeling.

Vanessa knocked the doorknob, and the door came.Snape was sitting in a high-backed armchair by the window, where the sun was shining and he was in the shade.He put one hand on the armrest, propped his forehead, and turned the pages of the book with the other.He seemed to raise his head unintentionally, and his gaze stirred the warm sun on her body.

Dumbledore's so-called method of not worrying about her was really unexpected.Vanessa smiled nervously and guiltily.

When Snape saw her, he placed the book lightly on the podium.

Vanessa stopped him: "I'm sorry."

"No trouble." Although Snape said everything with sarcasm, it was much softer than when he was teaching Lupin.Vanessa let out a long breath.

Long after he left, it seemed that the aftertaste still lingered in the classroom.Everyone kept the same silence.Suddenly, Neville sneezed loudly, and a group of stone statues of baby wizards came to life.

"You're finally back, Professor Weasley!" Vanessa didn't expect that it was the Slytherin students who greeted her in this savior-like tone first.She chuckled slightly: "I think Professor Snape reads well."

"It's scary because it's good!" The boy turned pale, "That's Professor Snape!"

Ron echoed, "Yeah, it's especially creepy when you look up and see his face."

Hermione looked at her notes with satisfaction: "That's why I've been taking notes even with the handouts, Ron. That way I won't see him."

"Okay, let me see, there is one last poem." Fanny took the book and took the seat where Snape was sitting just now.She was brewing emotions, pretending that she was just an insignificant bystander, separated from her feelings, and said, "Love, maybe, has not completely died in my heart, I hope it won't bother you again, I I don't want to make you sad anymore. I loved you silently and hopelessly, I suffered from shyness and jealousy; I loved you so sincerely and so tenderly, God bless you You, another one will love you as much as I do."