Y/n felt himself slam flat onto the ground, the Portkey had transported them back in front of the crowd, back to Hogwarts. He did not move for a moment. All the breath seemed to have been knocked out of him, his head was swimming so badly he felt as though the ground beneath him were swaying like the deck of a ship. To hold himself steady, he tightened his hold on the one thing he was still clutching, the smooth, cold handle of the Triwizard Cup. He and Harry were safe now... but the adrenaline Y/n had been running on had run out now as the emotions began to flood in of what had just happened to him.
Y/n rose to his feet as his grip on the cup handle somehow tightened, He lifted it high over his head and threw it down to the ground and let out a painful scream of anguish for all to hear as his usual calm collected manner was cast aside and he collapsed to his knees covering his face with his hands as tears began to flood out.
A torrent of sound deafened and there were voices everywhere, footsteps, screams...
Then a hand was on his shoulder. "Grindelwald! Grindelwald!" They called, It was Professor McGonagall.
Y/n lowered his hands as he looked to see her kneeled down in front of him and she saw the large gash on his face as tears mixed with blood. "Grindelwald what has happened?" She asked sounding deeply concerned.
"He's back." Harry could be heard saying near them. "He's back. Voldemort."
"Is this true?" McGonagall asked Y/n in shock and he could only nod.
"What's going on? What's happened?" The voice of Cornelius Fudge appeared and Y/n looked to see him looking down at Harry who was still clutching to Cedric desperately. His face was white and appalled. "My God... Diggory!" he whispered. "Dumbledore ...he's dead!"
The words were repeated, the shadowy figures pressing in on them gasped it to those around them...and then others shouted it, screeched it into the night.
"He's dead!"
"He's dead!"
"Cedric Diggory! Dead!"
"Harry, let go of him." Fudge said trying to pry him from Cedric's limp body, but Harry wouldn't let him go. Then Dumbledore who had been checking on Harry, came closer.
"Harry, you can't help him now. It's over. Let go."
"He wanted us to bring him back." Harry muttered. "He wanted us to bring him back to his parents..."
"That's right. Harry...just let go now..." Dumbledore bent down, and with extraordinary strength for a man so old and thin, raised Harry from the ground and set him on his feet.
Y/n could just hear the crowd again.
"What's happened?"
"What's wrong with him?"
"Diggory's dead!"
"Did Grindelwald..."
"They'll need to go to the hospital wing!" Fudge was saying loudly now. "He's ill and he's injured Dumbledore, Diggory's parents, they're here, they're in the stands..."
"I'll take Harry, Dumbledore, I'll take him..." Y/n heard a voice say.
"No, I would prefer..."
"Dumbledore, Amos Diggory's running... he's coming over...Don't you think you should tell him, before he sees...?"
"Harry, Y/n, both of you stay here..." Dumbledore told them and Y/n just sat on the ground in a daze. Girls were screaming, sobbing hysterically...
He sat there for what felt like an hour till he heard a voice that snapped him back into the present.
"Y/n, Where is Harry?" Dumbledore asked him quickly and Y/n looked to his side to see that Harry was indeed gone, how had he not noticed? "Severus, Minerva, Grindelwald, come with me quickly." Dumbledore said so urgently that no one fought with him.
They followed Dumbledore quickly into the castle and Y/n's body ached with each step they climbed. Where was Dumbledore taking them? He soon found out as they reached Moody's office and Dumbledore drew his wand. Y/n had no time to wonder why as Dumbledore wordlessly cast a spell at the door and with a great splintering and crashing, the door of Moody's office was blasted apart...
"Stupefy!" Dumbledore then angrily cried and there was a blinding flash of red light as Moody was thrown backward onto the office floor. Harry, still staring at the place where Moody's face had been, saw Albus Dumbledore, Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall and Y/n Grindelwald looking back at him out of the Foe-Glass. He looked around and saw the four of them standing in the doorway, Dumbledore in front, his wand outstretched.
At that moment, Y/n fully understood for the first time why people said Dumbledore was the only wizard Voldemort had ever feared, why he had been the one to defeat Gellert. The look upon Dumbledore's face as he stared down at the unconscious form of Mad-Eye Moody was more terrible than he could have ever imagined. There was no benign smile upon Dumbledore's face, no twinkle in the eyes behind the spectacles. There was cold fury in every line of the ancient face, a sense of power radiated from Dumbledore as though he were giving off burning heat.
He stepped into the office, placed a foot underneath Moody's unconscious body, and kicked him over onto his back, so that his face was visible. Snape followed him followed by Professor McGonagall who went straight to Harry.
"Come along, Potter." she whispered. The thin line of her mouth was twitching as though she was about to cry. "Come along... let's get you and Grindelwald to the hospital wing..."
"No." said Dumbledore sharply.
"Dumbledore, they ought to...look at them... they've been through enough tonight..."
"They will stay, Minerva, because they need to understand." said Dumbledore curtly. "Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery. Y/n and Harry need to know who has put him through the ordeal they have suffered tonight, and why."
"Moody." Y/n said looking down at the passed out Professor Moody on the floor in a state of complete disbelief. "How can it have been Moody? Why would he become a Death Eater..."
"This is not Alastor Moody." said Dumbledore quietly. "You have never known Alastor Moody. The real Moody would not have removed Harry from my sight after what happened tonight. The moment he took Harry, I knew..."
Dumbledore bent down over Moody's limp form and put a hand inside his robes. He pulled out Moody's hip flask and a set of keys on a ring. Then he turned to Professors McGonagall and Snape.
"Severus, please fetch me the strongest Truth Potion you possess, and then go down to the kitchens and bring up the house-elf called Winky. Minerva, kindly go down to Hagrid's house, where you will find a large black dog sitting in the pumpkin patch. Take the dog up to my office, tell him I will be with him shortly, then come back here."
If either Snape or McGonagall found these instructions peculiar, they hid their confusion. Both turned at once and left the office.
"Y/n come in here please and keep your wand drawn on our intruder." Dumbledore said.
Y/n stepped into the room now and he drew his wand looking down at the man he thought was Professor Moody.
Dumbledore walked over to the trunk with seven locks, fitted the first key in the lock, and opened it. It contained a mass of spell-books. Dumbledore closed the trunk, placed a second key in the second lock, and opened the trunk again. The spellbooks had vanished, this time it contained an assortment of broken Sneako-scopes, some parchment and quills, and what looked like a silvery Invisibility Cloak. Y/n watched carefully, as Dumbledore placed the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth keys in their respective locks, reopening the trunk each time, and revealing different contents each time. Then he placed the seventh key in the lock, threw open the lid, and Harry let out a cry of amazement getting Y/n's attention.
"What is it?" Y/n asked.
"You may look for yourself Y/n." Dumbledore told him and Y/n saw he had his own wand out leaving him free to move.
Y/n moved to the trunks edge and peered into it, he was looking down into a kind of pit, an underground room, and lying on the floor some ten feet below, apparently fast asleep, thin and starved in appearance, was the real Mad-Eye Moody. His wooden leg was gone, the socket that should have held the magical eye looked empty beneath its lid, and chunks of his grizzled hair were missing.
"So that is the real Professor Moody?" Y/n asked Dumbledore.
"Yes, making this one an imposter." Dumbledore said before he climbed into the trunk, lowered himself, and fell lightly onto the floor beside the sleeping Moody. He bent over him.
"Stunned... controlled by the Imperius Curse... very weak," he said. "Of course, they would have needed to keep him alive. Harry, throw down the imposter's cloak, he's freezing. Madam Pomfrey will need to see him, but he seems in no immediate danger."
Harry did as he was told, Dumbledore covered Moody in the cloak, tucked it around him, and clambered out of the trunk again. Then he picked up the hip flask that stood upon the desk, unscrewed it, and turned it over. A thick glutinous liquid splattered onto the office floor.
"That is Polyjuice Potion..." Y/n said in shock. "Do you mean to say he has been ingesting this for the whole school year?"
"Well recognized Grindelwald, You see the simplicity of it, and the brilliance. For Moody never does drink except from his hip flask, he's well known for it. The imposter needed, of course, to keep the real Moody close by, so that he could continue making the potion. You see his hair... " Dumbledore looked down on the Moody in the trunk. "The imposter has been cutting it off all year, see where it is uneven? But I think, in the excitement of tonight, our fake Moody might have forgotten to take it as frequently as he should have done...on the hour...every hour...We shall see."
Dumbledore pulled out the chair at the desk and sat down upon it, his eyes fixed upon the unconscious Moody on the floor. Y/n and Harry stared at him too. Minutes passed in silence...
Then, before their very eyes, the face of the man on the floor began to change. The scars were disappearing, the skin was becoming smooth, the mangled nose became whole and started to shrink. The long mane of grizzled gray hair was withdrawing into the scalp and turning the color of straw. Suddenly, with a loud clunk, the wooden leg fell away as a normal leg regrew in its place, next moment, the magical eyeball had popped out of the man's face as a real eye replaced it, it rolled away across the floor and continued to swivel in every direction.
Y/n saw a man lying before him, pale-skinned, slightly freckled, with a mop of fair hair. But he did not know who he was.
"But that's..."Harry began.
"Allow me to introduce...Barty Crouch Jr."
So this was the man Harry had seen him in Dumbledore's Pensieve, had watched him being led away from court by the dementors, trying to convince Mr. Crouch that he was innocent...
"I thought he was supposed to be dead sir." Harry said.
"We thought Wormtail was dead last year..."Y/n gravely reminded him.
There were hurried footsteps outside in the corridor. Snape had returned with Winky at his heels. Professor McGonagall was right behind them.
"Crouch!" Snape said, stopping dead in the doorway. "Barty Crouch!"
"Good heavens." said Professor McGonagall, stopping dead and staring down at the man on the floor.
Filthy, disheveled, Winky peered around Snape's legs. Her mouth opened wide and she let out a piercing shriek. "Master Barty, Master Barty, what is you doing here?" She flung herself forward onto the young man's chest. "You is killed him! You is killed him! You is killed Master's son!"
"He is simply Stunned, Winky." said Dumbledore. "Step aside, please. Severus, you have the potion?"
Snape handed Dumbledore a small glass bottle of completely clear liquid, the Veritaserum with which he had threatened Harry and Y/n in class. Dumbledore got up, bent over the man on the floor, and pulled him into a sitting position against the wall beneath the Foe-Glass, in which the reflections of Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall were still glaring down upon them all. Winky remained on her knees, trembling, her hands over her face. Dumbledore forced the mans mouth open and poured three drops inside it. Then he pointed his wand at the mans chest and said, "Ennervate."
Crouch's son opened his eyes. His face was slack, his gaze unfocused. Dumbledore knelt before him, so that their faces were level.
"Can you hear me?" Dumbledore asked quietly.
The man's eyelids flickered. "Yes." he muttered.
"I would like you to tell us." said Dumbledore softly. "How you came to be here. How did you escape from Azkaban?"
Crouch took a deep, shuddering breath, then began to speak in a flat, expressionless voice. "My mother saved me. She knew she was dying. She persuaded my father to rescue me as a last favor to her. He loved her as he had never loved me. He agreed. They came to visit me. They gave me a draft of Polyjuice Potion containing one of my mother's hairs. She took a draft of Polyjuice Potion containing one of my hairs. We took on each other's appearance."
Winky was shaking her head, trembling. "Say no more. Master Barty, say no more, you is getting your father into trouble!"
But Crouch took another deep breath and continued in the same flat voice. "The dementors are blind. They sensed one healthy, one dying person entering Azkaban. They sensed one healthy, one dying person leaving it. My father smuggled me out, disguised as my mother, in case any prisoners were watching through their doors. My mother died a short while afterward in Azkaban. She was careful to drink Polyjuice Potion until the end. She was buried under my name and bearing my appearance. Everyone believed her to be me."
The man's eyelids flickered.
"And what did your father do with you, when he had got you home?" said Dumbledore quietly.
"Staged my mother's death. A quiet, private funeral. That grave is empty. The house-elf nursed me back to health. Then I had to be concealed. I had to be controlled. My father had to use a number of spells to subdue me. When I had recovered my strength, I thought only of finding my master... of returning to his service."
"How did your father subdue you?" said Dumbledore.
"The Imperius Curse." Barty said. "I was under my fathers control. I was forced to wear an Invisibility Cloak day and night. I was always with the house-elf. She was my keeper and caretaker. She pitied me. She persuaded my father to give me occasional treats. Rewards for my good behavior."
"Master Barty, Master Barty." sobbed Winky through her hands. "You isn't ought to tell them, we is getting in trouble..."
"Did anybody ever discover that you were still alive?" said Dumbledore softly. "Did anyone know except your father and the house-elf?"
"Yes." said Crouch, his eyelids flickering again. "A witch in my father's office. Bertha Jorkins. She came to the house with papers for my father's signature. He was not at home. Winky showed her inside and returned to the kitchen, to me. But Bertha Jorkins heard Winky talking to me. She came to investigate. She heard enough to guess who was hiding under the Invisibility Cloak. My father arrived home. She confronted him. He put a very powerful Memory Charm on her to make her forget what she'd found out. Too powerful. He said it damaged her memory permanently."
"Why is she coming to nose into my masters private business?" sobbed Winky. "Why isn't she leaving us be?"
"Tell me about the Quidditch World Cup." said Dumbledore.
"Winky talked my father into it." said Crouch, still in the same monotonous voice. "She spent months persuading him. I had not left the house for years. I had loved Quidditch. 'Let him go', she said. 'He will be in his Invisibility Cloak. He can watch. Let him smell fresh air for once.' She said my mother would have wanted it. She told my father that my mother had died to give me freedom. She had not saved me for a life of imprisonment. He agreed in the end."
"It was carefully planned. My father led me and Winky up to the Top Box early in the day. Winky was to say that she was saving a seat for my father. I was to sit there, invisible. When everyone had left the box, we would emerge. Winky would appear to be alone. Nobody would ever know.
"But Winky didn't know that I was growing stronger. I was starting to fight my father's Imperius Curse. There were times when I was almost myself again. There were brief periods when I seemed outside his control. It happened, there, in the Top Box. It was like waking from a deep sleep. I found myself out in public, in the middle of the match, and I saw, in front of me, a wand sticking out of a boys pocket. I had not been allowed a wand since before Azkaban. I stole it. Winky didn't know. Winky is frightened of heights. She had her face hidden in a programme."
"Master Barty, you bad boy!" whispered Winky, tears trickling between her fingers.
"So you took the wand." said Dumbledore. "And what did you do with it?"
"We went back to the tent." said Crouch. "Then we heard them. We heard the Death Eaters. The ones who had never been to Azkaban. The ones who had never suffered for my master. They had turned their backs on him. They were not enslaved, as I was. They were free to seek him, but they did not. They were merely making sport of Muggles. The sound of their voices awoke me. My mind was clearer than it had been in years. I was angry. I had the wand. I wanted to attack them for their disloyalty to my master. My father had left the tent, he had gone to free the Muggles. Winky was afraid to see me so angry. She used her own brand of magic to bind me to her. She pulled me from the tent, pulled me into the forest, away from the Death Eaters. I tried to hold her back. I wanted to return to the campsite. I wanted to show those Death Eaters what loyalty to the Dark Lord meant, and to punish them for their lack of it. I used the stolen wand to cast the Dark Mark into the sky."
"Ministry wizards arrived. They shot Stunning Spells everywhere. One of the spells came through the trees where Winky and I stood. The bond connecting us was broken. We were both Stunned."
"When Winky was discovered, my father knew I must be nearby. He searched the bushes where she had been found and felt me lying there. He waited until the other Ministry members had left the forest. He put me back under the Imperius Curse and took me home. He dismissed Winky. She had failed him. She had let me acquire a wand. She had almost let me escape."
Winky let out a wail of despair.
"Now it was just Father and I, alone in the house. And then...and then..." Crouch's head rolled on his neck, and an insane grin spread across his face. "My master came for me."
"He arrived at our house late one night in the arms of his servant Wormtail. My master had found out that I was still alive. He had captured Bertha Jorkins in Albania. He had tortured her. She told him a great deal. She told him about the Triwizard Tournament. She told him the old Auror, Moody, was going to teach at Hogwarts. He tortured her until he broke through the Memory Charm my father had placed upon her. She told him I had escaped from Azkaban. She told him my father kept me imprisoned to prevent me from seeking my master. And so my master knew that I was still his faithful servant...perhaps the most faithful of all. My master conceived a plan, based upon the information Bertha had given him. He needed me. He arrived at our house near midnight. My father answered the door."
The smile spread wider over Crouch's face, as though recalling the sweetest memory of his life. Winky's petrified brown eyes were visible through her fingers. She seemed too appalled to speak.
"It was very quick. My father was placed under the Imperius Curse by my master. Now my father was the one imprisoned, controlled. My master forced him to go about his business as usual, to act as though nothing was wrong. And I was released. I awoke. I was myself again, alive as I hadn't been in years."
"And what did Lord Voldemort ask you to do?" said Dumbledore.
"He asked me whether I was ready to risk everything for him. I was ready. It was my dream, my greatest ambition, to serve him, to prove myself to him. He told me he needed to place a faithful servant at Hogwarts. A servant who would guide Harry Potter through the Triwizard Tournament without appearing to do so. A servant who would watch over Harry Potter. Ensure he reached the Triwizard Cup. Turn the cup into a Portkey, which would take the first person to touch it to my master. But first..."
"You needed Alastor Moody." said Dumbledore. His blue eyes were blazing, though his voice remained calm.
"Wormtail and I did it. We had prepared the Polyjuice Potion beforehand. We journeyed to his house. Moody put up a struggle. There was a commotion. We managed to subdue him just in time. Forced him into a compartment of his own magical trunk. Took some of his hair and added it to the potion. I drank it, I became Moody's double. I took his leg and his eye. I was ready to face Arthur Weasley when he arrived to sort out the Muggles who had heard a disturbance. I made the dustbins move around the yard. I told Arthur Weasley I had heard intruders in my yard, who had set off the dustbins. Then I packed up Moody's clothes and Dark detectors, put them in the trunk with Moody, and set off for Hogwarts. I kept him alive, under the Imperius Curse. I wanted to be able to question him. To find out about his past, learn his habits, so that I could fool even Dumbledore. I also needed his hair to make the Polyjuice Potion. The other ingredients were easy. I stole boom-slang skin from the dungeons. When the Potions master found me in his office, I said I was under orders to search it."
"And what became of Wormtail after you attacked Moody?" said Dumbledore.
"Wormtail returned to care for my master, in my father's house, and to keep watch over my father."
"But your father escaped." said Dumbledore.
"Yes. After a while he began to fight the Imperius Curse just as I had done. There were periods when he knew what was happening. My master decided it was no longer safe for my father to leave the house. He forced him to send letters to the Ministry instead. He made him write and say he was ill. But Wormtail neglected his duty. He was not watchful enough. My father escaped. My master guessed that he was heading for Hogwarts. My father was going to tell Dumbledore everything, to confess. He was going to admit that he had smuggled me from Azkaban."
"My master sent me word of my father's escape. He told me to stop him at all costs. So I waited and watched. I used the map I had taken from Harry Potter. The map that had almost ruined everything."
"Map?" said Dumbledore quickly. "What map is this?"
"Potter's map of Hogwarts. Potter saw me on it. Potter saw me stealing more ingredients for the Polyjuice Potion from Snape's office one night. He thought I was my father. We have the same first name. I took the map from Potter that night. I told him my father hated Dark wizards. Potter believed my father was after Snape."
"For a week I waited for my father to arrive at Hogwarts. At last, one evening, the map showed my father entering the grounds. I pulled on my Invisibility Cloak and went down to meet him. He was walking around the edge of the forest. Then Potter came, and Krum. I waited. I could not hurt Potter, my master needed him. Potter ran to get Dumbledore. I Stunned Krum. I killed my father. "
"Noooo!" wailed Winky. "Master Barty, Master Barty, what is you saying?"
"You killed your father." Dumbledore said, in the same soft voice. "What did you do with the body?"
"Carried it into the forest. Covered it with the Invisibility Cloak. I had the map with me. I watched Potter run into the castle. He met Snape. Dumbledore joined them. I watched Potter bringing Dumbledore out of the castle. I walked back out of the forest, doubled around behind them, went to meet them. I told Dumbledore Snape had told me where to come."
"Dumbledore told me to go and look for my father. I went back to my father's body. Watched the map. When everyone was gone, I Transfigured my father's body. He became a bone...I buried it, while wearing the Invisibility Cloak, in the freshly dug earth in front of Hagrid's cabin."
There was complete silence now, except for Winky's continued sobs. Then Dumbledore said, "And tonight..."
"I offered to carry the Triwizard Cup into the maze before dinner." whispered Barty Crouch. "Turned it into a Portkey. Harry Potter was to make it first, then when my master was returned Wormtail would bring the cup back to the maze and we would wait for Grindelwald to see if he would make it...but my master's plan worked. He is returned to power and I will be honored by him beyond the dreams of wizards."
The insane smile lit his features once more, and his head drooped onto his shoulder as Winky wailed and sobbed at his side.
Dumbledore stood up. He stared down at Barty Crouch for a moment with disgust on his face. Then he raised his wand once more and ropes flew out of it, ropes that twisted themselves around Barty Crouch, binding him tightly. He turned to Professor McGonagall.
"Minerva, could I ask you to stand guard here while I take Harry upstairs?"
"Of course." said Professor McGonagall. She looked slightly nauseous, as though she had just watched someone being sick. However, when she drew out her wand and pointed it at Barty Crouch, her hand was quite steady.
"Severus." Dumbledore turned to Snape. "Please take Y/n with you to the hospital wing and tell Madam Pomfrey to come down here, we need to get Alastor Moody into the hospital wing as well. Then go down into the grounds, find Cornelius Fudge, and bring him up to this office. He will undoubtedly want to question Crouch himself. Tell him I will be in the hospital wing in half an hour's time if he needs me."
Snape nodded silently and swept Y/n out of the room with him.
Y/n felt a cold shiver run along his body as he walked with Snape. "Was he always that cold?" Y/n found himself asking before he realized.
"Sometimes the Headmaster must..."
"I did not mean the Headmaster, Professor Snape...I meant Voldemort." Y/n clarified and Snape's pace slowed ever slightly as Y/n matched it.
"I know that you served him but I will not ask why...but tell me professor, was he always so cold and cruel?"
"..Always." Was Snape's only reply.
Y/n and Snape didn't exchange another single word with one another as they silently reached the hospital wing. He pushed the door open and Y/n could see His Grandmother, Ron, Mrs Weasley, Bill and Hermione were all crowded around Madam Pomfrey waiting for him and Harry.
"Y/n!" They called out noticing him enter with Snape now.
"Where's Harry?" Ron asked noticing he wasn't with them.
"He is with Dumbledore..." Y/n said to him.
"The headmaster wishes for you to collect Moody, He is in a trunk in Moody's office." Snape told Madam Pomfrey.
"What is...?" She said confused but shook her head. "Alright, but I'll need to deal with Mr Grindelwald here first." Madam Pomfrey said. "What has happened tonight Severus?"
"I'm sure Mr Grindelwald can explain." Snape said in his usual dull tone. "Now if you will excuse me, I must go and collect the minister." And with that he left.
Madam Pomfrey quickly ushered Y/n towards a bed now as the others began to follow and they could now up close see the extent of his injuries.
"Y/n your back..." Hermione said raising a hand to her mouth horrified to see the state he had been left in.
Madam Pomfrey instructed Y/n to lie down on his front and he did so while she went to fetch something.
"Who did this to you Y/n?" His Grandmother asked him.
"Death Eaters..." Y/n said as the others tensed up.
"Death Eaters?" Bill repeated sounding alarmed as the others all looked at one another shocked.
"They used Diffindo on my back repeatedly." Y/n said next
Madam Pomfrey arrived holding a bottle and stopper in her hands now. "I'll be using Dittany on your back Grindelwald, It will grow the skin back the skin that's been torn away but I'm afraid with how long it's been it more than likely be scared." Madam Pomfrey explained to him.
"Thank you." Y/n said gratefully as she began to apply the treatment. Smoke fizzled on Y/n's back as the skin began to grow back and fuse together though the tone of it was far paler than the rest, It had indeed scared over.
"Next we need to take care of that eye. The eye itself is luckily undamaged, you must have blinked at just the right time. Did they use Diffindo on you here as well?" Madam Pomfrey asked him.
"I...do not know...so many spells were being fired at once and I did not hear the one aimed at my face." Y/n told her.
"It mostly likely was a curse then, It will definitely will be leaving a permanent scar I'm afraid." Madam Pomfrey told him. "You've also lost a lot of blood..." She says noticing the state of his clothes and hands. "You'll need to take potions to replenish the lost amount." and she went to fetch one.
When Madam Pomfrey was finished healing Y/n the best she could, He was allowed to turn onto his back which no longer pained him quite as badly as it did and he slowly sat up looking to see everyone's concerned faces still looking at him.
"Now you are to stay here and rest while I fetch Professor Moody. No getting up... " Madam Pomfrey told him sternly.
"I do not think they would let me if I tried." Y/n said and Madam Pomfrey left now to collect Moody.
Hermione, Y/n's grandmother, Ron, Bill and Mrs Weasley quickly surrounded his bed now.
"Y/n dear...what has happened?" Mrs Weasley asked him worried.
"I want to talk to Hermione first...alone." Y/n said.
"Y/n I really don't think you should be..." Mrs Weasley began.
"Please." Y/n asked sounding more tired than they had ever heard him before.
Mrs Weasley felt Y/n's Grandmother put her hand down on her shoulder. "Come Molly, we shall give the boy a few minutes."
"Oh...come on boys." Mrs Weasley said frustrated but not daring to argue with Y/n's grandmother and the four of them moved away to give Y/n and Hermione some privacy.
Y/n and Hermione looked at one another now. Hermione could see the fatigue on his face, an effect of whatever had taken place tonight. He blinked slowly as if he was fighting to stay awake.
"It is over..." Y/n then quietly said to try and break the tension but it only caused Hermione to tear up as she quickly moved forward to hug him. Y/n could feel his body aching all over as she held him but he didn't care, he fought back hard to wrap his arms around Hermione. "I am sorry..."
"Why are you sorry?" Hermione asked him as she continued to hold onto him.
"...I do not know...I just am..." Y/n said as his head fell on her shoulder.
Hermione knew he was exhausted and began to carefully push Y/n back so that he was lying down. "You don't need to apologize Y/n. You haven't done anything wrong."
"I told you we would talk when the third task was over...I almost lost that opportunity. In fact I am honestly not sure I would have even survived tonight if it had not been for you." Y/n told her now.
"Me?" Hermione said surprised as she sat down on a chair next to Y/n's bed now on his right hand side.
Y/n lifted his right arm now as the charm on his bracelet moved slightly. "They tortured us tonight, both me and Harry." he told Hermione. "Used the Cruciatus curse on us several times. I tried to fight back but there were too many of them... I could only lie there, on the ground unable to fight back properly, I needed to focus my mind on something, anything to keep it from breaking and that is when I looked at the bracelet you had given me and I thought of you. That is when I promised myself that I would make it back to you no matter what." Y/n's tiredness failed him now as he lowered his arm back down.
"Y/n..." Hermione began to tear up again now as her left hand took Y/n's right. He turned his head to look at her.
"I am in love with you Hermione... and I think I have been for a long time." He told her not caring anymore. He had faced death tonight and he was not going to hold back how he felt about her. "I am closer to you than anyone else in my life, you know my secrets, you have seen me when I have been weak. You make me want to be the best person I can be...and if it is agreeable with you. I want you to be my girlfriend from now on. I cannot be without you by my side any longer." He asked her.
"Yes Y/n, I will be your girlfriend." Hermione said with a smile as the tears rolled out her eyes now and she leaned forward to kiss him.
Y/n kissed her back as slowly he felt himself tiredly smile, his eyes could no longer stay open and he began to drift off holding Hermione's hand.
Y/n didn't know how long he had fallen asleep for but it could not have been long as when his eyes opened he saw the others had all returned and that Hermione was still sitting holding his hand. Harry and the real Moody were lying in beds now and Y/n could see a black dog that surely had to be Sirius in his Animagus form.
Then he heard whispering around him.
"They'll wake them if they don't shut up!"
"What are they shouting about? Nothing else can have happened, can it?"
"If they do not stop, I will not have kind words to say..."
Mrs. Weasley was on her feet. "That's Fudge's voice," she whispered. "And that's Minerva McGonagall's, isn't it? But what are they arguing about?"
Now Y/n listened and he could hear them too, people shouting and running toward the hospital wing.
"Regrettable, but all the same, Minerva..." Cornelius Fudge was saying loudly.
"You should never have brought it inside the castle!" yelled Professor McGonagall. "When Dumbledore finds out..."
Y/n saw the hospital doors burst open Fudge came striding up the ward. Professors McGonagall and Snape were at his heels.
"Where's Dumbledore?" Fudge demanded of Mrs Weasley.
"He's not here." said Mrs. Weasley angrily. "This is a hospital wing. Minister, don't you think you'd do better to..."
But the door opened, and Dumbledore came sweeping up the ward.
"What has happened?" said Dumbledore sharply, looking from Fudge to Professor McGonagall. "Why are you disturbing these people? Minerva, I'm surprised at you. I asked you to stand guard over Barty Crouch..."
"There is no need to stand guard over him anymore, Dumbledore!" she shrieked. "The Minister has seen to that!"
Y/n had never seen Professor McGonagall lose control like this. There were angry blotches of color in her cheeks, and her hands were balled into fists, she was trembling with fury.
"What has happened?" Y/n's tired voice called out getting everyone's attention.
"Y/n you should be sleeping..." Mrs Weasley said worried.
"It is hard to find rest when the Minister and your transfiguration teacher are shouting near your bedside." Y/n said pushing himself up slowly.
"What has happened?" Dumbledore repeated Y/n's question.
"When we told Mr. Fudge that we had caught the Death Eater responsible for tonight's events." said Snape, in a low voice, "He seemed to feel his personal safety was in question. He insisted on summoning a dementor to accompany him into the castle. He brought it up to the office where Barty Crouch..."
"I told him you would not agree, Dumbledore!" McGonagall fumed. "I told him you would never allow dementors to set foot inside the castle, but..."
"My dear woman!" roared Fudge, who likewise looked angrier than Y/n had ever seen him. "As Minister of Magic, it is my decision whether I wish to bring protection with me when interviewing a possibly dangerous..."
But Professor McGonagall's voice drowned Fudge's. "The moment that...that thing entered the room," she screamed, pointing at Fudge, trembling all over. "It swooped down on Crouch and - and..."
Y/n felt a chill in his stomach as Professor McGonagall struggled to find words to describe what had happened. He did not need her to finish her sentence. He knew what the dementor must have done. It had administered its fatal kiss to Barty Crouch. It had sucked his soul out through his mouth. He was worse than dead.
"By all accounts, he is no loss!" blustered Fudge. "It seems he has been responsible for several deaths'. "
"You complete fool..." Y/n said angrily now as everyone but Dumbledore looked at him surprised to hear him talk to someone in such a way. He had always been a respectful boy. "Do you realize that because of your stupidity he cannot now give testimony..."
"Wha.." Fudge began to stammer at being talked to like this by someone much younger than him.
Dumbledore was staring hard at Fudge, as though seeing him plainly for the first time. "The boy is right Cornelius now Mr Crouch cannot give evidence about why he killed those people."
"Why he killed them? Well, that's no mystery, is it?" blustered Fudge now. "He was a raving lunatic! From what Minerva and Severus have told me, he seems to have thought he was doing it all on You-Know-Who's instructions!"
"Lord Voldemort was giving him instructions, Cornelius." Dumbledore said. "Those people's deaths were mere by products of a plan to restore Voldemort to full strength again. The plan succeeded. Voldemort has been restored to his body."
Fudge looked as though someone had just swung a heavy weight into his face. Dazed and blinking, he stared back at Dumbledore as if he couldn't quite believe what he had just heard. He began to sputter, still goggling at Dumbledore.
"You-Know-Who...returned? Preposterous. Come now, Dumbledore..."
"He is telling the truth..." Y/n said bravely now. "I was there...I saw him. Heartless and cold he is with no love for anyone but himself."
"Thank you Y/n." Dumbledore said understanding that it was not a pleasant thing for Y/n to talk about but that he was choosing to anyway. "As Minerva and Severus have doubtless told you, we heard Barty Crouch Jr confess. Under the influence of Veritaserum, he told us how he was smuggled out of Azkaban, and how Voldemort, learning of his continued existence from Bertha Jorkins went to free him from his father and used him to capture Harry and Y/n. The plan worked, I tell you. Crouch has helped Voldemort to return."
"See here, Dumbledore." said Fudge, a slight smile dawning on his face. "You...you can't seriously believe that You-Know-Who back? Come now, come now...certainly, Crouch may have believed himself to be acting upon You-Know-Who's orders but to take the word of a lunatic like that, and a pair of teenage boys Dumbledore..."
"When Y/n and Harry touched the Triwizard Cup tonight, they were transported straight to Voldemort." said Dumbledore steadily. "They witnessed Lord Voldemort's rebirth. I will explain it all to you if you will step up to my office."
Dumbledore glanced around at Harry and saw that he was awake too now, but shook his head and said, "I am afraid I cannot permit you to question Harry or Y/n tonight."
Fudge's curious smile lingered. He too glanced at Harry then at Y/n who frowned at him, then looked back at Dumbledore, and said, "You are...er...prepared to take Harry and Grindelwald's word on this, are you, Dumbledore?"
There was a moment's silence, which was broken by Sirius growling. His hackles were raised, and he was baring his teeth at Fudge.
"Be calm Snuffles." Y/n said to Sirius. "Before you get yourself into trouble."
Sirius reluctantly backed down.
"Certainly, I believe Harry and Y/n." said Dumbledore. His eyes were blazing now. "I heard Crouch's confession, and I heard Harry's account of what happened after he touched the Triwizard Cup, the two stories make sense, they explain everything that has happened since Bertha Jorkins disappeared last summer."
Fudge still had that strange smile on his face. Once again, he glanced at Harry before answering.
"You are prepared to believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, on the word of a lunatic murderer, A boy who was born from Death Eaters and a boy who... well..."
Fudge shot Harry another look, and Harry suddenly understood. "You've been reading Rita Skeeter, Mr. Fudge." he said quietly.
Fudge reddened slightly, but a defiant and obstinate look came over his face.
"And if I have?" he said, looking at Dumbledore. "If I have discovered that you've been keeping certain facts about the boy very quiet? A Parselmouth, eh? And having funny turns all over the place..."
"I assume that you are referring to the pains Harry has been experiencing in his scar?" said Dumbledore coolly.
"You admit that he has been having these pains, then?" said Fudge quickly. "Headaches? Nightmares? Possibly hallucinations?"
"Listen to me, Cornelius." said Dumbledore, taking a step toward Fudge, and once again, he seemed to radiate that indefinable sense of power that Y/n had felt after Dumbledore had Stunned young Crouch. "Y/n is as innocent as Minerva and Harry is as sane as you or I. That scar upon his forehead has not addled his brains. I believe it hurts him when Lord Voldemort is close by, or feeling particularly murderous."
Fudge had taken half a step back from Dumbledore, but he looked no less stubborn. "You'll forgive me, Dumbledore, but I've never heard of a curse scar acting as an alarm bell before..."
"Look, I saw Voldemort come back!" Harry shouted. He tried to get out of bed again, but Mrs. Weasley forced him back. "I saw the Death Eaters! They tortured Y/n! I can give you their names! Lucius Malfoy!"
Snape made a sudden movement, but as Harry looked at him, Snape's eyes flew back to Fudge.
"Malfoy was cleared!" said Fudge, visibly affronted. "A very old family, donations to excellent causes..."
"Macnair!" Y/n joined in angrily now.
"Also cleared! Now working for the Ministry!" Fudge dismissed.
"Avery... Nott...Crabbe...Goyle..." Y/n and Harry began to list together.
"You both are merely repeating the names of those who were acquitted of being Death Eaters thirteen years ago!" said Fudge angrily. "You could have found those names in old reports of the trials! For heavens sake, Dumbledore the Potter boy was full of some crackpot story at the end of last year too... tales are getting taller, and you're still swallowing them, the boy can talk to snakes. Dumbledore, and you still think he's trustworthy?"
"You fool!" Professor McGonagall cried. "Cedric Diggory! Mr. Crouch! These deaths were not the random work of a lunatic!"
"I see no evidence to the contrary!" shouted Fudge, now matching her anger, his face purpling.
"Because you were the fool who brought a Dementor into the castle and allowed it to perform the kiss of Death on the man on Voldemort's orders!" Y/n shouted from his bed now his anger harsh and fierce. "How dare you speak of a lack of evidence when you are the one responsible for that!"
"Thank you Y/n... that will be enough." Dumbledore told him calmly now.
"It seems to me that you are all determined to start a panic that will destabilize everything we have worked for these last thirteen years!"
"Voldemort has returned." Dumbledore repeated. "If you accept that fact straightaway. Fudge, and take the necessary measures, we may still be able to save the situation. The first and most essential step is to remove Azkaban from the control of the dementors..."
"Preposterous!" shouted Fudge again. "Remove the dementors? I'd be kicked out of office for suggesting it! Half of us only feel safe in our beds at night because we know the dementors are standing guard at Azkaban!"
"The rest of us sleep less soundly in our beds, Cornelius, knowing that you have put Lord Voldemort's most dangerous supporters in the care of creatures who will join him the instant he asks them!" said Dumbledore. "They will not remain loyal to you, Fudge! Voldemort can offer them much more scope for their powers and their pleasures than you can! With the dementors behind him, and his old supporters returned to him, you will be hard-pressed to stop him regaining the sort of power he had thirteen years ago!"
Fudge was opening and closing his mouth as though no words could express his outrage.
"The second step you must take...and at once." Dumbledore pressed on. "Is to send envoys to the giants."
"Envoys to the giants?" Fudge shrieked, finding his tongue again. "What madness is this?"
"Extend them the hand of friendship, now, before it is too late." said Dumbledore. "Or Voldemort will persuade them, as he did before, that he alone among wizards will give them their rights and their freedom!"
"You... you cannot be serious!" Fudge gasped, shaking his head and retreating further from Dumbledore. "If the magical community got wind that I had approached the giants...people hate them, Dumbledore... end of my career..."
"You are blinded." said Dumbledore, his voice rising now, the aura of power around him palpable, his eyes blazing once more. "By the love of the office you hold, Cornelius! You place too much importance, and you always have done, on the so called purity of blood! You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be! Your dementor has just destroyed the last remaining member of a pure-blood family as old as any and see what that man chose to make of his life! I tell you now... take the steps I have suggested, and you will be remembered, in office or out, as one of the bravest and greatest Ministers of Magic we have ever known. Fail to act... and history will remember you as the man who stepped aside and allowed Voldemort a second chance to destroy the world we have tried to rebuild!"
"Insane..." whispered Fudge, still backing away. "Mad..."
And then there was silence. Madam Pomfrey was standing frozen at the foot of Harry's bed, her hands over her mouth. Mrs. Weasley was still standing over Harry, her hand on his shoulder to prevent him from rising. Bill and Ron were staring at Fudge and Hermione's hold on Y/n's hand tightened to stop him from doing anything.
"If your determination to shut your eyes will carry you as far as this, Cornelius." said Dumbledore. "We have reached a parting of the ways. You must act as you see fit. And I... I shall act as I see fit."
Dumbledore's voice carried no hint of a threat, it sounded like a mere statement, but Fudge bristled as though Dumbledore were advancing upon him with a wand.
"Now, see here, Dumbledore." he said, waving a threatening finger. "I've given you free rein, always. I've had a lot of respect for you. I might not have agreed with some of your decisions, but I've kept quiet. There aren't many who'd have let you hire werewolves, Let in Grindelwalds, or keep Hagrid, or decide what to teach your students without reference to the Ministry. But if you're going to work against me..."
"The only one against whom I intend to work against..." said Dumbledore. "Is Lord Voldemort. If you are against him, then we remain, Cornelius, on the same side."
It seemed Fudge could think of no answer to this. He rocked backward and forward on his small feet for a moment and spun his bowler hat in his hands. Finally, he said, with a hint of a plea in his voice, "He can't be back, Dumbledore, he just can't be... "
Snape strode forward, past Dumbledore, pulling up the left sleeve of his robes as he went. He stuck out his forearm and showed it to Fudge, who recoiled.
"There." said Snape harshly. "There. The Dark Mark. It is not as clear as it was an hour or so ago, when it burned black, but you can still see it. Every Death Eater had the sign burned into him by the Dark Lord. It was a means of distinguishing one another, and his means of summoning us to him. When he touched the Mark of any Death Eater, we were to Disapparate, and Apparate, instantly, at his side. This Mark has been growing clearer all year. Karkaroff's too. Why do you think Karkaroff fled tonight? We both felt the Mark burn. We both knew he had returned. Karkaroff fears the Dark Lord's vengeance. He betrayed too many of his fellow Death Eaters to be sure of a welcome back into the fold."
Fudge stepped back from Snape too. He was shaking his head. He did not seem to have taken in a word Snape had said. He stared, apparently repelled by the ugly mark on Snape's arm, then looked up at Dumbledore and whispered, "I don't know what you and your staff are playing at, Dumbledore, but I have heard enough. I have no more to add. I will be in touch with you tomorrow, Dumbledore, to discuss the running of this school. I must return to the Ministry."
He had almost reached the door when he paused. He turned around, strode back down the wing, and stopped at Harry's bed.
"Your winnings." he said shortly, taking out two large bags of gold out of his pocket and dropping one onto Harry's bedside table then one onto Y/n's. "Five hundred Galleons each. There should have been a presentation ceremony, but under the circumstances..." He crammed his bowler hat onto his head and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
The moment he had disappeared, Dumbledore turned to look at the group. "There is work to be done." he said. "Molly...am I right in thinking that I can count on you and Arthur?"
"Of course you can." said Mrs. Weasley. She was white to the lips, but she looked resolute. "We know what Fudge is. It's Arthur's fondness for Muggles that has held him back at the Ministry all these years. Fudge thinks he lacks proper wizarding pride."
"Then I need to send a message to Arthur." said Dumbledore. "All those that we can persuade of the truth must be notified immediately, and he is well placed to contact those at the Ministry who are not as shortsighted as Cornelius."
"I'll go to Dad." said Bill, standing up. "I'll go now."
"Excellent." said Dumbledore. "Tell him what has happened. Tell him I will be in direct contact with him shortly. He will need to be discreet, however. If Fudge thinks I am interfering at the Ministry..."
"Leave it to me." said Bill.
He clapped a hand on Harry's shoulder then Y/n's, kissed his mother on the cheek, pulled on his cloak, and strode quickly from the room.
"Minerva." said Dumbledore, turning to Professor McGonagall, "I want to see Hagrid in my office as soon as possible. Also... if she will consent to come Madame Maxime."
Professor McGonagall nodded and left without a word.
"Poppy." Dumbledore said to Madam Pomfrey. "Would you be very kind and go back down to Professor Moody's office, where I think you will find a house-elf called Winky in considerable distress? Do what you can for her, and take her back to the kitchens. I think Dobby will look after her for us."
"Very...very well," said Madam Pomfrey, looking startled, and she too left.
Dumbledore made sure that the door was closed, and that Madam Pomfrey's footsteps had died away, before he spoke again.
"And now." he said, "It is time for two of our number to recognize each other for what they are. Sirius...if you could resume your usual form."
The great black dog looked up at Dumbledore, then, in an instant, turned back into a man.
Mrs. Weasley screamed and leapt back from the side of Harry's bed.
"Sirius Black!" she shrieked, pointing at him.
"Mum, shut up!" Ron yelled. "It's okay!"
Snape had not yelled or jumped backward, but the look on his face was one of mingled fury and horror. "Him!" he snarled, staring at Sirius, whose face showed equal dislike. "What is he doing here?"
"He is here at my invitation." said Dumbledore, looking between them. "As are you, Severus. I trust you both. It is time for you to lay aside your old differences and trust each other."
Sirius and Snape were eyeing each other with the utmost loathing.
"I will settle, in the short term." said Dumbledore, with a bite of impatience in his voice. "For a lack of open hostility. You will shake hands. You are on the same side now. Time is short, and unless the few of us who know the truth do not stand united, there is no hope for any us."
Very slowly, but still glaring at each other as though each wished the other nothing but ill, Sirius and Snape moved toward each other and shook hands. They let go extremely quickly.
"That will do to be going on with." said Dumbledore, stepping between them once more. "Now I have work for each of you. Fudge's attitude, though not unexpected, changes everything. Sirius, I need you to set off at once. You are to alert Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher... the old crowd. Lie low at Lupin's for a while, I will contact you there."
"But..." said Harry. He wanted Sirius to stay. He did not want to have to say goodbye again so quickly.
"You'll see me very soon. Harry." said Sirius, turning to him. "I promise you. But I must do what I can, you understand, don't you?"
"Yeah." said Harry. "Yeah....of course I do."
Sirius turned his head to Y/n now. "Thank you for being there with Harry tonight, You protected him when I was not able too."
"You also played a part in our survival tonight Sirius, If you had not taught me what you had I would not have been able to get away from those Death Eaters."
"Then I am glad to have taught you." Sirius said with a small smile as he grasped Harry's hand briefly, nodded to Dumbledore, transformed again into the black dog, and ran the length of the room to the door, whose handle he turned with a paw. Then he was gone.
"Severus." said Dumbledore, turning to Snape. "You know what I must ask you to do. If you are ready...if you are prepared..."
"I am." said Snape. He looked slightly paler than usual, and his cold, black eyes glittered strangely.
"Then good luck." said Dumbledore, and he watched, with a trace of apprehension on his face, as Snape swept wordlessly after Sirius.
"Frieda." Dumbledore turned to Y/n's grandmother. "I understand you stood down to raise your grandchildren but now I must ask you to raise your wand once again, to protect them."
"You do not need to ask Albus." She said. "I am ready to protect as I did all those years ago."
It was several moments before Dumbledore spoke again. "Before you return to rest Y/n, I must unfortunately ask for your account of tonight's events. If you wish for the others not to hear then we shall temporarily dismiss them..."
"No..." Y/n said shaking his head. "It is alright, they should know what happened tonight, and If I can do this to lighten the burden on Harry then so be it."
And so for the next ten minutes they all sat in silence as Y/n told them what had happened in the graveyard from his point of view. How Cedric had died, How Voldemort had been reborn and wanted Y/n to join him, how he had refused, How Voldemort had his Death Eaters torture him, how he used his Animagus form to slip past them and how he and Harry ultimately escaped.
Ron had to sit down, he looked pale while Mrs Weasley and Hermione had leaking tears from their eyes.
But Y/n's grandmother looked down at Y/n proudly.
"Thank you Y/n for sharing your account." Dumbledore said. "You showed great bravery and resourcefulness in the graveyard tonight. Now, I must go downstairs, I must see the Diggory's. Harry, Y/n. Take your potions and rest. I will see all of you later."
Y/n watched as Dumbledore disappeared now and Hermione and his grandmother were both looking at him. While Mrs Weasley and Ron looked after Harry.
"So you are an Animagus are you?" Y/n's Grandmother asked him and he nodded his head.
"I am sorry to have kept it a secret from you." He said.
"You are not the only person who has tried to keep secrets from me over my years, but this is still an impressive one. A cat was it? Very useful Y/n." His grandmother said.
"Thank you." Y/n said feeling slightly proud of himself. He then looked at Hermione. "Grandmother I know I have introduced her to you before but please allow me to again. This is Hermione Granger, my Girlfriend." He said and Hermione took his hand again.
"Finally gathered the courage did you?" Y/n's grandmother said amused. "Well, you both have my blessing, not that you required it." She then said. Y/n and Hermione just smiled at each other. "Albus is right Y/n, you need rest. But I have been given a task that means I no longer will be able to stay at our home this summer, possibly longer. I shall have to work out temporary living accommodations for you and Atticus."
"Y/n could stay with me Ms Grindelwald." Hermione spoke up now. "I could write an owl to my parents tonight."
"You are from a muggle household are you not Miss Granger?" Y/n's grandmother asked her.
"Um...Yes I am." Hermione answered worried this was a problem.
"Then, I think it would be a very good idea." Frieda nodded. "Y/n you could do with a break from the wizarding world after all that has happened tonight, and it will give you a chance to experience muggle life." She agreed to the idea. "I will still need to work out who to send Atticus to however, I shall no longer allow him to stay with the Malfoys, I have always had my suspicions but what you told us tonight is the final straw."
Hermione let go of Y/n's hand now and he watched as she moved to the window and suddenly brought her hand down and grabbed something tight in her hand. "Sorry," she whispered to Harry and Mrs Weasley who had taken notice as well.
Hermione returned to Y/n's side now.
"What was that about?" Y/n asked her.
"I'll tell you later." Hermione said. "For now you just need to rest."
"She is right Y/n, You have earned some sleep." His grandmother told him,
"Is it pitiful of me to admit that I am slightly afraid to fall asleep?" Y/n asked giving a hollow chuckle.
"Not at all Y/n." Y/n's grandmother told him. "I have seen far older men that you deal worse over things not even half the scale of your experience. It is normal to feel as you do right now."
Hermione put her free hand on Y/n's arm now and he looked at her, She still was holding on tightly to whatever was in her hand. "Madam Pomfrey left you a dreamless potion. You'll just sleep and me and your grandmother will be right beside you." She told him.
Y/n looked at the potion on a table next to the sack of gold Fudge had left. He picked it up and drank it in one gulp. The effect was instantaneous. Heavy, irresistible waves of dreamless sleep broke over him, he fell back onto his pillows and thought no more. His eyes grew heavy as he began to drift off.