Born From Madness (Harry Potter Fanfic)

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"Hermione! Hermione, wake up!" Harry demanded as Hermione violently shook to a sitting position. Harry was leaning closely towards her as he was pushing away some of her drenched hair from her face. 

"You were having a nightmare. It seemed very tensed." Harry told her. Hermione leaned her head against the palm of her hands. 

"It was-- something," Hermione for a lack of a better word. 

"What happened?" Harry asked her. Hermione proceeded to explain how she saw this creepy manor and Barty Crouch Jr. and this mysterious woman, discussing about something to do with the tournament and someone (which Hermione figured was Barty's father) he had killed. She also mentioned how there might have been someone else that they probably were hurting but she woke up just as Barty was giving the 'Crucio' curse. 

Harry look stunned before he began mentioning how he had a dream similar to hers but instead of Barty and the strange woman, it was Wormtail and a strange man with a large snake draped around the chair. They were talking about an blunder Wormtail had done that was dealt with before the man also tormented him for his mistake just like Hermione's nightmare sort of ended. 

"What do you think it means?" Hermione asked him. 

"I don't know. But Sirius told me about Barty saying something about a woman coming for him. Whoever she is, she was the one who broke him out. I think we should go to Dumbledore and tell him about it." Harry suggested to her. Hermione shook her head. 

"Harry, I merely had a bad dream. You should be the one who should tell Dumbledore about your dream because it could be serious." Hermione claimed to him. 

"So can yours! Come on, the two of us can go up together." Harry stated to her as he stood up from the bed then he reached out his hand. Knowing she wasn't going to win this one, she took hold of Harry's hand and pulled herself out of the bed. 

Hermione and Harry rushed over towards Dumbledore's door to his office. 

"Sherbet Lemon?" Harry said, but nothing happened. 

"Okay... um... Pear Drop? Er-- Licorice Wand? Fizzing Whizbee? Drooble's Best Blowing Gum? Bertie Bottt's Every Flavor Beans... Oh wait! He hates them, doesn't he?" Oh just open, please!!!!" Harry shrieked at the Griffon, which kept still like and Hermione couldn't help but feel like it was mocking Harry at this point. 

"Come on, what is it? Chocolate Frog? Sugar Quill?" Harry asked the griffon. 

"Cockroach Cluster?" Hermione whispered quietly when suddenly the griffon sprang  to life. They looked at each other before running up the spiral stairs. Upon reaching the top of the stairs and heading to the Office Door, they paused when they heard a voice echoing from the inside. 

"Dumbledore, I'm afraid I don't see the connection, not one bit of it," Fudge's voice echoed through, "This isn't the first time Bertha has gotten herself lost! I agreed we would have expected her to be back by now, but there is no evidence of foul play. None whatsoever. Plus, I really doubt there even is a connection between hers and Barty Crouch's." 

"And what do you think's happened to Barty Crouch, Minister?" Moody asked them. 

"I see two possibilities, Alastor," Fudge claimed, "Either Crouch has finally cracked-- more than likely, I'm sure you'll agree, given his personal history-- lost his mind, and gone wandering off somewhere--" 

"Then he must have been wandering extremely quickly if that's the case, Cornelius." Dumbledore suggested. 

"Or else-- well... I'll reserve judgement until after I've seen the place where he was found, but you say it was just past the Beauxbatons carriage? Dumbledore, you know what that woman is?" 

"I consider her to be a very able headmistress," Dumbledore claimed. 

"Come off it, man! Don't you think you might be prejudiced in her favor because of Hagrid? They don't all turn out harmless-- if, indeed, you can call Hagrid harmless, with that monster fixation he's got--" 

"I no more suspect Madame Maxime than Hagrid-- I think it possible you are the one who is prejudiced, Cornelius." 

"Can we wrap up this discussion?" Moody asked. 

"Yes, yes, let's go down to the grounds, then--" 

"Not that," Moody corrected him, "It's just Miss Granger and Mr. Potter wants a word with you, Dumbledore.He's just outside the door." 

Hermione jumped. She forgot that Moody could could through pretty much anything there is. The door opened as Moody popped his head to the side. 

"Come in you two!" Moody ordered them. They walked inside. Fudge was standing right beside Dumbledore's desk where they turned towards them. 

"Harry! Hermione!" Fudge cheered, "How are you two." 

"Fine," Hermione and Harry mumbled in response. 

"We were just talking about the night when Mr. Crouch turned up on the grounds," Fudge said, "It was you two who found him, was it not?" 

"Yeah," Harry mumbled while Hermione nodded her head. 

"But we didn't see Madame Maxime there, though, she'd have a job hiding, wouldn't she?" Hermione asked them. 

"Well-- I-- yes-- we're about to go for a short walk on the grounds, Harry, if you'll excuse us... perhaps if you just go back to your class--" Fudge claimed before Dumbledore interrupted. 

"Wait here Miss Granger and Mr. Potter, our examination of the grounds will not take long." Dumbledore told them as they proceeded out of the room, followed by Fudge and Moody. Hermione and Harry stood there unsure what to do while they were waiting for them to return. 

"Hey! What's that, Hermione?" Harry suddenly asked while he proceeded to walk over towards a shallow stone basin that had silvery lights pouring from it as it was laying near an open cabinet. Hermione tilted her head as she leaned over it. 

"I'm not entirely sure what it is. I've never seen anything like it before." Hermione admitted to Harry as they leaned over it. Inside appeared to be a strange blue liquid that swirled around on the inside, appearing almost like it was glass. Harry and Hermione leaned closer to the basin so they could see it better. However, instead of seeing the bottom they suddenly felt as if a pair of hands grabbed hold of Hermione and Harry pulling them down.