Hermione Granger and the Goblet Of Fire (Completed)

Chapter 24 - Preparing for the Maze

Harry returned from the Quidditch pitch a lot later than the other champions, so late that Hermione had nearly given up waiting and gone to bed when he showed up. He had a very interesting story to tell her and Ron. Apparently, him and Viktor had gone into the Forbidden Forest to talk about something - what, exactly, he wouldn't say. They'd been interrupted, however, by Mr Crouch, of all people. Crouch seemed to have gone mad, rambling on as if he was talking to people in the ministry, and then begging Harry to get Dumbledore, talking about Voldemort. Harry had left Viktor with Crouch to find Dumbledore but, when they came back, Viktor had been stunned and Crouch had disappeared

The next morning, they woke up very early to send a letter to Sirius explaining what had happened. They stood by the window, watching the owl disappear, too tired to move
"It comes down to this” Hermione yawned “Either Mr. Crouch attacked Viktor, or somebody else attacked both of them when Viktor wasn’t looking”
“It must’ve been Crouch” said Ron quickly “That’s why he was gone when Harry and Dumbledore got there. He’d done a runner”
“I don’t think so” said Harry slowly “He seemed really weak - I don’t reckon he was up to Disapparating or anything”
“You can’t Disapparate on the Hogwarts grounds, haven’t I told you enough times?” said Hermione
“Okay... how’s this for a theory” said Ron “Krum attacked Crouch - no, wait for it - and then Stunned himself!”
“And Mr. Crouch evaporated, did he?” said Hermione coolly. What had Ron got against Viktor?
“Oh yeah...”

“Just go through it again, Harry” said Hermione “What did Mr. Crouch actually say?”
“I’ve told you, he wasn’t making much sense” said Harry “He said he wanted to warn Dumbledore about something. He definitely mentioned Bertha Jorkins, and he seemed to think she was dead. He kept saying stuff was his fault... He mentioned his son”
“Well, that was his fault” said Hermione
“He was out of his mind” said Harry “Half the time he seemed to think his wife and son were still alive, and he kept talking to Percy about work and giving him instructions”

“And... remind me what he said about You-Know-Who?” said Ron nervously
“I’ve told you” said Harry “He said he’s getting stronger”
“But he was out of his mind, like you said, so half of it was probably just raving...” said Ron as if trying to convince himself more than anyone actually listening
“He was sanest when he was trying to talk about Voldemort” said Harry, and Ron winced “He was having real trouble stringing two words together, but that was when he seemed to know where he was, and know what he wanted to do. He just kept saying he had to see Dumbledore”

“If Snape hadn’t held me up” Harry said “we might’ve got there in time. ‘The headmaster is busy, Potter... what’s this rubbish, Potter?’ Why couldn’t he have just got out of the way?”
“Maybe he didn’t want you to get there!” said Ron eagerly “Maybe - hang on - how fast d’you reckon he could’ve gotten down to the forest? D’you reckon he could’ve beaten you and Dumbledore there?”
“Not unless he can turn himself into a bat or something” said Harry
“Wouldn’t put it past him” said Ron darkly
“We need to see Professor Moody” said Hermione. Moody had apparently appeared just after Harry and Dumbledore had returned to the forest “We need to find out whether he found Mr. Crouch”
“If he had the Marauder’s Map on him, it would’ve been easy” said Harry. Moody had taken the Marauder's Map during Harry's little adventure to find the egg clue
“Unless Crouch was already outside the grounds” said Ron “because it only shows up to the boundaries, doesn’t-”

“Shh!” said Hermione suddenly
She could hear footsteps coming up the stairs to the Owlery. Two voices were coming towards them, clearly arguing
“-that’s blackmail, that is, we could get into a lot of trouble for that-”
“-we’ve tried being polite; it’s time to play dirty, like him. He wouldn’t like the Ministry of Magic knowing what he did-”
“I’m telling you, if you put that in writing, it’s blackmail!”
“Yeah, and you won’t be complaining if we get a nice fat payoff, will you?”