Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
————————————
Aurora Areli
"IT COMES DOWN TO this," Hermione said, rubbing her forehead. "Either Mr Crouch attacked Viktor, or somebody else attacked both of them when Viktor wasn't looking."
Harry and I had just finished explaining everything that had happened in the Forest. Before he ran into me, Harry had been told that the third task was going to be a maze full of magical obstacles set up on the Quidditch pitch. After he and the other champions had been informed of this, Krum took him to the edge of the Forest to talk when Crouch showed up, confused on where he was and babbling madly about his dead wife and son, Bertha Jorkins, Voldemort, Dumbledore, and talking to Harry as though he thought he was Percy. That was when Harry went to go get help and left Krum alone with Crouch.
"It must've been Crouch," Ron said at once. "That's why he was gone when Harry, Rory and Dumbledore got there. He'd done a runner."
"I don't think so," Harry disagreed, shaking his head. "He seemed really weak — I don't reckon he was up to Disapparating or anything."
"But you can't Disapparate in the Hogwarts grounds, remember?" I said, earning a nod of approval from Hermione.
"Okay . . . how's this for a theory," Ron said excitedly, "Krum attacked Crouch — no, wait for it — and then Stunned himself!"
"And Mr Crouch evaporated, did he?" said Hermione coldly.
"Oh, yeah . . ."
. . . . .
The following morning, just as the sun began to rise over the horizon, Harry, Ron, Hermione and I crept out of our dormitories, and hurried up to the Owlery to send a note to Sirius. We were now standing looking out at the misty grounds, puffy-eyed and pale from talking about Mr Crouch so late into the night.
"Just go through it again, Harry," Hermione said. "What did Mr Crouch actually say?"
"I've told you, he wasn't making much sense," Harry said, distractedly twirling a lock of my hair in his fingers. "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," Hermione said testily.
"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?" Ron said tentatively.
"I've told you," Harry repeated dully. "He said he's getting stronger."
There was a pause, in which I worried my bottom lip in thought. If Crouch really had gone mad, what could have possibly driven him to say something like that?
