The Girl Who Hid | ✓

|59| Barking Mad

I woke up, so warm, so very sleepy, that I didn't open my eyes, wanting to drop off again. The room was still dimly lit; I was sure it was still nighttime and had a feeling that I couldn't have been asleep very long.

Then I heard whispering around me.

"They'll wake them if they don't shut up!"

"What are they shouting about? Nothing else can have happened, can it?"

I opened my eyes blearily. Turning my head, I could see Harry squinting his eyes trying to see the people in front of us, he didn't have his glasses. Mrs. Weasley and Bill were near our beds. Mrs. Weasley was on her feet, pacing.

"That's Fudge's voice," she whispered. "And that's Minerva McGonagall's, isn't it? But what are they arguing about?"

Now I 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—"

I heard the hospital doors burst open. Unnoticed by any of the people around our beds, all of whom were staring at the door as Bill pulled back the screens, Harry and I quickly sat up. 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!"

I had never seen Professor McGonagall lose control like this, Harry and I looked at each other in shock. There were angry blotches of color in her cheeks, and her hands were balled into fists; she was trembling with fury.

"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!" Professor 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 I 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—"

I felt a chill in my stomach as Professor McGonagall struggled to find words to describe what had happened. I did not need her to finish her sentence. I 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!"

"But he cannot now give testimony, Cornelius," said Dumbledore. He was staring hard at Fudge, as though seeing him plainly for the first time. "He cannot give evidence about why he killed those people."