A Different Halloween

Chapter 31

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Severus Snape was mightily relieved to be alive, disappointed that his present accommodation was a cell but figured that was merely a temporary situation. He clearly remembered the demise of the dark lord and was sure Dumbledore would soon be coming for him. When the cell door opened to admit Barty Crouch Senior, he still wasn't too worried. Severus thought he had protection. With Bart's first few sentences, that thought would be exposed as nothing more than wishful thinking.

"Mr Snape, there is a part of me that's glad to see you still alive. I have to confess though, a larger part wishes your boss Dumbledore had been successful. He actually broke in here last night, only to kill the wrong death eater. You see, I'm assuming that it was you who told Dumbledore that my late son was one of Voldemort's followers?"

Severus was now thinking things must have changed quite a bit while he'd been unconscious and recovering. That Barty Jr. also appeared to be dead did not bode well for his own health. Barty's next words not only confirmed this, they terrified the young potions professor.

"Please don't think I'm attempting to trick you into revealing secrets, you have a date with veritaserum already arranged for later on today. Voldemort is gone and we're rounding up all his death eaters but I'm greedy, I want that bastard Dumbledore as well and I know you can give him to me."

Barty gave that a few seconds to sink in before continuing. "We both know the serum will prevent you telling lies but it also won't have you volunteering information. That means we have to ask all the right questions, which can take time. You're facing two charges of murder and the attempted murder of a child. The Lestranges have also identified you as providing the location of the Longbottoms. Dumbledore really must be terrified of what you know because he broke in here last night and killed Rodolphus Lestrange by mistake. Funny that, I thought he would have at least recognised you lying in bed."

Severus was now sweating, this was as bad as it could get. Without Dumbledore's protection he was as good as dead. That the old bastard now appeared determined to kill him to left Severus with nowhere to go. Worse still, Barty clearly knew it!

"We've already got enough on you to ensure your next kiss is from a dementor, help me take down Dumbledore and we can reduce that to room and board at Azkaban. That might not sound like much of a deal but it's the only one on offer. This is also a onetime offer, once I leave this room it's gone. We'll just keep pumping veritaserum into you until we eventually get all the information we want. Unfortunately, that leaves Dumbledore with more than enough time to either get to you and shut you up permanently or disappear out of the country. This is the only reason I'm making this offer as I'd rather see every death eater kissed and put a permanent end to this war. Oh, did I forget to mention, Dumbledore claims you stole the Longbottoms location from his bedroom."

Snape's head was spinning from all this information and Barty was only giving him minutes to make a decision. That Voldemort was gone he'd seen with his own eyes, if the ministry already had the Lestranges then clearly his only value was being used against Dumbledore. He had to ask himself one question, would Albus try to kill him before he could reveal what the old man was actually up to? The answer he came back with was a definite yes. It was time to talk!

"Albus Dumbledore personally handed me that piece of parchment with the Longbottoms address on it. His specific orders were to give it to the dark lord. Bellatrix took it from me to give to her master but the dark lord was too fixated on the Potters to care. He went after Lily Potter's sister and dragged me along."

Both were aware these facts would be confirmed later using veritaserum so Barty accepted this as the truth. Now, what he really wanted was the why.

He listened as Snape explained about overhearing the prophecy and passing that information to the dark lord, and Voldemort believing every word of it! Snape then went to Albus for help but was instead made to spy for the headmaster as Dumbledore set about using the prophecy to engineer Voldemort's downfall. Dumbledore also intended that the parents should die, leaving him to control any surviving child as a weapon against the return of Voldemort.

Barty though back to Lily Potter's actions the night Dumbledore suggested he take her nephew for a check-up, at the time he thought her punching out Dumbledore was excessive. He now wondered how much of this the Potters had pieced together for themselves? Sharing this information with them would certainly help keep the Potters and the Longbottoms in his camp, catching Dumbledore and seeing him in Azkaban would surely seal the deal.

Barty could appreciate the ingenuity in Dumbledore's scheme but the ruthlessness needed to pull it off left him cold. The supposed leader of the light had stepped heavily into the shadows when he was manipulating innocent families with babies to their deaths. Barty was desperate to win the war and had no compunction about killing to achieve that aim. There was a big difference though in killing an animal that chose to become a death eater against deliberately and deceitfully sacrificing women and children in the hope you might succeed.

Barty gathered six aurors before leaving for Hogwarts to arrest the Chief Warlock, he already had more than enough evidence to at least administer veritaserum to Dumbledore. That Albus firstly pointed Voldemort in the direction of two old pureblood families before making sure he could then find them should be enough to see the old manipulator enjoying Azkaban fare instead of Hogwarts feasts this Christmas.

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