Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [4]

⚡️ Chapter 75 ⚡️

"Stupefy!"

Just as Vega crashed into the ground with Harry, there was a blinding flash of red light behind them, and with a great splintering and crashing, the door of Moody's office was blasted completely apart – Moody-Crouch was thrown backward onto the office floor, missing the students. Pained, Vega was one again experiencing adrenaline and she turned around to look at the Foe-Glass that hung near.

Albus Dumbledore, Professor Snape, and Professor McGonagall looking back at Vega and Harry out of it. And so, they were standing on the doorway, Dumbledore in the front, his wand outstretched, having been the one who had reached ahead and used the powerful Stunning Spell on the door.

At that moment, Vega fully understood for the first time why people said Dumbledore was the only wizard Voldemort had ever feared. The look upon Dumbledore's face as he stared down at the unconscious form of Moody – Crouch – was more terrible than Vega could have ever imagined.

There was no benign smile upon Dumbledore's face, no twinkle in the eyes behind the spectacles. There was cold fury in every line of the ancient face; a sense of power radiated from Dumbledore as though he were giving off burning heat. And Vega got the opportunity to breathe properly for once.

They were saved from that... man.

Dumbledore stepped into the office, placed a foot underneath Moody-Crouch's unconscious body, and kicked him over onto his back, so that his face was visible to those present in there. Snape followed him, looking into the Foe-Glass, where his own face was still visible, glaring into the room.

Professor McGonagall went straight to her two students, Vega and Harry, helping them up.

"Come along, Potter and Miss Lestrange," Professor McGonagall whispered, and the thin line of her mouth was twitching as though she was about to cry. "Come along... Hospital wing..."

"No," Dumbledore interjected sharply.

"Dumbledore, they ought to – look at them – they've been through enough tonight –" Professor McGonagall replied, her eyes glancing toward their bloodied clothes and Vega's tear-streaked face.

"They will stay, Minerva, because they need to understand," Dumbledore replied curtly. "Understand is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery. They need to know who has put them through the ordeal they have suffered tonight, and why,"

"Moody," Harry said. He was still in a state of complete disbelief. "How can it have been Moody?"

"This is not Alastor Moody," Dumbledore answered quietly. "You have never known Alastor Moody. The real Moody would not have removed you two from my sight after what happened tonight. The moment he took you two, I knew – and I followed,"

"That person is Bartemis Crouch!" Vega spoke in a loud whisper, and Professor McGonagall looked around at her in shock. "Not – it's Bartemis Crouch Junior! He's been making Polyjuice Potion! He was the person who had been stealing from the potion supplies..."

For a moment, Dumbledore looked at the shaken girl before he bent down over Moody-Crouch's limp form and put a hand inside his robes. He pulled out Moody's hip-flask, which must have the Polyjuice Potion, and a set of keys on a ring. Then, he turned to Professors McGonagall and Snape.

"Severus, please fetch me the strongest Truth Potion you possess, and then go down to the kitchens and bring up the house-elf called Winky," Dumbledore instructed them. "Minerva, kindly go down to Hagrid's house, where you will find a large black dog sitting in the pumpkin patch. Take the dog up to my office, tell him I will be with him shortly, then come back here,"