Kassandra Bauer and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4)

Chapter 23: Things get Darker.

"It comes down to this." Hermione declared, rubbing her forehead in frustration. "Either Mr. Crouch attacked Viktor, or somebody attacked both of them when Viktor wasn't looking." 

"Or..." Ryan said pulling out a whole blackboard like a web of theories. "Someone used the Imperious Curse on Crouch and used him to jinx Krum. Or someone could've attacked Krum disguised as Crouch with Polyjuice Potion. Or it could've been a third party member. Which is Slayton come back from the dead! Or... you know what, maybe we should just stick with Crouch attacking Viktor. Because this is already getting too complicated." He decided.

"Thank you." Hermione thanked.

"It must've been Crouch." Ron said at once. "That's why he was gone when Beatrice got there. He'd done a runner." 

But it didn't make much sense. Why would Crouch turn on us, and why now?

"I don't think so." Harry shot down shaking his head. "He seemed really weak- I don't reckon he was up to Disapparating or anything." 

"Hermione. Don't say it." I quickly shot to Hermione. "We all know you can't Disapparate in Hogwarts." 

"Too bad we don't have the body, or we would've found the truth." Anubis commented. 

"Or there's the idea that Krum attacked Crouch, and then Stunned himself." Ryan suggested. "No. That's stupid." 

"And then Crouch evaporated into thin air?" I asked suppressing a laugh.

"Or... he melted like the Wicked Witch of the West." Ryan replied. "Wizard of Oz." 

"Just go through it again, Harry." Hermione advised. "What did Mr. Crouch actually say?"

"I've told you, he wasn't making sense." Harry answered. "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 it was his fault- he mentioned his son." 

"That was on him." Horus noted.

"He was out of his mind." Harry continued. "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 asked tentatively. 

"I've told you." Harry repeated dully. "He's getting stronger." 

That didn't come as a shock to me. If Voldemort was getting stronger, it couldn't be good. 

"But he was out of his mind like you said, so half of it was probably just raving..." Ron insisted with a falsely confident voice.

"I don't believe that is the case, Ron." Anubis shot down.

"Can't you leave me with optimism?" Ron asked.

"You can be optimistic. I'll be realistic." Anubis answered.

"He was his sanest when he was talking about Voldemort." Harry added. "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 needed to warn Dumbledore." And then he grit his teeth. "If Snape hadn't held me up. I might've made it in time. Asking all these questions... why couldn't he have just gotten out of the way?" 

"Maybe he didn't want you to get there!" Ron suggested quickly. "Maybe- hang on- how fast d'you reckon he could've got down to the forest? D'you reckon he could've beaten you and Dumbledore there? And Beatrice too." 

"Not unless he's knows Shadow Magic." I answered. "And could Shadow Travel." 

"We need to find Professor Moody." Hermione declared. "We need to find out whether he found Mr. Crouch."