A Young Wizard's Journey - Goblet of Fire

Preparation

Why was he out here again?

It was dark, very dark, the middle of the night in fact. He'd been wandering with Harry after the third task. And then Mr Crouch had come staggering through the treeline towards them. He'd been muttering... something. And then Harry ran to get Dumbledore.

Then Mr Crouch stood up, calm as anything, and said that it was all a big misunderstanding and took his leave.

So why was he still out here? He'd tried twice to head back towards the castle, but something kept nagging at him. Telling him he couldn't go yet.

He could catch Dumbledore, explain that it had all been a misunderstanding. That Mr Crouch had simply gotten a little bit lost and had now headed home to continue his bed rest on the road to recovery.

So why couldn't he just do that?

He heard the crunching of grass nearby and almost dreamily turned to face whoever was approaching.

Harry and Dumbledore were running along the edge of the forest, eyes scanning wildly. Dumbledore caught sight of Y/N first and together they hurried over.

'Where is Mr Crouch?' asked Dumbledore sharply. His tone conveyed great distress, but Y/N couldn't see why. It had all been a misunderstanding.

'He's alright,' said Y/N dreamily, 'He just got a bit confused, ended up in the wrong place. He's gone home to get some rest.'

'What? Y/N, what are you talking about?' asked Harry. 'He clearly wasn't okay, why did you just let him leave?'

'I wasn't going to stop him,' said Y/N, still in the same dreamy voice. 'He needed to get home. He has to write in and give instructions to Weatherby.'

'Professor-' began Harry, but Dumbledore nodded at him and then turned back towards Y/N.

'Y/N, did you see anyone else out in the grounds tonight?'

'Fleur, Cedric, Viktor, Bagman, Harry, Crouch, Dumbledore,' listed Y/N, swaying slightly.

'And what happened after Harry left you?' asked Dumbledore.

'Mr Crouch stayed silent for a while, then boop-' and Y/N dreamily clapped a hand to his forehead in demonstration, '-did that and said, "I'm not supposed to be here. Terribly sorry, fevered induced dream. Need to be going now." And left.'

'How did he leave?' asked Dumbledore.

'He just did,' said Y/N, 'wandered off into the forest. I was going to head back up and tell you guys, but I thought it'd be best to wait.'

Did he think that? Hadn't his body been stopping him?

Dumbledore shook his head and then turned to Harry.

'Someone has beaten us here and caught Y/N off guard. His memory has been modified.'

'No no, I remember quite clearly Mr Crouch moving away into the forest. He seemed to be doing just fine.'

Dumbledore sighed, raised his wand, and a silvery something shot out of the end and flew across the grounds towards Hagrid's cabin. Y/N turned to watch it in amazement.

'Y/N will most likely remain delirious for another few hours,' said Dumbledore to Harry. 'We need to get him up to the Hospital Wing. There are ways to revert memory charms, but we need to be quick, and none are perfect or instantaneous.'

'But I remember what happened clearly, Professor,' said Y/N.

Dumbledore turned to look at Y/N, and Y/N felt compelled to hold his gaze.