I will always find you

GOF 15

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

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

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

"You can't Disapparate on the Hogwarts grounds, haven't I told you enough times?" Hermione said.

"Okay... hows this for a theory," Ron said excitedly. "Krum attacked Crouch - no, wait for it - and then Stunned himself!"

"And Mr. Crouch evaporated, did he?" Hermione said coldly.

"Oh yeah" It was daybreak. Ella, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had crept out of their dormitories very early and hurried up to the Owlery together to send a note to Sirius. Now they were standing looking out at the misty grounds. All four of them were puffy-eyed and pale because they had been talking late into the night about Mr. Crouch.

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

"I've told you, he wasn't making much sense," Harry said. "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 stuff was his fault... He mentioned his son."

"Well, that was his fault," Hermione said testily.

"He was out of his mind," Harry said. "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 said tentatively.

"I've told you," Harry repeated dully. "He said he's getting stronger." There was a pause. Then Ron said in a falsely confident voice, 

"But he was out of his mind, like you said, so half of it was probably just raving... " 

"He was sanest when he was trying to talk about Voldemort," Harry said, and Ron winced at the sound of the name. "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 had to see Dumbledore." Harry turned away from the window and stared up into the rafters. The many perches were halfempty; every now and then, another owl would swoop in through one of the windows, returning from its night's hunting with a mouse in its beak. "If Snape hadn't held me up," Harry said bitterly, "we might've got there in time. 'The headmaster is busy. Potter... what's this rubbish, Potter?' Why couldn't he have just got out of the way?"

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

"Not unless he can turn himself into a bat or something," Harry said. 

"He probably can I mean you've seen him" Ella said as Ron nodded in agreement.

"We need to see Professor Moody," Hermione said. "We need to find out whether he found Mr. Crouch."

"If he had the Marauder's Map on him, it would've been easy," Harry said.

"Unless Crouch was already outside the grounds," Ron said, "because it only shows up to the boundaries, doesn't -"

"Shh!" Hermione said suddenly. Somebody was climbing the steps up to the Owlery. Ella could hear two voices arguing, coming closer and closer.