Read My Mind

October 17th

Ria felt her soul floating out of her body, "Don't resist." She heard her mother's voice. Crouch is making the spell 10 times harder than what he had just done in class. Her mother's voice is so soft, gentle, caring, so tempting...It made her want to fall asleep, it made her want to give in. "Go and tell Dumbledore, it was you. You attached Barty Crouch in the forest. You put Harry's name in the cup. Tell him you are sorry, he'll forgive you. He always does, so...trusting, so gullible..believes in people's good nature, how laughable? And you will be the most useful spy that we will ever have."

Ria nodded, "I'll."

"Goog girl." Moody murmured, directing Ria to walk out of the door.

The door was busted open, Dumbledore and Snape rushed in, followed by Fred and George.

Barty Crouch Jr was distracted for just a split second, enough for Ria to resist with all the power she could and stuck a talisman on him. Suddenly, Barty Crouch Jr realized he couldn't move anymore.

"What did you do to me?" He screamed, "How?!"

Fred and George ran to Ria, holding her arms. But she waved at them, gesturing for them to let her fall and collapse on the ground.

Fred sat next to her, "Hey," he reached to brush her hair out of her face, it was wet and stuck on her forehead. Ria couldn't tell was it sweat or blood.

"How did you..." Ria asked, she's too exhausted to read his thoughts.

"We were worried about you, when he casted imperio in class."

"Then the figurine you gave us, the drop of blood turned into bright red first, then it was acting weird, kept pulling us to a certain direction."

"And we followed it and ran into Dumbledore."

Fred reached to check her arm, "We were so worried, the blood then turned dimmer and dimmer."

"Yeah, it happens when the owner is getting weak." Ria said, she wanted to retreat her blood-covered arm, but his warm touch was too much for her to resist.

Dumbledore and Snape came over to check on Ria as well, after they had established secure control over Barty Crouch Jr. and freed the actual Professor Moody from the case.

"Truly exceptional skill, Miss Ria." Dumbledore peeled the talisman off Barty Crouch Jr. and handed it back to Ria."

Ria took it with her index and middle finger, it has the name of "Bartemius Crouch Junior, and the date October 17th."

She managed to make it while he was gloating over snatching her wand, using her blood this time.

"I'd rather like to think of it as sad." Ria smiled ironically and tiredly, "What would Mr. Crouch thought if he knew it was his love and fond memory of his son that let me know of his birthday?" She blew gently on the piece of paper, and it burned into ashes.

"He would have thought that you did the right thing, Ria." Dumbledore said.

It was two days later that Ria woke up in the hospital wing.

"Dumbledore," Ria murmured, her mouth was dry, her throat hurted like she had swallowed a blade, slicing her lips first during the process.

"Shhh, easy." Madam Pomfrey helped her to sit up.

Ria's external injuries were nothing severe, but it was her mind that was overused this time.

"I need to see Dumbledore."