Part 7: Masks
Cedric, 24th June, 1995
Minisinoo

Twice in one damn day.  Twice he'd been caught by surprise and rendered useless.

That was Cedric's first thought when he shook off the Stupefy Spell only to realize it was Krum crouching over him.  Scrambling backwards on the grass, he fumbled for his wand but the other boy raised hands immediately to show he was unarmed.  "Just me," he said quickly.

Cedric, who had his wand now, kept it pointed at Krum.  "How do I know that?"

"I am not cursing you?" the other asked, one corner of his mouth lifting.

He had a point, and Cedric lowered his wand but still kept it at ready, just in case.  "What happened --" he began even as Krum said, "Moody."

Cedric nodded.  "He got you too?"

"Imperius Curse," Krum explained as Cedric pushed himself off his backside to his feet.  Krum stood as well.  "I was stopping you and Fleur by any means."  His dark eyes hooded.  "I am very sorry, Saed-ric.  I would not -- It is forbidden curse for us, too."

Cedric just nodded.  "It wasn't you.  It was Moody.  Well, it was Barty Crouch."

"Who?"

"Long story," Cedric said, crossing to hold out his hand.  "Want to help me catch the bad guys?"

Krum raised one heavy brow but accepted Cedric's handclasp.  "Bad guys?"  He looked amused.

"Come on and I'll explain on the way.  We have to find Harry and keep him from touching the Triwizard Cup."  Cedric held out his wand.  "Point me."

"I thought whole idea was he should not touch it?" Krum said, still grinning as Cedric's wand pointed north.  "By taking it first instead."

"No -- none of us can touch that cup.  It's a portkey.  This whole tournament was a trap set by You Know Who to get a hold of Harry Potter."

Viktor's brow went up.  "Is elaborate for a trap.  Involve everyone?"

Krum was no idiot.  Cedric shook his head while they walked quickly down the aisles together, wands out, prepared for skrewts or other nasty beasts.  "Well, not the whole tournament, but Harry's being in it.  You Know Who's using it as a means to an end.  I don't know the whole story, but I know that cup was spelled to take the one who touched it somewhere else -- and not back to the arena.  Then Moody -- well, Barty Crouch -- had you stop me and Fleur from getting there.  And you, of course.  That left only Harry.  Crouch has been helping him all along, feeding him clues so he'd do well and stay in the contest, not get disqualified."

"Everyone cheats in tournament, Saed-ric."

"Ced-ric," Cedric corrected.  "Or . . . just call me Ced."

"Ced," Viktor tried.

Cedric nodded approval, wondering at himself for correcting Krum's pronunciation of his bloody name when there were more important things afoot.  But it got on a bloke's nerves to have his name mangled.  Then again, he wasn't saying 'Viktor' the way Viktor himself said it, so he supposed either foot could wear that shoe.  He'd try to do better.

"I wish I had broom," Krum muttered now.  "Could see from above."

"Yeah, but then they'd see us.  Well, Crouch would.  We have to find Harry without anyone knowing.  I tried convincing him, but he didn't believe me.  He thinks Moody's on his side.  If he hears it from both of us . . . "

"Is harder to deny, yes.  Even if we opponents."

"Right now, I think being opponents is moot."  But he had no chance to say more.  A gigantic acromantula skittered into the hedge aisle right in front of them both.  "Oh, shit."

Working together, it took them but a few minutes to paralyze the spider, then Cedric hurried over to pull Krum to his feet where he'd rolled under it to hit the vulnerable underside while Cedric had kept it busy.  "We make a good team," Cedric told the Bulgarian.

"We do," Krum agreed, smiling.

They went on as fast as they could and be properly cautious.  The longer it took, the more Cedric worried.  They had to find Harry before he found that cup, then they could look for Dumbledore.

It was another twenty minutes and a sphynx with riddles before they finally reached the plinth that had (presumably) held the cup.

It was empty.

"Bloody hell," Cedric said, one hand pulling at his hair in desperation.  "Voldemort has Harry.  That bloody bastard . . . "  He paced around the plinth at a panicked loss, not even aware he'd just called the Dark Lord by name.

Krum got right in front of him.  "Stop!"  It snapped Cedric out of his dismay.  "No time for regrets, no?  We hurry now.  Find Dumbledore."

Cedric took a breath and nodded.  "Right.  We have to get out of this maze, but not back to the arena.  The Hufflepuff changing room is where I left Dumbledore.  If he's not there then . . . Moody's rooms, I suppose."

Krum nodded.  "Which direction is these changing rooms?"

Cedric held up his wand again.  "Point me."  The wand spun to north and Cedric pointed west.  "That way."

Wand out, Krum aimed at a hedge.  "Reducto!"

Barring apparition, the shortest distance between two points was a straight line, but blasting through giant hedges took a lot of power.  Between them, they managed, but they were quite exhausted by the time they escaped out the west side, peering around to be sure no one was there.  Teachers were supposed to be patrolling the perimeter, but this section was empty so Cedric pointed towards the silent bulk of the Hufflepuff changing room and they ran for it.

He wasn't prepared for what they found.  The interior was in a complete shambles.  "What is this?" Krum asked, picking up the shattered remains of a bench.

"There must have been a fight.  I can't believe somebody could beat Dumbledore in a wizard duel."

"What if he was tooken by surprise?" Krum asked.

"Maybe . . . " Cedric trailed off, noticing the door to his office was closed.  If Moody had caught Dumbledore coming out of it, why would he close it again?  And worse, there was a trail of something dark and wet leading beneath it.

Leaping over a fallen locker, he gave the password and yanked the door open.  His office was still pristine -- but there on the floor, crumpled in a heap, lay Albus Dumbledore.  "Professor!" Cedric called out, dropping down beside him while Krum stood near the door, wand out, on guard.  Cedric rolled Dumbledore face up at the same time he saw the large pool of red, and the body sort of . . . flopped over, faded blue eyes staring sightlessly.  The gray hair above was matted with blood and the skull had been crushed.  There was blood all over Cedric's hand now, too.

Shouting in shock, disgust, and sheer fright, Cedric released the body and leapt backward.  "Oh, God!  He's dead!  Viktor, he's dead!"

Krum hurried over, his mouth open in shock.  "Dead?  You sure?

"Look at him!"

Krum looked, still gaping, then he said something in Bulgarian that sounded harsh.  "How you stop most powerful wizard in world?"  Cedric just blinked at him, confused.  "Bash in head before he sees you," Krum answered himself.  "More sure than duel."

"No kidding," Cedric agreed bitterly.

"He could not had . . . could not have . . . "  Frustrated, Krum shook his head.  "Hate English."  Despite everything, Cedric grinned in sympathy.  "He did not die immediately."  Krum gestured to the destroyed changing room.  "He fought."

Cedric looked back at the body and the bloody floor, then realized he was going to be sick and barely made it out the door before emptying his stomach amid pieces of broken wood.

Albus Dumbledore was dead.

And Voldemort had Harry Potter.

What were they going to do?  They were just a pair of teenage boys.

Raising his head, he said, "We have to get out of here."

Krum was nodding and had moved towards the door to the changing room, looking out cautiously.  "No one," and he gestured for Cedric to join him.  They slunk out and around the edge of the pitch.  "Should we be together, or separate?" Krum asked.

Cedric wasn't sure what he meant.  "What?"

"If caught together, both here to fight.  But if both taken --"

"Ah, I see your point."  Cedric thought about it.  "I think we should stay together.  Even with the risk, we've a better chance of stopping Moody.  Er, Crouch.  What do you think?"

Krum nodded.  "I think is good plan.  Where you think he go?"

"Moody?  Probably back at the arena, waiting with the rest.  How long has it been since we --"

A sudden eruption of cheering from the arena interrupted him.  "What the fuck?" he muttered as, a minute or two later, the cheering turned to shouts of alarm.  Then he understood.  "Harry must've returned!"  He tried to bolt forward, but Krum held him back.  "Let me go!"

"No!  You cannot!  We not know what is happening, Ced."

"Harry's back!"  Cedric was desperate to get to Harry and make certain he was all right.  Harry had said the night before that he'd return alive, but with everything changed, Cedric hadn't been sure of that -- and had been trying not to think about it.

Krum was glaring from under those fearsome eyebrows above that great beak of a nose.  "Where did your mind go?" he asked bluntly.  "So he is back.  Does not matter -- Moody is still there."

It was a bucket of water over Cedric.  "So now what?"

"We watch.  They will send people for us, no?  Into maze.  And they will take Harry back to castle.  More easier to ambush Moody there."

Even as Krum said it, Cedric spotted a hunched figure with a bad gait leading a smaller one away from the arena.  "That's Moody!" Cedric hissed.  They could still hear shouting in the arena and Bagman's whistle, then an amplified voice -- Bagman's.  "Viktor Krum!  Cedric Diggory!  The Third Task is complete, please make your way out of the maze back to the arena!"

"Not just now, thanks," Cedric muttered under his breath.  "Moody's going to try to kill Harry," Cedric told Viktor.  "That's why he's taking him away.  Come on.  We have to get back to the castle before they do."  And turning, he sprinted for the changing room.

"Where are you going?" Krum hissed behind, but followed.  Cedric pulled the door open again and looked around wildly, doing his best not to look towards his now-open office door and the dead body within.  Shouldn't they tell someone about that?  But a body could wait; Harry couldn't or he'd be a dead body.

The broom cupboard was still intact and Cedric picked his way over to it, pulling it open.  These were the team brooms -- not all that good, but better than running.  Grabbing one, he tossed it to Krum, who'd figured out by now what he was up to.  Cedric took another and they went back out.  An idea occurred to him then and he pulled his wand.  "Wait a moment."  Aiming at the sky, he shot off a fountain of red sparks.  Maybe they didn't have time to tell anybody about the Headmaster, but surely that would bring someone -- then they'd find him.

"Follow close," was all Krum said before mounting the borrowed broom and kicking off.  Cedric shot after.

Krum didn't take a direct route.  They'd have been spotted.  Instead, he sailed around the back of the pitch and zoomed low to the ground along the far wall towards the edge of the lake.  Cedric kept following, just hoping he could keep up.  Krum was still Krum, even on a lousy broom, but flying like lunatics kept his mind off the memory of Dumbledore's dead face and his fear for Harry.  What if Crouch decided to try to kill him on the way?  Cedric didn't think he would -- too much chance that someone would see -- but he might.

Krum had turned, banking his broom to zip past the greenhouses and up towards the castle.  They landed in the courtyard and discarded the brooms, running for the door that led inside near the classrooms.  "Wands out," they both said at the same time as Krum pulled the door open and they slipped into the castle.

Here, with the light from lamps and torches, Cedric could see how beaten up Krum looked with track clothes torn from getting through hedges and one side of his face scraped badly -- probably where he'd landed after Harry's jinx.  Cedric wondered what he looked like himself, doubting it was any better.  His sleeve was still burnt from his early encounter with a skrewt, and he was covered with scratches.  He noticed, too, that he had dried, flaking blood smeared on his right hand up to the wrist.  It wasn't his, and he shuddered, shifting his wand long enough to wipe off the blood against his track bottoms.

They were halfway down the classroom hall when they heard the front door open and the fake Moody's voice, talking to Harry.  "And then?"

"Made a potion . . . got his body back . . . "

Harry sounded awful, dazed and frightened and Cedric's stomach clenched.  Oh, Harry . . . he thought.  Why didn't you believe me?

"The Dark Lord got his body back?  He's returned?"

"And the Death Eaters came . . . and then we dueled . . . "

Cedric glanced over at Krum, whose eyes were wide in shock as they trailed the pair, slinking silently down the hall in their trainers.

"You dueled with the Dark Lord?" the fake Moody was saying as he led Harry towards his office.  Cedric and Krum followed.

"Got away . . . my wand . . . did something funny . . . I saw my mum and dad . . . they came out of his wand . . . "

"In here, Harry, " Moody said, pushing open his office door.

Krum nodded to Cedric, who understood.  It was now or never.

Exploding out from behind the stairs, Cedric shouted, "Expelliarmus!" even as Krum shouted, "Stupify!"

The dual spells hit Moody -- or Crouch -- at the same time.  The man's wand flew out of his hand even as he seized up and fell, dragging down Harry in the process.  "What the . . . ?" Harry cried, still sounding dazed.

Cedric knelt next to him as Krum leapt them both to ransack the office for something to tie up Crouch with.  "It's okay, Harry.  You're safe."

Harry blinked at him.  "You were right.  About Voldemort.  He was waiting.  But Moody -- he's all right . . . "

"No, he's not," Cedric snapped.  "Ask Viktor."  He picked up the wounded Harry in his arms.  Harry was alive and so was Cedric, and everything would be all right.

Well, assuming the whole world didn't go straight to hell now.  Voldemort was back and Dumbledore was dead, and the older Harry's attempt to change his past and Cedric's present might have made it all worse.  "Viktor?" Harry asked, glancing at Krum who was wrapping Moody in a magical net.

"Moody cast Imperius Curse on me," Krum explained, then looked up at them both.  "We lock this door and call your Minister."

Harry glanced from one of them to the other as Cedric carried him out and Krum shut the door after them, then Sealed it.  "So it really was him?" Harry asked, leaning his head against Cedric's shoulder.  "I thought it was Karkaroff."

Krum glanced over sharply but didn't comment.  Neither did Cedric, but for want of breath to do so.  Harry might be small and thin, but Cedric was very tired and Harry must still have weighed over seven stone.  "I can walk," Harry protested.

"You're not walking," Cedric replied, though there was no good reason not to let him and he caught Krum glance over quizzically.  "You Know Who almost killed you," he explained, his breath coming in puffs.  But the truth was he couldn't bear to let the boy go.

They'd barely got past the stairs when the castle doors flew open and a large crowd invaded, McGonagall at the forefront with a white-faced Minister Fudge, as well as Ludo Bagman, Hagrid weeping, the Giantess from France with a hysterical Fleur, trailed by other teachers and students, many sobbing.  They surrounded a body on stretcher covered by Hagrid's cloak -- Dumbledore, no doubt.

The entering crowd spotted Viktor, Cedric and Harry, and within seconds, they were surrounded -- rapid-fire questions thrown at them from every direction.  Hagrid was trying to take Harry from Cedric, but Cedric wouldn't let him go.  "What exactly happened!" Fudge kept demanding, as if trying to wrest some control over an insane series of developments.

Still gripping Harry, Cedric raised his voice finally and shouted over the rest of them, "Please listen!  This is important!  Moody isn't Moody!  He's an imposter.  He put Viktor under the Imperius Curse to make him attack Fleur and me.  When Viktor snapped out of it, we came here to rescue Harry.  We Stupefied the imposter and Viktor tied him up.  He's in his office."

McGonagall, Bagman, Fudge and Madame Maxime were all staring at him.  "Who is he then?" Fudge asked.

"I don't know," Cedric lied -- which got a sharp look from both Krum and Harry.  "But he's not Alastor Moody."
 

Part 8: Truth

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