A Hero's Rest

Professor Flitwick nodded and conjured a long rope ladder. With Harry's help they tied one end to the heavy desk in the middle of the room and threw the other end down inside the trunk. A few minutes and some colorful swearing complaining about only having one good leg later and Moody was out of the trunk and sitting down in an office chair.

"Both of you need to get to the Hospital wing." Flitwick noted while transfiguring a quill into a crutch for Moody to use. "And I'm sure Albus is going to have a load of questions."

"No doubt about that, Filius." Professor Moody agreed. He then nodded in Harry's direction and asked "Why's he here?"

"He was fighting someone Polyjuiced to look like you when I found him. He was being held under the Cruciatus at the time. Harry claims that the man said he was Barty Crouch Jr."

Moody nodded and looked at Harry, evaluating him. "Are you ok, lad?"

"I'll be fine, Professor." Harry assured him. "I landed a few hits on him, too. Your magic eye should still be lying in the classroom somewhere." Moody began to laugh at Harry's response.

"Good job. Let's go get patched up." Moody suggested and the three men began walking towards the infirmary. Professor Flitwick briefly stopped at his classroom to tell the confused students that class was dismissed early and to practice what they had been working on for the next class. Harry was walking a little stiffly, still feeling the effects of being held under the Cruciatus for so long. Professor Moody meanwhile was clearly weak but excited to be able to walk around after being trapped in a trunk for so long. When they finally reached the hospital wing ten minutes later both Madame Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore were waiting for them.

"It would appear that you three must have quite the story to tell." Professor Dumbledore noted with a small smile. "But first I am sure Madame Pomfrey would like to take a look at you." They all nodded and Harry and Moody were escorted to hospital beds while Professor Flitwick sat down in a chair explaining that he had not been struck by any spells. The healer began with Harry who was obviously still in pain.

"Madame Pomfrey, this isn't going to take long is it?" Harry asked as she began casting diagnostic spells. "I really need to get out of here and go talk to someone." The older witch frowned at her patient's desire to leave.

"Mr Potter you have a broken arm, a separated shoulder, and are still feeling the residual effects of exposure to the Cruciatus curse. Lay back down, you are not going anywhere for at least the next few hours. If your arm is as bad as I think it might be I will have to keep you overnight so we can it with Skelegrow." Harry groaned in disappointment that he would be stuck in the hospital, yet again, while he had other things he needed to do. Specifically he meant finding Daphne and making sure she was ok after that horrible article in the Daily Prophet. His only hope now was that she would hear he was hurt and come looking for him.

Harry glanced over to the other occupied bed in the room where Alistor Moody was talking to Professor Dumbledore. He assumed that Moody was explaining what had happened to him and why he spent the last few months locked in a trunk in his office. The twinkle was completely gone from Dumbledore's eyes and he clearly had a look of regret on his face. Eventually their conversation ended and Dumbledore headed over to his bed.

"Harry, do you think you feel up to explaining what happened today?" the Headmaster asked. Harry nodded and began telling him everything, beginning with his suspicions regarding Moody, seeing the wrong name on the Marauder's Map, his conversation with Barty Crouch Jr, and then their duel. The entire time Dumbledore listened silently and nodded in the appropriate places. When Harry's story was over the old Professor sat in his chair stroking his beard and thinking about what he had heard. "When you are feeling better I would like your permission to view the memory in my pensieve. Do you know what a pensieve is, Harry? No? It is a large bowl in which memories can be magically stored and relived. It helps me to organize my thoughts. You might also like to see a memory I have regarding Barty Crouch Jr's unmasking as a Death Eater and capture."

"I would like that sir, thank you." Harry answered.

"What is on your mind, Harry?" Dumbledore asked. "Surely you aren't blaming yourself for Crouch Jr's escape, are you?" Harry lowered his eyes and nodded a little.

"I almost had him, sir. And then I messed up and forgot you can't block the Cruciatus curse. I knew that, but I didn't react quick enough." Harry explained.

"I am sure you did, Harry. I must say I am extremely pleased at how well you did, better than I could have ever hoped. You must not blame yourself for your hesitation. Conditioning yourself to dodge that curse on instinct takes experience, which you now have. Tell me, do you think that you will hesitate if you are ever in that situation again?"

"No. I think I learned my lesson." Harry answered.

"Exactly. Improvement is often quite painful, a fact the best of wizards learn early. Now I shall leave you to rest, unless there is anything else you require of me." Dumbledore said while rising out of his chair.

"Actually, if you see Daphne Greengrass could you ask her to come visit me? I would really appreciate it." Harry said, trying not to act a little embarrassed at his request.

"Of course, Harry. I have found that good company often helps the healing process." Dumbledore answered with a large knowing smile before turning and walking out the door leaving Harry alone.

Harry used the time to think about all that had happened this morning. He wondered if it would have been better if he had simply run out of the classroom as soon as Crouch Jr asked him to stay after class but realized that would not have done much good because the impostor has already figured out that he knew something was wrong because of Wormtail's warning about the map. Crouch Jr would have come after him even if he had run, Harry was certain of that. Perhaps it was better to face that challenge head on.

Harry thought he had done OK in the duel; certain he had the advantage until his mistake in dealing with Crouch Jr's Crucio. He knew he would need to work on his spell variety and learning to put more energy behind his shields. Harry realized that the reason his shields dropped so quickly was because he had developed the bad habit of never putting his full strength behind them. He had never needed to when practicing against Daphne. 'I'll do better next time.' Harry vowed to himself.

He also now knew that Voldemort wanted him in the tournament but also wanted to be the one to kill him. The second part he could understand, but why would Voldemort order Crouch Jr to put his name in the Goblet of Fire? If all Voldemort wanted to do was kill him then that just seemed unnecessary. Harry felt as if by answering one question he had only stumbled on to another. He would have to be very careful from now on. Voldemort was still out there and now had at least two Death Eaters helping him. If there was a way for him to regain his body they would find it.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted when he saw the door open suddenly and Daphne rush in. After a quick glance around the room she spotted him and ran over to his bed where Harry sat up to meet her. Harry noticed her red eyes and guessed that she had been crying, although whether it was because of the article in the Daily Prophet attacking her or his current condition he did not know. Once she reached him Daphne wrapped her arms around Harry in a tight hug which he returned as best he could using his one good arm. For a few minutes neither of the spoke, but simply held each other. Both of them silently wished they had been able to do a better job protecting the other. Finally, Harry moved over far enough so that Daphne could sit on the bed with him.

"It's ok, Daphne. I'm going to be fine so don't worry about that. Are you ok?" Harry asked.

"I thought I was having a bad day and then you have to go and get yourself attacked. There are easier ways to make me feel better than just trying to have a worse day than me you know." Daphne said with the beginnings of a smile on her face. "You first, Harry. Tell me everything."

And so Harry did. As he repeated his tale Daphne's mind was in overdrive trying to piece together everything that Barty Crouch Jr had told him. Like Harry, she still could not figure out why the Dark Lord went to the trouble of putting Harry in the tournament to begin with. It just seemed like a pointless addition if the plan was merely to kill him. Daphne wanted to keep discussing it, but Harry had other ideas.

"I've told you my story, now I want to hear about you. Daphne, I'm sorry I got you into all of this. If it weren't for me the Daily Prophet wouldn't be writing those awful things about you and your family."

"It's not your fault, Harry." Daphne reminded him.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I'm sorry about your brother, I understand why you wouldn't want to talk about it." Harry said, hoping to comfort her a little.

"There's no one else I would rather talk to about it. I was only seven years old when it happened. That morning David, Astoria, and I had been playing in a room on the third floor at our family home. There is this balcony that looked out over the porch and back yard and apparently someone had left the door to the balcony open. David went out on to the balcony and must have been climbing the railing. I didn't see him fall, and neither did Astoria, but we both heard him yell when he went over the top of the guardrails. By the time the healers got there it was too late, there are some things that even magic can't fix." Daphne said softly. At this Harry hugged her a little tighter and waited for her to continue.

"Remember the night we first met? You asked me what I saw in the Mirror of Erised and I wouldn't tell you? I saw my family, just like you did. I guess that might have been when I started to wonder if we might have more in common than I had thought."

"Thank you for telling me that, Daphne." Harry told her. "And I promise you that we will have our revenge against Rita Skeeter. She is going to wish she had never even heard the names Harry Potter or Daphne Greengrass." Daphne grinned at this and then leaned towards him and kissed him. When she leaned back a few seconds later he had a goofy looking smile on his face that made her laugh a little.

"That's exactly what I was thinking, Harry."

....

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