A Missing Champion

Glad the argument was over for now, the young looking man picked up the offered book. "Holy shite, this is written by Merlin," he exclaimed, running a reverent hand over the pages. This was priceless, and Harry trusted him with it. That made him swell with pride. He would do his very best to not damage it.

"Yeah, it's a really good book and if you are an Occlumens, then you will benefit from it quickly," Harry said, putting the other three books back in his TARDIS pocket, making sure to tag the copies. "Before you get into that I have a problem. Possibly life and death," he said ominously, looking his godfather in the eyes so he knew this was serious.

"What's up?" Sirius asked, putting the book back on the table.

"There is an impostor in Hogwarts. His name is Bartemius Crouch Jr." the teen said, pulling out the Marauders' map.

"That's impossible, I saw the man dead," Sirius said with a furrowed brow. He remembered when the floated the dead Barty Jr. in front of his cell.

Harry snorted and said, "With all the ways you people have to impersonate someone; you truly believe it can't happen?" He lifted an eyebrow, thinking once again that logic didn't apply to wizards.

The dogman once again rubbed his chin in thought. 'He's right; it could've been someone else. But who and how?' He thought back to that time and remembered Senior and his wife visiting. They both left, but the wife didn't look good, but that could be the effects of Azkaban. Still…

"Look, here's the map. See, Junior is teaching right now, and Moody is in his quarters. Don't you have to have the person your impersonating's essence?" he asked, pointing to the two places on the map, which didn't actually show the Jr. part of the name.

"How do you know that's not Sr.?" Sirius asked gazing at the map.

"Senior is in the Head arsehole's office."

And he was right there were two Crouches in the castle. "Shite," he said, looking at both names.

"I thought we could write Waters and he get him to come to the first task with Bones. They could then catch him when he loses his magic," Harry explained. "Then I can get my name cleared as a cheater and move on with my life."

"That's a good start, but I'm not sure if we should hold on to this information that long. That man," he pointed the DADA classroom, "is a stark raving lunatic. I don't want him near you or the other students."

"Well, what do you suggest?"

There Sirius deflated, he had nothing. Even with his glamor there was little he could do with his weak wand. Jr. was not to be underestimated. He may be barmy, but his was a powerful wizard. "Tell Dumbledore?"

"Didn't he claim to be Moody's longtime friend?" Harry asked, wondering where he got that information from. He shrugged off as someone mentioning it, but he couldn't remember who. "Wouldn't he already know the man was a fake?"

"Double shite. Fine, we'll go with your plan then, but, Harry, please don't confront the man. He is quite mad, and a zealot of You-Know-Who." There was no way he wanted his godson near that fake.

Harry waved him away and said, "I'll just keep an eye on him. The task it right around the corner. So he probably won't make a move until then. If my theory is correct then one of us will lose our magic, hopefully him."

"Alright, let's get planning," Sirius said thoughtfully, and the two put their heads together and strategized. Noting that Senior and the Headmaster had left the office.

Bagman's POV

There was a small crowd waiting in a small room. It was the official Wand Weighing Ceremony, and they were waiting on the youngest champion.

"Where is Harry Potter?" Bagman asked, looking at his magical watch. They had been waiting for a good twenty minutes for the boy. Everyone was getting antsy. The champions were bored and the officials were angry. The press was having a field day, as the longer the wait, the more those vial quills scribbled. This did not look good on Hogwarts. He was also worried that the teen spoke the truth and wasn't going to participate. That would be bad; he had a lot of money riding on this. It was bad enough that those Weasley twins were in his face about the Leprechaun money he had given them.

"I am sure that he will be along any minute now. Perhaps we should have warned the champions of this ceremony before today," Albus said, looking over his glasses at Crouch Sr.

"It's tradition," the man grumbled. He was looking bad, like he hadn't slept in days. He had no clue where his son was, but he was getting a sneak suspicion that he was right here in the school.

Just then Colin Creevey came running into the room, breathing hard and trying to restrain his laughter. He had just come from the potion's classroom and saw Snape dressed in a frilly dress pink that was tightly belted and flared at the skirt. It was hilarious. The man kept trying to magic it away, but he couldn't. He was yelling that he was going to get Black back. It wasn't until the dress disappeared that Colin asked about Harry, only to be told he wasn't there. He looked all over the castle, but couldn't find him.

"Mr. Creevey, where is Harry?" Dumbledore asked, rubbing his beard with worry. He just knew the boy left the castle again. 'Damn that boy, why couldn't he stay in one place?'

"He wasn't in class or the library. I looked everywhere, even the dorms," Colin stated, catching his breath as he put his hands on his knees.

"Oh my, that is troublesome," the Headmaster stated.

"Do you always let your students run around during class time?" Madam Maxime asked with a look of disapproval. So far Hogwarts didn't impress her. It was bad enough they had two champions, now one of those champions was snubbing them.

"Yes, Dumbledore, how hard is it to keep control over one student? And a celebrity at that," Karkaroff inquired. He knew the boy would do a runner. He looked so scared after the drawing. Then he was missing for week and had to be dragged back to the castle. Gryffindor courage, indeed.

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