Chapter 23 Rita's Poisoned Quill

As Harry walked through the courtyard, making his way to the Whomping Willow, he was spotted by Hagrid. The huge man waved for him to stop and ran to catch up with him. The teen wasn't sure what he wanted, so he waited. The Yellow Alert went off the closer he got. With a thought he had his crew stand down, but to remain alert. He didn't know Hagrid well, and the guy looked like he could crush him like a tin can. Still, from what Hermione told him, there wasn't a gentler soul on earth.

"'Arry, where are ya off ta now?" the half-giant asked as he made his way to the teen. "Dumbledore doesn't want ya ta be wandering around alone," he added when he caught up.

"Don't worry, Hagrid, I'll be with an adult," the dark-haired wizard said in complete honesty.

"Well, that's alright then," Hagrid stated, clapping the boy on the back, making him stumble.

"Right, I'll just be off. If the old man asks, tell him I'll be back before dinner," Harry added as he walked away.

"Ya shouldn't talk abut the Headmaster that way. Great man, Dumbledore," the tall man said to the boy's back, scratching his beard. He knew Harry was still upset with him and the Headmaster, and he hoped Dumbledore was wrong and the boy would gain his memories back. He really missed his teas with his little friend and his mates. He still needed to find a way to tell Harry about the dragons. He couldn't do it now; he had to teach a class. Maybe, he'd get Ron to help him. Surely the rumors were not as bad as they say. Those two had been friends since the beginning. With those thoughts, he went back to his hut to wait for the Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw third years.

"Yeah, right," the amnesiac scoffed under his breath and continued on. He made it the Willow, and wandlessly threw the Knockback Jinx that Data just suggested at the knot and ambled to the tunnel. Once he got to the Shack, he called out, "Sirius, are you up yet?" He really hoped the man had had a good time.

The still glamored man came stumbling down the stairs. "Yeah, I'm up," he said tiredly as he flopped in a chair. "What's up, Harry?" he asked, running a hand down his exhausted face.

"Well, you either got lucky, or you're suffering from a hangover, or both," the teen smirked, looking at his map and not seeing anyone but him, Sirius, and Winky. He shrugged his shoulder and took a chair. "Either way, you must have had fun."

"I spent all day in Gringotts getting my accounts in order, and it's all your bloody fault," the dogman snarled, pointing an accusing finger at our hero.

"How the fuck do you figure that?" Harry exclaimed. He thought for sure that his godfather had a great time with his new looks.

"Those goblins are slave drivers," he whinged, and then he told his godson about his adventures of the day before, and snarled when Harry doubled over in laughter. "It's not bloody funny," he growled. "I had nightmares all night long." He gave a full body shudders. He swore he woke up with red hands.

The teen waved him off and continued laughing. Sirius threw a pillow at him and then the older man joined in with his own chuckling. If it had happened to someone else, then yeah, it was funny.

"Sorry, sorry," Harry said, regaining control over his mirth. "I wanted to see if you scored, but I guess not. Maybe later, yeah?" he encouraged with a waggle of his eyebrows, and then got a thoughtful look on his face. "There is something I want to talk to you about. Who is Lupin? I mean, I know some things about him, but why haven't I seen him? Hermione goes on and on about what a great guy he is, and tells me that he was good friends with you and my parents. So where is he?"

"Moony? Well, he is a very good friend of mine. I told you about him when I was telling you about your dad," Sirius said seriously, all joking gone now. "She told you about his furry little problem?"

"Yeah and the fact that he tried to eat me, twice," the teen snarled. He still wasn't sure what to make of the guy. Just because someone was nice does not mean they can be trusted.

"Yeah, I can see where you might be wary, but, Harry, werewolves have no control over themselves during the full moon," the glamored man said, hoping that this new Harry wasn't prejudice.

"From what I understand there is a potion that makes it so they can. He was given it on that night, by Snape, and he ignored it. How long does it take to swallow a goblet of liquid?" he asked, not giving an inch.

"He thought I was here to kill you," Sirius defended his buddy. "He probably didn't even think about it, what with fearing for you and your mates' lives," he snarled, not liking where this was going. "He was trying to protect you."

"By putting us into more danger by having an out of control werewolf on the loose, sorry, not buying it," Harry said, folding his arms defiantly.

"Look, he made a mistake, anyone could do the same. Besides, he showed you the Patronus Charm so you wouldn't have to deal with the Dementors," the dogman tried to reason.

"Which I understand saved our lives, and for that I am thankful, but that still doesn't negate the fact that he didn't take proper precautions," was the argument. "Five seconds is all it would have taken to swallow that potion, and he could have done it while he was coming here. He's been a werewolf for how long?"

"Like I said, it was a mistake, but it all worked out in the end," Sirius reasoned.

"Why hasn't he come here to see me, or you, for that matter, if he is such a good friend?" Harry asked again, brushing the rest aside until he met the man. Maybe he was being harsh on the guy. Still, he'd hold off his opinion on what happened that night, for now.

"You have to understand some things about Remus' life. He's shunned in today's society. He can't find work or have a family. Life is rough for a werewolf."

"So he can't afford a Get Well note, or a stay safe letter?"

"Dumbledore probably told him to stay away until all the heat from last year blows over," Sirius said, rubbing his hairless chin. He missed his goatee, maybe when they were done debating, Harry will magic him up one. "Snape outed him to the whole school, so yeah, he's probably hiding."

Harry scoffed, but figured the man was right. Still a post would've been nice. He dropped it for now, and brought out Merlin's book. "Here is the book I told you about," he said as he put it on the table. "This is the only book I found that comes close to my type of magic. Learn from it, and we'll see if we can't get you going on wandless magic," he added and pulled out Godric's book. He placed it next to Merlin's and then waved his hand to copy both. Gryffindor's for Hermione and Merlin's for Luna.

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.

"Young Harry is suffering from an illness at the moment. He is doing self-study, and I had hoped he would be in the library," the old man stated gently. He had kept Harry's condition within the walls of Hogwarts so far. He was surprised the two of them hadn't learned about it yet.

"If you are talking about the rumor zat 'e 'as… amnezeia," she tried the word. "Zen it is merely a boy afraid," she finished, waving her many ringed hand.

"Yes, ve have heard the rumors as vell, but the boy does not seem to be suffering," the Durmstrang Headmaster replied. He, like Maxime, did not think they were true. They had both seen the boy laughing with his friends and generally appeared in good health.

Rita Skeeter's green quill was writing a mile a minute. This would be good. She had so many headlines running through her head; all she had to do was pick the one that would cause the most damage. Did she want to make the Boy-Who-Lived suffer or Hogwarts, perhaps the Ministry? Oh, the possibilities.

Harry's POV

"Well, we're not going to get any further in this. I have a few books I want to read, so let's just study for a while," Harry said, taking out some of the books he got from the library. Yeah, he could scan them, but sometimes reading was just relaxing.

"Yeah, let's," Sirius said, picking up Merlin's book and carefully opening the cover, very thankful that there seemed to be a translation spell on it.

The two read for hours, until it was time for dinner. Harry put his books away and ran to the castle. He was met by Dumbledore and his two minions, McGonagall and Snape. His proximity ward flared, but they were in his way so he continued on with a heavy sigh.

"Mr. Potter, I thought I requested that you to let us know when you would be leaving the castle," Dumbledore said, looking over his glasses.

Harry shrugged and said, "I told Hagrid."

The old man sighed. He couldn't fault him this time. "You missed a very important part of the tournament. This is the day your wand would have been weighed to see if it was in good condition. You made me look very unprofessional."

The teen shrugged again. "Not my fault that you play your cards close to your chest. No one told me about any appointments today. Hell, I don't even know when the tasks are scheduled, so that is not my fault. Plus, and I'm repeating myself here, I'm not competing," he enunciated each word. "I don't know why you people don't listen to me."

"You will lose your magic if you do not comply," the Headmaster said, pinching his long nose.

"I don't care," Harry stated for what seemed the hundredth time. "Look, I'm done talking to you; you asked your questions, I gave my answers. So if you will excuse me, I'm going to dinner," he said as he walked away.

"When are you going to start disciplining that boy?" Snape snarled as he watched Potter move on. He knew either he of Black played the dress prank on him. He was leaning towards Black, because he didn't think the boy-wonder was up to it. His clothing had changed three times already today, making him a laughingstock, and he couldn't do anything to vent his anger on the amused students with that blasted ghost hanging out in his classroom.

"What can I do? He abided by the rules I set out. There is nothing to correct," the old man said, looking at his protégé. He still was doubtful about the man's alibi. However, so far the man was sticking to it.

"He disrespects you, me and every adult in this school. I'm sure he is in cahoots with his godfather. Who knows what they will get up to," the greasy-haired man pointed out.

"To which he feels he has a very good reason," was the rebuttal. "For all intent and purposes, we are keeping him here against his will. I am sure he will soon see our way, Severus. Leave the boy alone," he added firmly.

"Yes, Headmaster," Snape gritted and then whirled around and stomped to dinner.

"Severus is right. You should discipline the child more. You are never going to earn his respect otherwise," McGonagall stated. She was mortified when she heard the boy had skived off such an important event. She was, and always will be, loyal to Hogwarts, and the child was making them look bad at every turn. He needed to be brought to heel. Even if he never recovered him memory, he was still a child, and they should not be allowed to be so disrespectful to the staff of this school.

"What would I punish him with? He cares not for house points or being expelled. He needs to remain here where we can protect him," Albus argued, thinking he would have to do something soon to gain Harry's trust. His staff was starting to lose respect for him.

"Get him to follow your rules, or I am going to the Board and have him removed. Boy-Who-Lived or not, he is making a mockery of us," she threatened and then turned and followed Snape.

"When did I lose control?" the old goat asked no one. With a heavy sigh, he too moved to the castle.

Harry's POV

"Where were you today?" Hermione asked softly, not wanting to start another argument.

"Studying? Why?" Harry asked as he served up some breaded pork chops and mixed vegetables.

"Oh, I was just wondering. Colin Creevey was looking for you today. Something to do with the tournament," she said, pointing at the third year, and then started dishing up her own meal.

"Yeah, I was just confronted by the adults. I told them what they needed to know and came here," Harry shrugged and continued eating. He pulled out the two copies, gave Luna hers under the table and handed Hermione hers. "Here's that copy I said I'd get to you," he said, winking at the little blonde, who discretely put hers away.

"Thank you, Harry, this is marvelous," she said as bounced in place, making the teen's eyes wander. "How did you do this? You don't know any magic," the bushy-haired witch asked, looking over the first page with wonder.

"Padfoot," was the answer. "Tell me how classes were?" he asked, changing the subject as Hermione propped the book on a pitcher, blocking his view.

So the group talked about unimportant things as they ate. Right when dessert started, there was a flurry of owls delivering a special edition of The Daily Prophet. Harry didn't get one, but the look of horror on Hermione's face said it wasn't good.

"Oh this is bad," she said, and handed the paper over with trembling hands. Harry read the headline and his face reddened with anger. There on the front page was a picture of him, he didn't know where they got it, and the headline said:

The Boy-Who-Lived Shuns Tournament. Is He Scared or are Rumors True?

"Who is this bitch and where does she get off writing about me?" Harry asked as he read the article. It mostly stated that he blew off the Wand Weighing Ceremony and that he was feeling remorseful about putting his name in the Goblet of Fire. There was a small sentence about the possibility that he had amnesia, but she wrote that it might be a ploy to undermine the officials. "I'm going to make sure she fries," the angry teen stated as silverwares started to lift off the table.

"Harry, calm down," Luna said, putting her arm around his shoulders. "Your magic is getting away from you," she added, waving her free hand to indicate the floating tableware.

"Someone give me some parchment and something to write with, not a quill," the dark-haired teen demanded as he put all the silverware back on the table. He had a few letters to write. "How do you make a howler?" he asked the twins with a wicked grin.