Chapter 6

I arrived in front of the audience in the same place where we started. I managed to land as I began, on my knee with one hand holding the rope and the other holding the Triwizard trophy. The band immediately started playing while I started looking for Moody but stayed with my prisoners. I didn't see him so waited for Dumbledore to come over.

Overhead I heard Eos singing so he must have followed me.

The band slowly stopped playing as everyone was starting to notice that I didn't come back alone. I looked until I found Padfoot in the crowd and with one look from me, he was on his way down to my side followed by Moony. Both of them gasped when they recognized Wormtail.

"Harry, what happened?" asked Moony and Dumbledore at about the same time. Padfoot was busy looking me over for injuries.

"The trophy was a portkey and it took me to a graveyard next to a large run down manor. There looked to be a small church in the distance. It was dark so it was difficult to see very much past 20 or 30 feet. When I landed I noticed a large cauldron in the middle of an open space and it was in front of a large marble tombstone that had the name Tom Riddle engraved on it."

"Voldemort's father's grave" said Dumbledore quietly. "Harry you were in Little Hangleton and that manor belonged to Voldemort's family on his father's side. They were all Muggles."

"What?!" asked Padfoot. "Voldemort's not a pureblood? Who was his mother?"

"Merope Gaunt, a pureblood descendant from Salazar Slytherin but we can discuss this later Sirius. Tell us what happened Harry."

I finished the story not leaving any of the details out and presented them with my prisoners.

"May I present Peter Pettigrew, otherwise known as Wormtail, the rat animagus and his beloved master Tom Marvolo Riddle, otherwise known as Voldemort."

Minister Fudge had walked up just in time for the introductions and he nearly fainted when I said Voldemort. Dumbledore ignored him and quickly took over. He separated Peter from Tom and then transfigured Tom into a statue so he would never wake up until we were ready for him to do so.

He next cast another spell but this time on Peter to prevent him from transforming once he woke up. Next, he turned to Fudge and gave him instructions that left no question he was to follow to the letter.

"Cornelius, as you have already heard. This is Peter Pettigrew and this is Voldemort in the current form he has taken. It is my understanding that he planned to use Harry in a ritual to gain a new body. He only had Peter helping him at the Little Hangleton graveyard where the portkey took Harry. He had help at the school and apparently, Professor Moody is not the real Moody. We will need to locate him soon."

"This is all too much Dumbledore!"

"Well you are going to have to suck it up because there is a lot more. Peter is a rat animagus but I have prevented him from changing back until my spell is cancelled. Now the reason I have transfigured Voldemort into a stone statue is because we cannot kill him yet. That reason should not be discussed until we get back to my private office where we will not be overheard."

"Very well Dumbledore, I will wait until we get to your office."

"First, where's Moody?" I asked. "He had to be the one to put my name in the goblet and the one to put the extra portkey on the trophy that took me to Voldemort."

Everyone looked around quickly for him.

"Wait!" declared Moony pointing. "Isn't that him? He's almost to the castle."

"I'll get him" said Sirius as he stepped away from us and started to change into Padfoot.

"No! Wait!" I stopped him. "My gryphon will get him." I pulled my ring up to my mouth. "Go get him and bring him back to me alive."

I held my fist up high and watched as the gryphon left my ring and climbed higher as it grew to its enormous size. There were a few shouts from the students as they saw the golden gryphon with the red ruby eyes grow right in front of them flying toward the castle.

We watched as the big gryphon swooped down from the air before the fake Moody could hobble up to the front doors. The gryphon picked up the wizard by the shoulders and flew him back to me. Moody's staff was dropped on the ground as soon as the gryphon snatched him up. We cleared enough space for them to set down.

I relieved the fake Moody of his wand before he even touched the ground and when he sat up after being released by the gryphon he had at least six wands trained on him and a very large and intimidating gryphon standing over him.

"Now, who are you?" asked Dumbledore.

"What's the meaning of this? It's me, Albus. Ole Mad-Eye," he glanced unsteadily over at the statue of baby Voldemort.

"Not likely. You are no more Mad-Eye Moody than I am! I wonder when your polyjuice will wear off?"

That's when it hit me. I could have known who this was all along. All I had to do was look at the Marauder's Map.

"Dobby?" I called.

Pop!

"Yes Harry Potter sir? How can Dobby help the Great Harry Potter?"

"Dobby, thanks for coming so quickly. Can you go to my bedroom and get that blank piece of folded parchment out of my trunk and bring it to me right away?"

"Yes, Harry Potter sir. Dobby will be right back."

With a pop, he was gone and not 3 seconds later, he was back handing me the map.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," I said as I tapped my wand to the map.

Everyone watched closely as the map filled in all of Hogwarts and the grounds. There were a lot of names where we were due to the crowd but Moony showed how to magnify the one spot and as soon as we all stepped back a few steps away from the fake Moody (all except the gryphon of course) we saw Barty Crouch's label.

"BARTY CROUCH?" yelled Fudge. "Barty, what in Merlin's name do you think you're doing?"

"Cornelius, I am sure that is not the Barty you think it is," Dumbledore added carefully. "Something tells me that is not Barty Crouch, Sr. but instead it is Barty Crouch, Jr."

"But he's dead! He died in prison," Fudge insisted.

"Well we will see soon enough," I said. "Meanwhile, I think we should locate the real Alastor Moody. He may need medical attention."

"Right," said Moony. Then with a tap of his wand he said "Map, locate Alastor Moody" and it zeroed down into his office where his name appeared.

Dumbledore called over Snape and Madame Pomfrey and sent them off to the castle and had them tend to the real Moody. He asked Snape to bring some veritaserum back with him after Moody was in the care of Madame Pomfrey. Snape nodded and left.

"Say, where did this map come from?" asked Fudge. "That thing is quite handy."

"Uh, it's called the Marauder's Map," replied Sirius. "It was created by Harry's father James, Remus here, Peter, and myself when we attended Hogwarts together."

"Ingenious! Do you think one could be made of the Ministry? It might help with security," asked Fudge.

"I'm sure it could be done," replied Sirius. "Remus was the brains of the outfit. Without James, it might be difficult but I'm sure between the two of us we could figure it all back out. After all we are fully trained wizards now and were just kids back then when we did it."

"We can do it Minister," Moony said nodding.

"Good! Let me know the price for your services sometime next week and what all you will need to get it done and we'll get you right on it. I say, this has been some day. Harry captured You-know-who and now the Ministry will have a fantastic map to help us with maintaining security. I wouldn't doubt if other ministries would want to pay you for the same service. Could be a lucrative deal for you. I'll have to show it off when other ministries come to visit after all."

Remus looked at Sirius with wide eyes. Could this be a way to make a good living on his own two feet without help from Sirius or Harry? Anything's possible and maybe he could come up with a pocket edition that could be expanded when needed, he thought to himself.

Just about that time, Barty began to convulse and change. His ropes were vanished since he had to remove the eye and prosthetic leg so his own organs would not be hindered while growing back out.

"Barty Crouch, Jr.?" Remus asked.

"Yes" answered Dumbledore tying him back up with a quick twist of his wand. "Apparently he is not as dead as we believed."

"This is unbelievable," added Fudge. "If he isn't dead then who died in his cell?"

"We will have those answers as soon as Severus gets back with the serum Cornelius," answered Dumbledore.

I noticed my friends were hovering around our group but not interfering, wondering what was going on.

"Neville?" I called over to my friend then motioned for him to come over when he looked my way.

He hurried over with Hermione, Ron, and Ginny right behind him. They paused when they saw baby Voldemort, Peter, and Barty Crouch, Jr.

"Neville, this is Barty Crouch, Jr. He's been posing as Mad-Eye Moody all year long using Polyjuice Potion."

"Yes, I know him quite well and would love the chance to show him exactly how I feel about him" Neville ground out that reply with all the vehemence he could muster. Crouch just sneered at him.

"Why's that Neville?" I asked slowly.

"He, along with the Lestranges, attacked my parents."

"Oh, I didn't know. I'm so sorry. I can get someone else to do this. No problem."

"No. Obviously, you have him captured. What can I do to help?"

I went over and picked up the eye and leg from the ground and walked back to Neville shaking the dirt off them.

"I was wondering if I could get you to take Mad-Eye's wand, leg, and eye back to him? You should see his staff on the way up to the front doors so grab that as well. Everything will likely need cleaning but just make sure he gets his things. He should be in the infirmary by now with Madam Pomfrey. If not then he should be there soon. Crouch had him trapped in his office somewhere. Snape and Pomfrey already went to help him."

"Sure Harry," said Neville taking the items.

"Thanks Neville. We're going to question him with veritaserum as soon as Snape gets back with it. You're welcome to come back and join us. You have a right. If you miss anything I will fill you in completely."

"Thanks, Harry," and he left with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny walking with him. As I watched them, I saw Ron pick up the staff when they got to it. About that time, Snape came through the doors and headed toward us.

Three aurors had already arrived and were standing close by the minister. One of them was Kingsley Shacklebolt.

oOo

After Crouch was questioned, and we found out many interesting things, the aurors took him and Peter away to the Ministry holding cells with instructions that no one was allowed to approach them other than the three aurors at the scene. These were high profile prisoners and they were not going to be allowed any visitors before their trials.

Dumbledore shrunk the Voldemort statue down and pocketed it before leading the minister and the rest of us to his office. I told Neville, Ron, and the girls that I would discuss everything with them later at the Marauder's school.

When we discussed the horcruxes with the Minister, which was the reason Voldemort had to remain alive for now, I filled them in again about the snake and how it looked to be one too. That brought us up to four horcruxes that had been destroyed, the diary, my scar, the diadem, and the snake. There were likely three more left and with Voldemort captured there was a possibility they could squeeze that information out of him with a little Veritaserum applied to his tongue.

If that didn't work then Dumbledore felt he was a strong enough Legilimens to extract the information from Voldemort's mind, especially in the Dark Lord's weakened state. They also discussed a way to gather up all the hidden Death Eaters and Snape suggested that they use Wormtail's death mark to summon them where they all could be captured. They could probably use the Dark Lord's own wand to make it work, he said.

I smiled at that information as I fingered my new spare wand in my robe pocket.

"Harry, do you know where Voldemort's wand is? Did he or Peter have it on them?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes, Wormtail had both his and Voldemort's. After I stunned him, I removed them from his person and then used Voldemort's own wand against him and stunned him twice with it. His wand and mine are brother wands so I figured his would work just fine for me and it did. I decided to keep it as a spare wand by way of conquest. Here's Peter's wand."

I reached into my pocket and took out the short wand and laid it on Dumbledore's desk.

"See here, Potter!" exclaimed Fudge jumping up. "You can't have a second wand. Only aurors and other ministry officials are allowed to carry two wands."

"CORNELIUS!" yelled Dumbledore standing up.

Fudge nearly jumped out of his skin when Dumbledore stood up and yelled at him. I was glaring at Fudge waiting to see what Dumbledore had to say.

"Cornelius," Dumbledore continued a little quieter, "are you going to stand there and say that Lord Gryffindor, the person who has conquered Voldemort for the second and final time, cannot claim his wand as a spare? Are you really going to do that because I can guarantee you that Harry here will be receiving at the very least an Order of Merlin First Class for his actions, only because we do not currently have a more prestigious award. They may just have to invent one for the occasion."

Fudge swallowed hard with a loud gulp.

"You surely can not be that stupid Cornelius. You are the Minister for Magic after all. We expect a lot more from you than that."

"I-I-I'm sorry Albus and uh…uh…my apologies to you as well Lord Gryffindor. No one will stop you from having two wands. I was not thinking properly when I misspoke. Please forgive me?"

I glared at him for a few seconds just to see him sweat more.

"Certainly Minister," I finally replied while a smile tried to escape my lips.

Fudge let out a big breath and relaxed back into his seat.

oOo

It took about a week to gather all the information and the aurors together before everyone was ready to pull off the biggest prank of the century. It was decided that since I had the wand and it was compatible with me, and since I was almost as tall as Voldemort, plus I had the extra power like Voldemort, that I would be the one to summon the Death Eaters. They just had to teach me what to do when I touched the wand to Peter's Death Mark. The information was pulled from Voldemort's mind for that as well.

I was dressed in a black robe with a full hood to hide my face, and my face was obscured. We decided to use the Little Hangleton graveyard again where the large cauldron still stood in front of Tom Riddle's grave. However, the dead snake was removed. Peter was brought to the site where Dumbledore put him to sleep where he could not wake without his removal of the spell.

The thirty aurors and Dumbledore were disillusioned and spread out around the area in the dark ready to stun the Death Eaters as they arrived. On cue, I pushed up Wormtail's sleeve and revealed his Death Mark tattoo where I placed the tip of Voldemort's wand and concentrated on summoning his Death Eaters, only I had to summon them as if they were my followers in order for it to work.

Just like clockwork, they began to arrive. I made sure the white yew wand was well visible in my hand as they made their appearance. I was ready to defend myself if necessary and there were three aurors who were selected to keep me protected at all times in case anything went wrong. However, we had nothing to worry about.

The Death Eaters did not arrive all at one time and as each one appeared hooded and masked, they were stunned with at least two stunners immediately. When it was all over there were 13 Death Eaters lying about the tombstones, not including Wormtail. Some of the captured Death Eaters were Avery, Malfoy, Macnair, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, Alecto and Amycus Carrow, Jugson, and Yaxley. The rest, I was not sure of their names.

Some of the aurors were assigned to stun, others to summon wands and portkeys, and some to secure the prisoners. With that kind of organization in place, the Death Eaters were ready for transport to the Ministry almost immediately.

Later when they were all tried and questioned under Veritaserum, the atrocities they all admitted to was enough to send them all to Askaban for life, although Wormtail was given the dementor's kiss instead. After all, that was what I promised him for betraying my parents.

With the information from Voldemort regarding the location of all his horcruxes, the last three were retrieved from their hiding places and all were destroyed properly with basilisk venom. It was noted that as soon as the seventh horcrux was destroyed that a greenish, black mist rose from the small statue of Voldemort. A tortured face appeared in the mist before it all dissipated, never to return.

When Dumbledore transfigured the statue back to the ugly baby that was Voldemort, we found that the body was already dead. Before the remains could decay, Dumbledore put it in stasis and then he and I floated it to the Department of Mysteries where he had me wandlessly toss it through the Veil of Death.

The whole saga ended with only a handful of people ever knowing about Tom and his horcruxes. We were hopeful that no one would follow in his footsteps.

I took the opportunity two summers later to go visit Charlie Weasley and Tress, along with the other friends I'd made. They were all doing well. I even spoke to some of the large male dragons whom Charlie said still gave them trouble but their answer to my question as to why was met with another question. "What would be the fun in that?"

I found this quite humorous.

When I told Charley, he said it was okay. The handlers needed to not become too complacent, he explained. Having some of the large dragons keep them on their toes was actually good for them. If they ever ran into another dragon that had not been informed of their intentions then they will be safer if they are more careful.

It was nice to have all the dealings with Voldemort behind me. I found out that life was far more enjoyable without an evil Dark wizard always trying to kill me.

What happened next? Well, I had Fudge sacked after I received that Order of Merlin First Class. In fact, I did it in the middle of my acceptance speech with him on the stage right next to me, trying to claim he was part of it all. I'm sorry, but he deserved it.

I then lived for the most part in Gryffindor Castle while visiting my other homes on occasion, when I wasn't still in Hogwarts getting my education. I did finish early though, given my special tutoring and extra work I put in to get ahead for the tournament. It allowed me to finish a year early and then spend my last year working on a Mastery in Defense and Transfiguration. I figured it would come in handy if someday I was going to be Headmaster.

Who knew?

The End