Chapter 123: Inner Struggles

"Who're you?" Bagman said, looking around frantically.

Chris still was under the invisibility cloak.

"I'll not repeat Mr Bagman." Chris said in icy tone.

"Er.... I don't know what're you talking about.. please don't kill me." He was really scared as he didn't have his wand with him, and the attacker was invisible.

"Really?" Chris gave cold laugh. "If you really don't know, what I'm talking about then you're quite useless, aren't you? I should kill you, right now."

Saying this shot a offensive spell near Bagman's legs, he jumped back.

"Please... please... I'll tell you what I know... please don't..." He nervously looked around again.

"Fine. Tell me then." Chris said angrily. "And fast."

"Alright.... I don't know who she is... really... I mean the woman I was talking just now... she just wants Barty.. I don't know why... she instructed me to do few things... and promised me that she'll give me money in return." Bagman was sweating furiously, he continued, looking in every direction, "I really need to pay the goblins and loads of people.... Some of them have threatened me.... that's it... I don't know anything else..."

"What about Harry... Potter?" Chris asked.

"He... oh... the woman wants Harry Potter to win... this Triwizard Tournament... I don't know why... please..." Bagman spoke hurriedly.

"To win?"

"Yes."

"What other instructions she gave? Don't lie to me." Chris said.

"No no I'm not lying... when I agreed to do her job.. she gave me the mirror to contact her... few days ago she asked me to look for Crouch... and also help Harry to win.. in fact she asked to make sure that Harry wins..." Bagman said. "That's all.. I didn't even see her face.."

"Didn't you asked why she wants those things?" Chris asked skeptically.

"I did but she said if... I ask questions then she'll make the amount half.... so I stopped asking and start working.. please understand... I'm getting death threats for borrowing money.. I'm helpless..."

Chris was about ask something else but she heard rapid footsteps approaching. Bagman heard them too, as he froze in his place. Chris looked at Crouch and realized he was unconscious. Soon Harry came followed by Dumbledore.

"Dumb... Dumble... Dumbledore..." Bagman almost chocked. "Thank heavens you're here..."

"Indeed? I heard you were taking Barty to St Mungo's yourself? What happened?" Dumbledore said calmly but didn't look very pleased.

"Er... I...." before Bagman could finish, Dumbledore pushed him aside and bent over to Mr Crouch. Then Dumbledore carefully looked around. Chris hold her breath as Dumbledore eyes swept past her but she was sure Dumbledore sensed something.

Suddenly the sound of thunderous footfalls reached them, and Hagrid came panting into sight with Fang at his heels. He was carrying his crossbow.

"Professor Dumbledore!" he said, his eyes widening. "Harry..... what the..... Mr Bagman...?"

"Hagrid I need you to carry Mr Crouch to the Hospital wing." Dumbledore said. "All of you follow me."

"Crouch?" Hagrid exclaimed blankly but then quickly followed the orders and picked up Crouch from the ground. "Fang go back and wait for me."

Dumbledore led the way and Hagrid, Harry and Bagman followed behind. Chris's instincts told her that she should follow them as well, so she did. Bagman threw a nasty glance towards Harry but as Harry looked back at him, he changed his expression. Bagman nervously looked around. No one spoke until they reached the Hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey hurried to see what's wrong.

"Hagrid kindly alert Professor Moody and Professor Snape." Dumbledore said to Hagrid.

Hagrid nodded and left.

"Madam Pomfrey please take special care of Barty. His mind is not in a good condition and also informe me as soon as he wakes up." Dumbledore said calmly then turned to Harry, Bagman and Chris(who was still under the invisibility cloak). "I'll wait outside."

"Dumbledore... actually I..." Bagman said as soon as they stepped outside the hospital wing.

"First, I would like to know Ludo, why did you try to take Barty away when he clearly stated he wanted to see me?" Dumbledore said stopping Bagman.

"Er... I... you didn't have seen him Dumbledore.. he was out of his mind... I thought he can attack Harry... that's why..." Bagman turned to Harry, "isn't it, Harry?"

"... Er...." Harry looked back and forth between Dumbledore and Bagman.

"Surely, Your intentions can't be wrong Ludo." Dumbledore said calmly. "But still I would like to know the situation in details. Harry tell me from the start."

Harry nodded then narrated the incident just the way it was. Bagman tried to intercept few times but Dumbledore stopped him.

"Hmm.." Dumbledore looked in deep thought as Harry finished.

"You called Headmaster?"

Snape came.

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"Yes Severus. Right on time." Dumbledore said. "Will you escort Ludo to my office? We've a important discussion to do and keep his company till I'm finished here."

Snape nodded curtly like he understood the inner meaning of Dumbledore's words.

"Please Mr Bagman." Snape said to Bagman, who again started to sweat. He tried to say something but nothing came out of his mouth, so at last he followed Snape after few moments.

"And now Harry, I need you to go straight back to the Dormitory. I want you to stay there. Anything you might want to do... any owls you might want to send..." His eyes flickered around the place Chris was standing. "Or there's anything you wanted to talk about, they're can wait until morning."

"Er... yes." Harry replied looking confused but Chris understood one thing clearly, Dumbledore was using Legilimency on Harry and something else to sense her presence.

Harry walked back to Gryffindor tower and Chris followed him closely. As they walked away, Chris heard Moody's growling voice.

"Damn leg," he said furiously. "Would've been here quicker . . . what's happened?"

And then Chris remembered Mad-Eye's magical eye can see through invisibility cloak. She didn't understand that Dumbledore did that intentionally or not but he surely saved her from Moody's magical eye.

'Is that mean he don't trust Moody?' Chris thought.

When they reached the fat lady portrait, Chris thought no matter what happened between her and Harry, it was important to warn him about this. But then, what she was going to say, that Harry shouldn't win? Someone is plotting something to make him the Triwizard Champion?

So at the end, Chris decided to talk with Dumbledore first.

She avoided everyone at that night and went straight in her bed. But it wasn't easy to sleep that night, specially when thousands of ideas, thoughts and possibilities are floating around inside her brain. At last when the first morning sun ray touched her skin, she got up, get ready and went outside the castle. The weather was really nice, so she sat near the lake, as it was still too early to visit Dumbledore's office. While watching the giant squid, Chris thought many things about the life she was leading now. It's weird that she can't tell this kind of sensitive things anyone. Harry tells everything to Ron and Hermione, and he does it very easily. Though Chris's friends promised her that they'll be with her in every situation, no matter what; still Chris couldn't bring herself to burden them with her weird life problems. She still didn't know how this things will effect her future, and exactly what was she up against. Then how was she going to drag those people in this mess? The people, she cared about so deeply. The people, who cared about her.

Chris pulled her knees to her chest and rested her head on her knees. Her eyes were still fixed at the lake, like she was trying to absorb the calmness of the lake inside her her heart. But the lake was not still at all, because of the Dumstrang ship and the giant squid. Frustrated Chris buried her face in her hands when suddenly something big came out of the lake splashing water all over Chris.

"What the hell?" She angrily looked up and froze.

A creature was jumping up and down in the lake splashing water everywhere. Half horse and half fish. It had a long tail like merepeople but it had a head like a horse, also two front legs. The horse parts were milk-white and the fish parts were sea-blue in colour. In short it was gorgeous. It made a weird sound and again dived inside, then came out again. It was behaving like a dolphin, which was trying to please the viewer with its antics. Chris smiled first, then soon she started laughing. Chris got up and went near the shore and the creature also came near to the bank. Chris lightly patted it and it pushed its head fondly towards her. Chris giggled.

And she heard some boys laughing near by. She looked up and saw the Dumstrang students were out of the ship and they were looking at her and the creature. The creature retreated carefully, seeing this much people near it, and then dived back into the lake.

"That vas beautiful." Victor Krum said as he and Shawn came near her.

"Truly." Chris smiled looking at the lake.

"Hippocampus!" Shawn said. "We've heard many times of it but never thought I'll see one here in Hogwarts."

"I told Hermy-own-ninny that Hogwarts is different and beautiful." Victor Krum said enthusiastically. "Ven I ver inside the lake I never saw it."

"I think, because it hides in deep water, Victor." Shawn said. "How many creatures are there in this lake, Chris?"

"There's not very much information about that. I also didn't know there were Hippocampus here." Chris replied grinning. "But then I guess, it's 'Black Lake' for a reason. It's mysterious just like everything else in Hogwarts."

"Yeah and that means it's dangerous too. So Victor please don't go around being too happy and jump into it to look for more creatures." Shawn said grinning.

"I vill remember that." Victor laughed.

Chris realized she was completely wet, so she said good bye to the boys and made her way towards the Gryffindors tower to change. Luckily Ginny and Colin weren't in the Gryffindor tower, so Chris hurriedly changed into dry robes and went to Dumbledore's office.

"Fizzing Whizbee." Chris said to stone gargoyle guarding the entrance to Dumbledore's office and the gargoyle sprang to life and jumped aside.

It's really funny, that, students didn't know that they can get Headmaster's office password just by asking the armour, standing in the corner of the same hallway. Dumbledore bewitched it to give the password to those, who really need to see the Headmaster at that moment. But the tricky part was you've to clearly ask it. Chris figured it out in her first year, when she was talking to herself, in that hallway, saying loudly, "what's the password of Headmaster's office?" And the answer came instantly from the armour. After she was habitually to this method.

Soon Chris reached the polished oak door with a brass door knocker, and she was about to knock when again she heard voices coming from inside tje office.

"Dumbledore, I'm afraid I don't see the connection, don't see it at all!" It was the voice of the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. "Ludo says Bertha's perfectly capable of getting herself lost. I agree we would have expected to have found her by now, but all the same, we've no evidence of foul play, Dumbledore, none at all."

"So Crouch went mad by himself, Minister?" said Moody's growling voice.

"I see only one thing here, Alastor," said Fudge. "Crouch has finally cracked — more than likely, I'm sure you'll agree, given his personal history — lost his mind because of that."

"And we're taking Ludo Bagman's word for this? Is that correct?" Dumbledore said calmly.

"You've already interrogated Ludo, Dumbledore, without consenting with the Ministry." Fudge replied impatiently. "But I'm overlooking it, judging by the fact, that he really has a lot money to pay to the goblins. So now it's Ministry's business. I think I'll take both of them now from Hogwarts. Crouch will be admitted to St Mungo's and I'll prepare a hearing for Ludo. I guess he'll loose his job and something else but that's all."

Chris angrily knocked on the door. First because Mad-Eye can catch her eavesdropping again, and second, she couldn't take the stupid Minister's words anymore.