Chapter 76: Spinning Into Darkness
Harry's second portkey journey of the day was much longer and more disorienting than the first. He felt his body spun around as if he were in some kind of magical tornado which seemed to never stop. Finally he felt the spinning slow and knew he was approaching his destination. Harry concentrated on holding on to his wand and hoped he would be able to land on his feet, but as the portkey dropped him he rolled on the hard ground before finally coming to a stop. As he lay there Harry tried to reactivate the portkey, but it was no use. Bagman had given him a one way portkey, meaning he would have to find another way home. Pushing himself to a standing position, Harry desperately tried to fight off the dizziness as he looked around trying to figure out where the portkey had taken him
He was in a cemetery, Harry realized at once. He had walked past cemeteries before and knew what they were supposed to look like, but this one seemed completely wrong to him. The headstones marking the graves were mostly old and crumbling, and instead of being arranged in neat rows they had apparently been placed randomly. The grounds were not covered with freshly cut green grass but hard rocks and dirt with only a few sickly weeds sticking up through the ground. None of the graves had flowers placed near them, leading Harry to think that perhaps no one had come here in quite a long time.
The sound of footsteps approaching quickly proved that he was wrong. Harry quickly turned towards the direction the footsteps were coming from and saw two figures approaching him, each wearing dark cloaks that covered their faces. One was small, fat, and appeared to be carrying something like a parent would hold a baby. The other was taller, thinner, and his head had the habit of jerking from side to side as if looking for threats. Suddenly Harry felt a painful burning in his scar and he knew without a doubt what, or rather who, was being carried towards him.
"Seize him." a strange, almost inhuman, voice called out from the bundle that the fat man was carrying. The taller man stepped forward with his wand held ready before pulling back the hood of his cloak to reveal his face.
"Barty Crouch Junior." Harry said in recognition as he raised his wand to face the older man. That would mean that the shorter man was almost definitely Peter Pettigrew.
"Correct, Mr Potter. Ten points to Gryffindor." he answered with an insane chuckle. "There'll be no one to come and rescue you now. I suggest you just give up, it will be far less painful that way."
"Go to hell, Barty." Harry said as he silently cast a bone breaking curse at the man who had once impersonated Alastor Moody. Crouch was able to sidestep the spell fairly easily and sent a body bind curse at Harry, apparently attempting to capture him as he was ordered. Harry brought up a shield which was easily able to absorb the energy of Crouch's curse and then began trying to lure Crouch away from the others. Wormtail seemed to be focused on protecting whatever form Voldemort had taken that was now laying in his arms, but Harry knew he would have to keep an eye on them.
Crouch's next spell was, surprisingly, a Stupefy. Harry almost laughed at this because he realized that he held an advantage over his opponent. Crouch, for whatever reason, was trying to subdue him without injuring him. Harry did not have to worry about trying to avoid hurting Crouch, in fact he wanted to do so.
Harry sent a series of chained spells at Crouch including a Incendio, a Confundus, a Jelly-Legs jinx, and ended with a spell that produced hurricane force winds. The first two spells missed and Crouch was just barely able to raise a shield against the Jelly-Legs jinx but he was caught completely off guard by Harry's wind spell. Crouch's magical shield was unable to stop the physical force of the wind and he was hurled back several feet and landed painfully on his back. Unlike their first battle, Harry was now casting completely silently and with much more power than he was previously capable of.
Crouch began rolling as soon as he hit the ground and was, luckily for him, able to avoid Harry's follow up curses. He was quickly growing frustrated by his situation and the fact that this mere boy was beating him. With a pained grunt Crouch leapt to his feet and screamed "Crucio!", hoping that he would not only catch his opponent of guard but that his master would not be too angry with him.
Harry, however, was prepared for the Death Eater's use of an Unforgivable curse and conjured a stone shield to appear in front of him. Crouch's Cruciatus curse struck the wall and shattered it, but in doing so the spell's energy was spent and it died harmlessly. Before the stone pieces could hit the ground Harry banished them back at Crouch and was happy to hear the man yelp in surprise and pain.
"Damn you, Potter!" Crouch roared as he angrily raised his wand again. Harry saw with a brief smile of satisfaction that he had his enemy frustrated and off guard, but unfortunately this had caused Crouch to abandon his earlier plan to capture Harry unharmed. "Reducto!" Crouch shouted, causing Harry to jump to the side in order to avoid the powerful spell. Harry's wand never left Crouch as he avoided the spell, and as soon as he had the chance Harry returned fire. This time he did say the name of the spell out loud because he wanted Crouch to hear what was coming, after all he was the one who had taught it to him.
"Inficio!" Harry called as a sickly yellow light erupted from the tip of his wand. Crouch's eyes widened in surprise as he tried to avoid the spell but he wasn't quick enough and it caught him on the hip. Immediately his cloak began to disintegrate and the skin below bubbled as if it were melting. He was barely able to contain his screams enough to perform the counter curse which still left behind a nasty looking wound.
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