Savage: The Night Wizard - (A Harry Potter Fanfic)

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After a few minutes of close inspection, Madam Pomfrey finally finished thoroughly checking the corpse of the Death Eater in front of her.

With a heavy sigh, the healing witch stood up, putting her wand back away.

"So Poppy, what did you find out?" Headmaster Dumbledore asked, looking at her carefully.

"Besides the fact that he certainly suffered a lot before he died? Not much," she said, pursing her lips into a thin line.

"But well, I can tell you that the cause of his death was certainly internal bleeding," Madam Pomfrey concluded, "Not that it makes any difference, since his death could have been caused by any of his other serious injuries."

"The internal bleeding just got to him a little quicker than his other injuries."

And looking at the dozens of wounds and lacerations on Barty Junior's body, the Hogwarts healer couldn't help but grimace.

'In all my time in wars, caring for and healing the wounded and examining dead bodies, this is the first time I have seen injuries of this level of destruction,' she thought, feeling an unsettling sensation in her chest.

"Poppy," Professor McGonagall stepped forward, interrupting Madam Pomfrey's thoughts, "What exactly caused all these injuries?" she asked somewhat distressedly.

And that was a question that she and everyone else already knew the answer to, but she still wanted truthful confirmation from a professional.

"Well, it was obviously a spell.... And a rather powerful and destructive one at that," Madam Pomfrey replied, unable to hide her slightly impressed tone.

She then let out a dejected sigh, shaking her head, "But unfortunately, I can't say exactly what spell was cast on him to cause this… I've never seen one that could cause so much damage and injuries concentrated like this."

After saying this Madam Pomfrey paused, and she then seemed to remember something, which caused a grave expression to appear on her face.

"Actually, there are some spells that might be able to do something like that, but they aren't as simple and well-known… and they're a bit… dark," she said, in a low, serious tone that showed how worrying this information was.

And hearing this, everyone quickly understood what kind of spells she was talking about: the vile and evil dark magic.

'Ethan...' Sarah and Joshua silently exchanged a worried look.

Beside them, Nick and Penny also looked at each other, but unlike Ethan's parents, they were not as distressed by this discovery. The two French immortals understood that magic was not just about light and dark.

However, it seemed that this more understanding and tolerant view was not an aspect of all old wizards.

Headmaster Dumbledore, who had some suspicions about the spell that caused Barty Junior's death, frowned with a regretful look.

'I really hope that spell wasn't dark magic, and if it was, I hope it wasn't Ethan who cast it' he thought, feeling guilty for something only he knew.

And in his mind, he couldn't help but superimpose the image of the mischievous and powerful Ravenclaw boy with that of a certain polite and charismatic Slytherin boy he had met many years ago.

"Albus," Madam Pomfrey called to the Headmaster, interrupting his thoughts.

"Yes?" he looked at her.

And seeing that his attention had returned to her, the Hogwarts matron began to speak, "I had decided not to ask this before because I was busy dealing with the dead body, but now I want to know..."

"Why does the corpse I just inspected look exactly like Bartemius Crouch Junior?" she asked, a serious look on her face.

"Because, Poppy, it IS him," the Headmaster replied.

And that answer caused a slight frown to appear on Madam Pomfrey's face, as she looked back at Barty Junior lying dead on the ground.

Madam Pomfrey had worked as a Healer at Hogwarts for many years, and she vaguely remembered almost every student who had ever passed through her hospital wing, which was practically every student at the school.

And one of those students was Barty Junior, a boy who was calm, polite and kind, reserved and silent most of the time.

However, this good view that everyone had of him changed at the big trial 13 years ago.

In this trial he ended up being discovered as a dark wizard and Death Eater, accused of torturing the Longbottoms alongside the crazy Lestranges.

And this was news that shocked many people, and Madam Pomfrey was one of them. She was shocked to discover that yet another of the children she had cared for, someone who had seemed so kind and gentle, was in fact a murderous, racist monster.

And the last time Madam Pomfrey saw Barty Junior was in a Daily Prophet headline, with his crazed face plastered across the front page of the newspaper as he was dragged out of the courtroom by Aurors, ready to be thrown into Azkaban.

'So this really is him...' she sighed heavily. And in her mind came the same questions asked by the others. What was he doing at Hogwarts? Why was he inside the maze? How was he alive?

Even though she knew that this was a matter that should be handled by the tournament organizers and the ministry, she couldn't help but think anxiously about these issues.

And then, as she thought about the mysteries surrounding the corpse on the ground, Madam Pomfrey remembered something she discovered while examining Barty Junior's body, causing her to turn to the group of people behind her.

"You know, it may not be anything important, but when I was examining Mr. Crouch Junior's body, I found something rather strange about him," she said.

"Oh, and what would that be?" Headmaster Dumbledore's focus was now fully on her.

"I found some traces of magical alteration in his body and blood, and this alteration was caused by something external, like some spell or other type of magic," the matron replied.

"Magical alteration..." Headmaster Dumbledore repeated to himself, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Perhaps what Poppy found on his body were traces or after-effects of the spell that killed him," Professor Flitwick suggested.

"No," Madam Pomfrey immediately shook her head, "Whatever caused this alteration was neither lethal nor dangerous."

"And besides, this magic is deeply mixed with his body, which means that whatever it is, it has either been in his body for a long time or has been steadily infiltrating it little by little."

"Non-lethal magical alteration that infiltrates constantly?" Professor Snape raised an eyebrow, "Perhaps this is a potion."

"It's possible," Nick scratched his chin, "Some healing potions have to be taken many times before they take effect or to continue to take effect, and often in the end they end up leaving a deep mark on the body of whoever takes them."

"Yeah, and Crouch Junior was probably taking some potion like that," Penny nodded.

"So that means he was sick?" Sirius asked.

Hearing this question, Madam Pomfrey shook her head again, "No. He was not sick," she denied, "However, I am almost certain that this magical alteration was indeed caused by a potion."

"Poppy, can you find out anything more about this?" Professor McGonagall asked hopefully.

"Unfortunately because he is dead the magic of whatever is causing the magical alteration in him has become weaker" the healing witch began to say, "And because of that I would need at least 2 hours checking the body to confirm if it was a potion, and even longer to find out which potion"

"And even if I do discover something, I can't guarantee that that information will be important or relevant to the current situation," she continued, letting out a helpless sigh.

"But you can at least try, right?" Apolline asked, looking hopefully at the Hogwarts matron.

"Well, I can…" Madam Pomfrey said with a slight hesitation, "But as I said before, I can't guarantee that what I find out will be of much help."

"Please Mrs. Pomfrey, do it," Sarah chimed in with an anxious expression, "So far this dead man is our only clue to finding out what happened to my son and the other children, so anything you can find, no matter how small or simple, could end up helping us find them."

"And even if you don't find anything, at least you'll be trying, and that's enough for me," the oldest woman in the Night family said, an almost pleading look on her face.

And hearing the requests of the two worried mothers, who were almost begging her, Madam Pomfrey could only nod slowly, understanding that the two of them would only calm down if they saw someone doing something to try to resolve this situation.

"Alright, I'll examine his body and see if I can find out anything," she said with a sigh, receiving two grateful looks from the two women.

End.

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