Confronting Consequences

Regardless, it did not stop the internal war he was going through. He had killed people, how could he have done such a thing?

But they were horrible. They would have done things worse than death if I hadn't done anything.

He slowly walked to the end of the clearing, his body (and conscience) aching like it never had before. Harry couldn't help but think back to the lack of magic he felt. He could no longer feel the magic within him. It was something he had always felt, his magic, even if he had never before known what it was. Now, however, it was gone.

It wasn't even like how it had been earlier, when he had been summoning small lightning bolts for fun. At those times, the power had been just out of reach, but not gone.

He spent the next five minutes walking aimlessly around the woods, falling more than a few times. The pain was utterly unbearable; he would definitely need to see a healer within the next hour. Suddenly, he heard a rough voice from a few dozen metres to the right scream, "Morsmordre!"

Up in the sky, Harry saw a strange green skull appear, with an similarly coloured snake slithering out of the mouth. From the same place he had heard the incantation, Harry heard what must have been a half dozen witches and wizards yelling, "Stupefy!"

He slowly made his way over, pushing through the bushes and low branches. The moment he stepped out and into the clearing, he saw four wands all pointed at him, all belonging to Ministry officials. Another four wizards all had their wands pointed at what appeared to be the body of a young man.

At the other side of the clearing, stood a group of ministry officials all yelling at the man who Harry learnt earlier to be Mr. Crouch. To their side, stood Hermione, Ron, and Mr. Weasley.

"HARRY!" they all yelled, before rushing towards him, "They found your wand, Harry! Barty Crouch Jr. used it to cast the dark mark!" said Hermione, before quickly getting shushed by a number of nearby Aurors. Her eyes finally met his, and she paled as she looked him over, seeing the tears, damages, and bruises.

"What happened to you? Are you alright? Should we call for help?" she asked at a very fast pace. Harry shook his head in the negative. He would be fine for the most part. The only thing that really concerned him was the loss of that strange energy that he had felt flowing through him, although that was not something he was interested in discussing with others. As long as he saw a healer within an hour, nothing would likely be a problem.

I mean, it's not like this is the first time I've been through something like this.

Harry was questioned by a few ministry members on how he had lost his wand. Apparently, Barty Crouch Jr. (who had been sentenced to Azkaban more than a decade ago, supposedly dying there less than a year later), had somehow made his way to the cup, and managed to steal Harry's wand.

Since Crouch Jr. had been killed after being on the receiving end of several stunning spells, the Aurors could not question him. After Harry told them about how he had not been able to find his wand after the match, and how Mr. Crouch's elf was sitting directly behind him, he was pushed to the side, with Winky being brought forward for questioning.

As they waited for Winky to be questioned, an number of healers were brought over to help them out. Harry was surprised to see that he was not the only one in bad shape; Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, Percy, and even Mr. Weasley had all sustained injuries of some sort, although none of theirs were quite as bad as Harry's. When asked by the healer, Harry merely stated that he was lost in the crowd for quite some time.

They left the woods a half hour later. Apparently, Mr. Crouch had managed to smuggle his son out of Azkaban, using Polyjuice potion. Yet somehow, he had not gotten in much trouble, other than a rather hefty fine. The Weasley children, Harry, and Hermione had all been told by Mr. Weasley that they would have to keep quiet about what had happened or risk provoking the Ministry.

"Why is he only being fined?" asked Hermione indignantly. She had not been feeling particularly sympathetic towards Mr. Crouch after hearing how he told Winky to sit up in the Top Box, "It's not exactly a fair punishment, is it?"

"He isn't being punished harshly because the ministry needs him very much for the upcoming year. I expect they'll punish him once it's all over." replied Mr. Weasley, leading the group back toward the makeshift portkey station.

"Once what's all over?" asked Fred, his eyes narrowed. Throughout the past week Harry had spent at the Weasley's, the eldest members of the redhead clan had been talking of some sort of event that would be occurring during the coming year. Percy in particular had taken to speaking of it in rather loud voices, greatly irritating everyone else.

"You'll see, soon enough." said Bill.

After waiting for another few hours for a portkey back to Ottery St. Catchpole, the group finally arrived back on the hill they had climbed nearly twenty-four hours prior.

The rest of the walk back was in silence.

.....

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