"Unfortunately, the Master returned a step too late—Barty Jr. was captured quickly. Shortly after the Quidditch World Cup, his entire family was wiped out. The Master was furious—he said all the others were traitors, that not one had even gone to Azkaban for him... But he was still willing to give me a chance to live, as long as I could accomplish one thing for him... He wanted Harry Potter."
Avery's arm twitched silently several times. Then he continued unconsciously:
"He told me he needed a trusted agent inside Hogwarts. He'd set his sights on someone who happened to be coming to the school this year..."
"You needed Alastor Moody," Dumbledore said. His blue eyes blazed with fury, though his voice remained calm.
"Wormtail and I did it together. We prepared Polyjuice Potion beforehand and went to his house. Moody fought back fiercely—made quite a commotion. We finally managed to subdue him, shoved him into the secret compartment of his own magical trunk, plucked several hairs from his head, and added them to the potion. I drank it, became Moody, and took his wooden leg and magical eye."
Avery muttered:
"But everything was completely different from what I'd imagined. I tried to play Moody, but I was always afraid of slipping up in front of you all, so I didn't dare act myself..."
"So you placed Madam Pomfrey under the Imperius Curse, had her put Harry's name into the Goblet of Fire, and stayed with me to establish an alibi, correct?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes, exactly... The moment I entered the school, I realized I couldn't act alone. I had to find someone more convenient to help share the suspicion... But getting Harry Potter out of the school was too difficult. I begged the Master, pleaded with him—couldn't we try another way? I was hit with the Cruciatus Curse several times for that... But the Master had few options. Finally, he said if it really couldn't be done, he'd settle for just Harry Potter's blood—but it had to be fresh..."
Avery shrank back as he spoke:
"Only the woman in the hospital wing was most likely to access Harry Potter's blood, so I chose her. But Harry Potter was incredibly lucky—he never even scraped his skin once. I couldn't get a single drop of his blood. The Master was very displeased..."
"Where did you put Moody?" Dumbledore pressed.
"I placed him under the Imperius Curse but didn't kill him. I needed to question him, learn about his past, his habits... to impersonate him better. I also needed his hair for the Polyjuice Potion. The other ingredients were easy to obtain—I stole African tree snake skin and such from the dungeons. When Snape found me in his office, I said I was conducting a search under orders... I also took Harry Potter's map and deliberately damaged it so my name wouldn't appear..."
Sirius's fingers tightened on Harry's shoulder. Harry glanced sideways at Orli, his eyes filled with apology and shock.
Avery hugged his arms to himself:
"But Snape clearly suspected something... Soon after, I received word that Dumbledore wanted to see me in his office... I guessed things might be falling apart. Fortunately, Wormtail—who'd been sent by the Master to monitor my progress—suggested using the Imperius Curse to control the real Moody and bring him to the headmaster's office. He transformed into a rat and hid in Moody's robes to control him..."
"So that's how you passed the Polyjuice Potion detection—the Moody at that time was genuine, simply under the Imperius Curse," Dumbledore said, still speaking gently.
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