Potter's Heart

"... Then send an owl to Madame Maxime; she might also want to increase the number of students, since Karkaroff's number has increased to twelve... Let's do it this way, Weatherby, is that alright? Is that alright? Yes..."

Mr. Crouch's eyes bulged. He stood there, staring intently at the tree, muttering to himself. Then he staggered a few steps to the side and fell to his knees with a thud.

"Mr. Crouch?" Harry slowly walked toward Mr. Crouch. Mr. Crouch didn't look at him, but kept talking to a tree next to him.

Suddenly, Crouch staggered a few steps to the side and fell to his knees with a thud.

"Mr. Crouch?" Harry called out, "Are you alright?"

Crouch's eyes rolled upwards. Harry turned to look at Skylar. Just then, Skylar entered the bushes and calmly asked, "What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know," Harry said in a low voice. "Listen, you'd better go and get someone right away—"

"Dumbledore!" Mr. Crouch gasped, lunging forward and grabbing Harry's robes, pulling him close, his eyes fixed on the top of Harry's head. "I need to... see... Dumbledore..."

"Okay," Harry said, "as soon as you get up, Mr. Crouch, we'll go find—"

"I did... something... stupid..." Crouch gasped, looking completely insane, his eyes bulging and darting around, drool dripping from his chin. "I must... tell... Dumbledore..."

"Get up, Mr. Crouch," Harry said loudly and clearly, "Get up quickly, I'll take you to see Dumbledore!"

Mr. Crouch turned his eyes and glared at Harry.

"Who... are you?" he asked in a low voice.

"I'm a student at the school," Harry said.

"You're not... his man?" Crouch asked softly, his mouth drooping.

"No," Harry said, not understanding at all what Crouch was talking about.

"Are they Dumbledore's men?"

"Yes," Harry said.

Seeing that Crouch was delirious and unable to communicate, Harry abandoned his plan to take him to see Dumbledore —he intended to bring Dumbledore here instead. So he tried to loosen Crouch's grip on his robe, but Crouch held on too tightly. Harry tried to get up and leave, but his movement seemed to provoke Crouch, who grabbed Harry's knees and dragged Harry to the ground.

Skylar sighed.

"Potter, we're wizards, there are Dumbledore— " Skylar said somewhat helplessly, "Running all the way from here to the Headmaster's Office is undoubtedly the dumbest way."

He pointed his wand at a dead branch on the ground, which instantly transformed into an owl with Harry's name engraved on it. "Go, go and fetch Dumbledore. The Headmaster's Office window is on the Seventh Floor." The owl flapped its wings and flew away.

"Ah..." Harry blushed at Skylar's calm reaction, feeling ashamed of his earlier panic. He stammered, "What do we do now?"

"Wait!" Skylar smiled. "Dumbledore should be here soon. Until then..." Skylar waved his wand at Mr. Crouch, plunging him into a peaceful slumber.

After Mr. Crouch fell into a deep sleep, the scene immediately quieted down. Harry couldn't help but recall his conversation with Skylar, and then he thought of the charming Cho Chang. Suddenly, a feeling of resentment and irritation began to resurface in his heart.

Looking at Skylar's neatly combed light blond hair and that sour face that bore a resemblance to Draco, Harry's disgust grew wildly. "Who do you think you are? You're just someone who relies on your family's money and influence..." Harry thought viciously. "Cho is definitely not that shallow; she's just blinded by your appearance... Don't forget, in the Second Task, I was the one with the highest score..."

Thinking this, Harry clenched his fists tightly. "I will beat you in the last competition and win the championship, to prove to Cho, to prove to everyone, that I am stronger than you, that I am the true Champion of Hogwarts!"

At this moment, his mind was filled with fantasies of winning the championship—the image of him holding the Triwizard Cup high, the cheers of the crowd in his ears, Cho Chang's exquisite and outstanding face shining with admiration, while the defeated Skylar, like a loser ignored by everyone, knelt in some shadowy corner...

Skylar's Divine Insight of Amaterasu was already at full power; no movement within the Forbidden Forest could escape his perception. Barty Crouch Jr.. had absolutely no chance of ambushing him. Unexpectedly, Harry's facial expressions also fell into Skylar's notice. Skylar subtly Legilimency on Harry without a wand, and after seeing the thoughts in Harry's mind, he couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time.

Suddenly, a beam of magical light flashed, Skylar leaped to the side, nimbly dodging it, his wand pointing towards the bushes from which the spell had been shot.

Harry also drew his wand, his expression grave and wary.

"Who's there!" Harry shouted.

The opponent clearly had no intention of revealing themselves, but instead planned to continue using the terrain to their advantage for an ambush. The Forbidden Forest was extremely dark at the moment, and if Skylar hadn't Divine Insight of Amaterasu, that sneak attack would have had at least a 99% chance of success.

"The enemy is lurking in the shadows, which is extremely disadvantageous for us," Skylar said gravely. "Potter, you are the Savior; this world cannot do without you. Find a chance to escape and go find Dumbledore; he should already be on his way. I'll cover you and hold your rear."

"But I can't..."

"Listen, Potter!" Skylar's face was contorted with rage. "Are you even a man?! Stop your indecisiveness! Do you want us both to die here, and nobody will know? Get out of here! Get out of here!"

"I..." Harry was still hesitant. To be honest, he and Skylar were definitely not good friends; they were just classmates. However, Harry's sense of heroism wouldn't allow him to abandon Skylar and escape alone.

Harry's reaction was exactly what Skylar had expected, so Skylar unleashed his trump card. "If anything happens to me, Cho... cho, I'm counting on you!"

Harry's eyes lit up. He gritted his teeth, nodded heavily, and ran away from the Forbidden Forest as if the wind had grown on his feet, without looking back.

After Harry left, Skylar's expression instantly calmed down. The newcomer was definitely Barty Crouch Jr.., but judging from the magic Barty Crouch Jr.. had previously demonstrated, this Barty Crouch Jr.. was different from the one in the original story. Skylar had always suspected that he was involved with both the Death Eaters and the Shadow of the Magic Dragon.

But so what? No matter how powerful he is, he can't possibly be stronger than Voldemort, can he?

Skylar's strength has increased dramatically this semester. It's safe to say that even if Voldemort were to come today, he would be confident of escaping unscathed.

In Skylar's opinion, outmaneuvering Barty Crouch Jr. was much easier than putting on an act in front of Harry. And Harry, that kid, is really easy to fool...