A/N: It doesn't exactly specify that Barty Crouch Jr. had gone to Hogwarts in his teenage years (or house) with the exception of 12 O.W.L.s as well as Alice presumably in Gryffindor so I'll safe place this as an AU!

Written for HSWW (Challenges & Assignments)

Assignment #6: History of Magic. Task - Write about someone trapped (Trapped in an obsession) Additional prompt: (element) fire

Around the World in Thirty-One Days: 127. North Korea - Word: Nemesis

Restriction of the Month: (object) portrait

Word Count: 603


Barty Crouch Jr. was sitting in the Slytherin Common Room with his elbows perched on his knees. His legs were shaking while his dark eyes were narrowed wistfully at the dancing flames in the fireplace.

"Bartemius…come to me, Bartemius."

He could hear her whispering to him, but he couldn't see her.

Barty wanted to touch her so badly, yet she was nowhere to be found in the room.

"Bartemius…set me free, Bartemius."

His long, pale fingers closed into shaking fists as he pounded the sides of his head, hitting against his moppy, straw colored hair.

Her face was everywhere; it was all Barty could see. Her round face was permanently planted into his mind; and he couldn't get it out.

Every time he closed his eyes, her bright, wide smile would shine against his eyelids. Barty wanted to carve it right off her pretty face because it wasn't smiling at him.

When his eyes were open, all he could see were her brown eyes, beckoning him with a single look. Except they were never looking at him; they were always set on Frank.

It made him want to tear her retinas.

Merlin, Barty could practically feel his hands running through her short, black soft hair now…

No!

Barty sent a spell to the wall, making a large hole into the portrait caught in the crossfire. The remaining students in the common room all scrambled out in fear; Barty didn't notice.

He shouldn't think about her anymore, but he knew that telling himself that wouldn't matter. Alice had him around her little finger; and she didn't even know it.

Perhaps she did, and that's why she would snap at him specifically in classes. That's why her gaze would linger on him the most when their paths crossed in the corridors. That's why her slaps to his face sent shivers down his spine when he baited her with his words.

Yet she was always off that bastard that didn't deserve her. Longbottom couldn't handle a woman like Alice, and it infuriated Barty that Alice would never choose him.

A housemate once told him that his obsession for the Gryffindor wasn't healthy and stupid, and Barty mercilessly Expulso'd him; he cared nothing for the consequences because his housemate had no right to speak on his desire for Alice.

The ship had sailed for him to see reason; all he could see now was Alice and the feelings she brought out of him.

The arousement… The admiration… The aggravation

He stomped his feet on the wooden floors and shook his head violently. Why couldn't she just choose him!?

What did Longbottom have that he didn't? He could be poised, well dressed. He was intelligent, way more than Longbottom ever could be. He was wealthy enough.

Still she chose Longbottom.

Barty couldn't take it. He was not going to sit in this room idly while the woman entrapped in his darkening heart slipped from his fingers.

She was going to be his and his alone.

"Bartemius...come to me, Bartemius."

He turned his head in the direction of the common room entrance. His lips tilted in a wide grin.

"My darling Alice."

"Bartemius…set me free, Bartemius."

Barty stood up from the chair he had been sitting in, gripping his wand tight. He would take care of his nemesis. He would have Alice all to himself.

Barty licked his teeth as he left the common room. "I'm coming, Alice. I'm coming to see you free."

Some people would say love made the heart grow fonder. In Barty's case, his love was an obsession; and it made his heart grow darker.