"Where are we going?" Barty Crouch Jr. asked, stumbling over his legs to catch up to the group.
"You'll see in a minute," Lucius Malfoy yelled over his shoulder, snaking his arm around Narcissa Black's slender waist. She blushed and giggled in the way all fifteen year-old girls.
The Hogwarts students were out on a Hogsmead visit and the brilliantly white snow crunched under their feet as they walked up through the forest. Lucius said he had a good idea, so Barty, Bellatrix, Rabastan, Narcissa, and Crabbe all picked up and followed closely. Barty was the only one without a hat, so the wind had blown his shaggy brown hair in all directions, and his face was turning red in the cold wind as he kept tripping over his lanky legs. Being the only Fourth Year in the group, he was sometimes teased about his age, but because he hit a growth spurt early and was the tallest of the group, he got teased for the awkward way he got tangled up in his legs and arms. His favorite teacher, Professor Slughorn, always reassured him that he'd get used to it, but until then, Barty was having problems.
Finally, Lucius stopped walking and everyone found themselves looking at the backdoor to the Shrieking Shack, "Here we are!" Lucius declared, swinging his arms wide and smiling at the group.
"What exactly are we going to do?" Barty was a little nervous; the Shrieking Shack was rumored to be haunted.
"We're going inside, moron." Lucius hissed, then grabbed Narcissa's hand and led everyone inside. Barty narrowed his eyes and glared at the blond-haired back of Lucius's head; he hated the Sixth Year with all his heart, and Lucius hated him back.
The group made their way slowly through the Shack, careful not to step on anything dangerous or to trip at all. It was dead quiet as they made their way past cobwebs and dust clouds. The moldy furniture cast long shadows across the floor from the little light that seeped in through the boarded up windows. Narcissa shivered and said, "Lucius, I don't want to be here anymore," Her voice was innocent, but had the demanding ring perfected by the Black women, "This place gives me the creeps."
"Yeah, you guys can go outside," Lucius waved to Narcissa, Bellatrix, and Crabbe, who was looking pretty pale, "I want to look at something."
Barty, not wanting to appear a wimp, followed Lucius and Rabastan as they made their way through the Shack. The time was getting later, and they would have to turn around and get back to town soon, before they missed the curfew. Lucius abruptly stopped in front of a large wardrobe and Rabastan said, "Is this it?"
Lucius nodded and opened the cabinet. Dust swirled out and Barty didn't understand what was so special about the wardrobe; it was empty. Lucius nodded and said, "Grab him."
Before Barty could get away, Rabastan and Lucius each had one of his arms and Lucius reached into his coat pocket and stole Barty's wand. They threw him roughly inside. Barty's head came in contact with the wooden back of the wardrobe and stars began sparking in front of his eyes. He slumped down to the floor and fought to stay conscience. Just before he blacked out, Barty saw Lucius snarl, "See you later, Ministry Boy." Then the spoiled rich boy slammed the wardrobe door shut and Barty lost consciousness.
Several hours later, Barty awoke to find that he was still in the wardrobe. He stood up quickly and tried the door. It was locked. Barty slammed his fist against the door several times and then resulted to throwing his whole body against it. It wasn't working; he was too thin to make a difference against the thick wood doors.
So Barty gave up on pounding and resulted to swearing loudly. He called Lucius enough names to make a dark wizard blush, and once his voice gave out, he curled up in the corner of the wardrobe and began to plot his revenge. That is, if he ever got out. It was looking like he wouldn't. Lucius and Rabastan were the only ones who knew he was in here, and they weren't going to tell anyone when the staff started looking. IF they started looking. The teachers constantly complained about his class-cutting, so maybe they would just assume that that's what he was doing, when in reality, he was slowly dying in a dusty wardrobe. Barty closed his eyes, "This sucks," He muttered, before slowly falling asleep.
Barty woke up the morning very cold, and very hungry. He pulled his jacket closer around him, but it didn't help. The Shack had no heating and it was icy cold; Barty could see his breath spiraling upward in white clouds around him. And to top it all off, he had to piss. Like, really badly, "This is horrible," Barty said as he shifted his weight off of his bladder. It didn't help much.
There was a small slit under the door and a little sliver of light was feeding through it. Barty laid his head against the wooden wall and stared at the light. There was nothing else for him to do. He'd been in the wardrobe so long, he was convinced that no one was coming to get him, so he had to just wait until he died. The little sliver of light didn't move for the longest time, but soon, it started to recede at a snail's pace, until it winked out and Barty was in darkness again. He'd spent an entire day staring at a sliver of light, nothing but watching time pass. He hoped he'd die in his sleep so that he wouldn't have to spend another day like that.
Monday morning came and Barty was still in the wardrobe. It was even colder now and whenever he moved, he felt as if his joints were frozen in one position. Every part of his body hurt, and when he stuck his hand down into the light, he could see that they were starting to turn blue. He was going to freeze to death any day now. If his hunger didn't get him first. His stomach felt as if it was twisted in a knot and it was screaming out for food. Not mention the urge to pee was still upon him. Barty considered relieving himself in the opposite corner, but decided against it; when he died in here, that wasn't the last thing he wanted to smell.
Barty watched the sliver of light grow brighter, suggesting that it was now Monday afternoon, and he was getting colder. His teeth wouldn't stop chattering and violent shivers make him convulse hard in his wooden cage. He was going to die in here, cold and alone and who was going to miss him? Certainly not the other Slytherins, not his father; especially not Father. Father might even be happy that his little imperfect, rebellious son had mysteriously disappeared. Barty could feel the tears forming in his eyes and he pulled his long legs to his chest, ignored the pain in his bladder, and began to cry into his knees. He cried for the rejection he felt, he cried for the torment he endured, he cried for the shame he felt in being such a failure to his family, and he cried for the hopeless situation he was in. He cried until he fell asleep.
When Barty woke up, the light under the door was slowly receding; it was still only Monday night. His face felt tight and uncomfortable, and when he put a frozen hand on his cheek, he found that the tears he had cried had frozen to his pale skin. An icy reminder of the pain he always endured. He stretched his legs out again and cried out in the pain that shot all over his body; it felt as if he had just broken icicles that had held his knees in place. He couldn't flex his fingers and now that night was coming, he knew he was about to get colder.
Barty resigned. This was the end for him. His body couldn't take it much longer. He hadn't eaten in over 48 hours, and hypothermia was settling into his veins. He slid down the wall until he was curled up in a ball on the floor; He clenched his eyes tight and whispered into the dark, "Kill me now, or save me. Just please stop torturing me." He had no idea who he was talking to, but he hoped that whoever it was would act fast on his request.
Suddenly, the doors to the wardrobe flew open and Professor Slughorn was looking down at Barty over his round belly, "Bartemius! Thank goodness!"
Slughorn reached down and slowly helped Barty to his feet. Barty stepped out of the wardrobe into the dim light and heard a gasp; Lily Evans, a pretty redheaded Fifth Year, had her hand over her mouth in shock. She shook her head as if to say 'you poor thing'. Barty wanted to ask what was going on, but he suddenly became very aware that Mother Nature still needed his attention. He sprinted out of the shack to the woods behind it and found a tree. He had to use his free arm to prop himself up against the tree while he relieved himself because his knees were still very weak and frozen.
When he was done, and feeling much better, he turned to go back inside, but ran into Lily instead. She was blushing a deep red, "I'm sorry," She looked down at her feet, "Professor Slughorn thought maybe you were going to be sick, so he asked me to come check on you."
Barty just shook his head and said, "It's OK," His voice sounded weak and raspy. A slight breeze picked up and Barty began to convulse with violent shivers again.
Lily walked up slowly and took off her cloak, draping it slowly around his shoulders, as if she was waiting to see if he would throw her away from him. But he accepted the cloak and wrapped it tightly around his small frame to try to warm himself, "Let's get you back to the castle," Lily whispered compassionately.
Barty nodded and let her lead him back up the path to Hogwarts, Professor Slughorn ambling along behind them. Barty was a little confused; he hardly knew this girl, but yet she was being nice to him. Why? Lily Evans was popular with everyone, and she always did the right thing; so why was she helping the awkward Slytherin whom everyone made fun of and who couldn't stop cutting classes? He wanted to ask her, but he also didn't want her to come to her senses and take her cloak back and leave him to walk back up to the castle alone.
Hogwarts castle was warm and friendly, and Lily led him to the Great Hall where the house elves had set up a large fire and two mugs of warm hot chocolate for them. They had also brought up a plate of chicken, mashed potatoes, and pudding for Barty. As soon as Barty saw the food, he dropped the cloak and made a mad dash for it. He sat down and tore into the chicken without a second thought about manners or appearances.
Lily just picked up her cloak, came over and draped it back on his shoulder, before sitting down next to him and saying, "Keep the cloak on, it'll help warm you up faster." Barty nodded and kept eating while Lily sat and sipped her hot cocoa.
By the time Barty had eaten all his food and drank half of his chocolate, Professor Slughorn had caught up with them and he sat down across the table from them. Barty swallowed a mouthful of scalding liquid and said, "How did you find me?" His voice was back to normal, but he was still shaking from the cold.
"Ask Miss Evans," Slughorn said, "She's the one that came to me about it."
Barty turned to Lily and she said, "I heard Lucius boasting about something to his friends while I was talking to my lab partner, Narcissa, about our Potion's lab that's due tomorrow. We didn't know what he was talking about, until he decided to impress Narcissa. He came over to us and told us that he'd locked you in a wardrobe in the Shrieking Shack and that you'd been in there since Saturday afternoon. I immediately went to Professor Slughorn and we went to go get you."
"Thank you," Barty said, and then he looked down at his empty plate and said quietly, "I thought I was going to die in there."
"Well, you almost did," Professor Slughorn said, "And Lucius is going to receive some serious punishment."
"Here," Lily handed Barty his wand back.
"How did you-?"
"I stole it from Lucius while he was bragging. I had to give him a good kick in the knee caps to get him to relinquish it."
"You couldn't have taken aim elsewhere than the kneecaps?" Barty asked hopefully. He hated Lucius so much right now.
Lily laughed her high, musical laugh, "Next time I will, I promise."
"Let's hope there is no 'next time'," Professor Slughorn said.
Barty nodded in agreement; his head hurt badly, but at least he could feel his limbs again. Madame Pomfrey poked her head in the door briefly, then hustled in to sit next to Barty, "Oh you poor, poor child," She cooed, grabbing his wrist and checking his pulse.
Barty just sat still and let her check him over and make sure that he hadn't lost use of anything vital. But, he checked out OK; nothing wrong but a headache and a little bit of a cold. He was given a potion and told to go to bed. Professor Slughorn dismissed himself to escort Madame Pomfrey back to the Hospital Wing.
"You feel better?" Lily asked.
Barty nodded again, "I'm just more mad than I am anything else. Mad that Lucius managed to lock me in a frozen wardrobe for more than 48 hours, and mad that I can't do the same."
Lily laughed and tucked a piece of flaming red hair behind her ear. Barty shivered again, and Lily put and arm around him. He looked at her and said, "Why did you help me? Why do you care?"
"Because," Lily said simply, "I don't think you deserved to be tortured like that." Her face radiated sincerity, and Barty could see why Severus liked this girl so much; she was brilliant.
"What if I did, though?" His brown eyes searched her green ones, trying to find a crack in her compassion. No one pitied him, so why should she? "What if I did deserve to die in that wardrobe? Lucius obviously thought I did. Everyone he told thought so too.
Lily smiled sadly and moved a strand of Barty's brunette hair from his face, "Well I don't. And I don't listen to Lucius, so you shouldn't either."
Barty smiled back; she was so nice, it was uncanny. Before Barty could thank her, though, a new voice cut across the Great Hall, "Yo, Evans!" James Potter sauntered up to the table and shook the ebony hair from his eyes, "I've been looking for you."
"Hi, James," Lily said, getting up to give her boyfriend a quick kiss. She giggled when he whispered something in her ear, then she allowed him to lead her off, plucking the cloak off Barty's shoulders as he walked past, "Bye, Barty!" Lily said right before she disappeared out into the corridor.
"Bye," Barty whispered to his empty plate. Then, he got up and went to his dorm room. The common room was empty, and Barty was able to make it all the way up to his dorm without being teased about his adventure in the wardrobe. As soon as he'd taken a hot shower and slid into his blue flannel pajamas, he curled up under his covers and sighed gratefully for a soft mattress and warm blankets before he fell asleep. That night he dreamed of a pretty redhead who showed him kindness.