Written for the Marauder's Era Competition Round 2: Your character falling in love (Barty Crouch Jnr)
The Rise and Fall of Bartemius Crouch Junior
You were born in the middle of one of the coldest winters on record; a harsh, bitter winter seemingly intent on destroying all signs of life. Except for you. You came into the world on the coldest day of the coldest winter all red skin and screaming lungs, a perfect, healthy heir to a perfect, highly-ranked Pureblood family.
You were given your father's name, an indication of his love for and faith in you according to your tutor when you are five. A small part of you wishes you could have learned this from your Father himself, but a bigger part of you knows it just isn't possible. He has an important job at the Ministry after all, and a family to run. Ever since you were born it has been impressed upon you just how important this second task is. One day, it will be your turn to be the Patriarch of the Crouch family, but for now you must study hard with your tutors to ensure you know how. You can't run a daily if you don't know how to do maths, or read and write in as many languages as possible after all.
As you become a little older you are exposed to other Pureblood children. The Blacks, the Potters, the Malfoys and the Longbottoms all have young boys your age or younger. There are some girls too, cousins of the Black boys most of them, and you aren't really sure if you like them. But there are two other girls, one your age and one quite a few years older. She was already in Hogwarts when you were born, but somehow that doesn't seem to matter. Molly Prewett is pretty and kind and for a long time you fancy yourself in love with her.
By the time you enter Hogwarts you know you cannot possibly be in love with Molly Prewett. She's already married after all, and to the Muggle-loving idiot Arthur Weasley. Or at least that's what Bellatrix calls him. You're not sure if you like Bella very much, but she's slightly older than you and has an even bigger sister, so she knows how the world works. Or at least that's what she says.
But the main reason you can't be in love with Molly is that love doesn't exist at all. Not between boys and girls anyway. You know Mother loves you very much, and you're sure you love her too, but loving another girl? That's unheard of. Father and Mother were married because their parents said hey should be, and so were many of the other adults you've grown up around. Love is for the Mudbloods and Bloodtraitors; a myth that only leads to disaster. In your world however, such love is not permitted, and at the tender age of ten-and-three-quarters that doesn't bother you. You trust Mither and Father to pick the right girl. And besides, how would you know who the right girl is? You don't have enough experience to know who would make a good Mrs Crouch. But Father and Mother do. And that, you decide, is that.
The day of your Sorting is spent in inner turmoil. You really don't know where you want to go, except for a vehement "not Hufflepuff!" You know the other Pureblood children would never let you forget it. And even Gryffindor seems out of bounds now, after Sirius Black went there. The Crouch's aren't as Slytherin fanatic as the Blacks, but the young Pureblood contingent is pretty set against the Lions at the moment, especially since James Potter had the audacity to actually befriend Sirius after his disgrace.
In the end you are Sorted into Ravenclaw, and you are secretly pleased. As much as you respect the ambition of the Slytherins, you much prefer the intelligence and obsessive drive of the Ravenclaws. And what better way to prove to Father that you are clever enough to handle the Crouch household than to spend seven years in the House of the intelligent?
You quickly settle into life at Hogwarts and the years go quickly. To your secret pleasure Father seems proud of your House and your impeccable grades, as he assigns you prestigious tutors over the summer holidays to further your education. For the first four years or so nothing all that remarkable occurs. Until you start noticing her that is.
It takes you a few months to finally make the connection between the beautiful young woman who sits next to you in potions and the chubby, clumsy little girl you used to play with as a child. But finally you recognise potions-Alice as Alice Prewett, your old playmate and tag-along. And you are shocked. Her chubbiness has morphed into perfect curves, and her once childish ringlets now looked perfectly distinguished sitting on the back of her neck pulled back with a red or gold ribbon.
It takes you even longer to connect her with your boyhood crush, but when you do realise that she is Molly's cousin, you find yourself unable to talk to her for a week, so horrified are you. To think you fancied yourself in love with Molly, when this angel was right next to you all along! Eventually you snap out of it when she asks if you've finally made the connection (apparently she's always known who you are and was waiting for you to remember) and the two of you strike up a tentative friendship.
For the next year you struggle with your emotions, knowing intellectually that love is not permitted in your world and that you must marry whom your parents deem worthy, and yet you cannot escape these feelings you have. One to associate with her. The wane feeling all over and the butterflies in your stomach and the dryness in your mouth. You know that Father would never approve of such emotion, but you can't seem to help it. But the time Sixth Year ends, you know you are truly, deeply, head-over-heels in love with Alice Prewett.
But there is one tiny problem. Alice herself is truly, deeply, head-over-heels in love, but not with you. No, it is another of your once-playmates Frank Longbottom, whom you now have the misfortune of sharing a dorm with. You consider dealing with him one night, but you can't risk Alice finding out. You'd never have a chance with her after that. Instead you spend the summer thinking, and come up with a clever plan. Alice is a Pureblood, and therefore well-versed with the customs. If you could convince your parents to propose a marriage between the two of you, then she has no choice but to accept, Longbottom be damned.
And so you make your case. She's smart, courageous and kind-hearted, all traits befitting to Lady Crouch. Plus she is exceptionally pretty, and any of their children would be good looking also, helping to secure marriages for the next generation of Crouch children. You've done your research (always a way to impress Father) and her family tree is impeccable, no traces of Muggles, Muggleborns or Squibs to be found.
Father agrees with you surprisingly quickly, and you are sent to school bolstered by the knowledge that you will be engaged by Christmas. But Christmas comes and goes and there is no sign of an engagement, current not pending. What there is a sign of however, is a widening gap between Alice and yourself, and an increasing seriousness in Alice and Frank's relationship. You have even heard him tell the other boys in your dorm he is considering proposing to her. And if he gets in first, as an eligible Pureblood male, he has just as much right to her as you do. More once they're actual engaged. You must act, and you must act quickly.
You berate yourself for not acting sooner, however, as you try to convince yourself, it really couldn't be helped. Voldemort has been in the rise for many years, and it had long been a topic of eager discussion amongst the younger members of Pureblood society. You know Andromeda Black severely opposed all her stands for, and paid for it by being disowned quite forcefully. But you also know that both of her sister have joined the Dark Lord's ranks, along with both Lestrange brothers and Narcissa's fiancé Lucius Malfoy. And now you too have been offered a place in his ranks.
You were warned not to join hastily, but rather take three months to think the matter over. You were also made aware of just what would occur were you to refuse. For the past three months, you have been tottering on the edge, unsure which way to go. With only days to go before you must join or die, you know that one push is all it will take to make your decision either way.
That push comes the next day, in the form of the arrival of both your parents at Hogwarts. In the privacy of Dumbledore's office, you are informed that Alice has refused your offer of marriage in favour of Frank, and despite the lack of formal engagement, Father tells you in cold times that he will not permit himself to break up an existing couple, especially not two young Purebloods with all the prospects for a happy marriage just to accommodate a whim.
Mother tried to soften the blow by giving you your choice of any of the other Pureblood girls, but by this point your are beyond the point of rationality. You want Alice for Merlin's sake, and no other girl will do.
And so you and you father have a screaming match right there in Dumbledore's office, his maddeningly strict morals preventing him from saying what you know he really wants to say, and before you know what has happened you are kneeling before Voldemort trying to hide the pain as his Mark is branded into your arm.
Years go by and somehow you don't even notice them. You never do marry, instead sinking deeper and deeper into the Dark Arts, barely even taking the time out to go home and assure Mother that you are ok. The Dark Lord has offered you the pick of the women in his ranks, and yet you cannot bring yourself to give up on Alice just yet.
In the end your love for Alice is the downfall of you both. Contrary to popular belief, you did most of the work that night. Bellatrix was interested in information, but you were interested in pain. First it was Frank, retribution for everything he had put you through. This was for kissing in front of you and that was for stealing her heart. This was for the loss of Father's respect and that was for the Dark Mark. Soon he was just a ball on the floor, not even able to scream out in pain or beg for mercy.
You look over and see Alice still at Bellatrix's mercy, and you go to save her. But when you look into the face of the girl who brought you here, to this place of destruction and self-loathing, you know what you must do. And so it is you who delivers the final curse, who sends Alice to join her husband in insanity. You want the boy too, to erase all proof of her life and love and betrayal bug you can't find him before the Aurors come and take you away.
You know who you will see as the Dementors push you into the courtroom, but you don't care. You don't care a year later either, when Mother sacrifices herself for you. Or when you rejoin you Master. All you care about is the face that haunts you day and night, that sweet, tinkling laugh and those perfect curls. And when you give Neville Longbottom that book, it is only half for the Dark Lord, because even though she was ultimately your downfall, she was also the one who pulled you up and spurred you on all those years ago. And so you give the boy the book and pat him on the back and try not to wish his last name was Crouch.