Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. JK Rowling does. I'm just an avid fan.

Word Count: 2585

Chapter 22: Different Perspectives

Lily and James were exhausted. With the tournament going on and tons of assignments to grade, they hardly got any time to rest. Additionally, the stress of Jamie being forced into the tournament took its toll on the two. So far the investigation found nothing except a few cracks in the goblet that came from age. Not a crumb of evidence that foul play had happened. This only strengthened Karkaroff's hatred towards Jamie Potter, which he accused of entering the tournament. Thankfully nothing severe has been done against Jamie even though a clear majority of the school thought he cheated and was an attention-seeker.

Lily and James had tried their best to lower the animosity towards their son by catching students in the corridors flashing Potter Stinks badges. The more they battled the uprising, the stronger the students came back with renewed force. Their poor son was stuck in the middle of a battlefield where his odds were practically null. They earnestly tried to find several loopholes to aid their son in at least surviving the tasks but were risking their dignity and jobs for it.

As if Jamie's situation wasn't getting any worse, the moment when Harry's name came out of the goblet of fire distressed them to some extent. Someone was out to find their eldest son too. Whether it was someone with bad intentions or not, Lily was glad they had done it before her because she had originally planned to put Harry's name in to see if he would appear. Now that Harry's name was out, that meant he was still alive somewhere and would have to compete. Only time would tell if Harry would come back.

It had been five years since they originally found that Harry was missing from the Dursley and Lily was afraid something might have happened to Harry during those years. Harry was important to them. To the wizarding world. Why? Because Lily had the faint inkling that Harry was more special than Jamie, even daring to say that Jamie wasn't the boy-who-lived. How did she know? Well, she didn't, but from what the prophecy stated, the chosen one had the power Voldemort didn't have and Jamie hadn't shown anything special. He was just - simply average. That was why Lily was the most desperate to find Harry, to find him and make sure he stayed on the light side so that they could use him to defeat Voldemort. Did Lily tell anyone else about what she thought? Yes, only Dumbledore, who did not seem to care, and waved it off saying that Jamie was still young and needed time. So Lily forgot about it and moved on.

"Why is life getting more difficult" complained James, slamming the thick pile of ungraded assignments on the table and throwing his hands in the air in defeat. Being a Professor wasn't one of the easiest professions to be, especially when you have to handle unruly children and tons of grading.

Lily rolled her eyes at her husband's dramatic flairs and focused on her work, several clippings she scavenger from old newspapers. She was trying to see if the recent events had anything in common that would help discover Harry's location. For five years, she had no luck. Curse Harry for being sneaky and undiscoverable. Whoever had Harry hid their tracks well, leaving behind no footprints.

James got up and craned his neck to see what Lily was working on. When he saw the file of newspaper clippings he groaned. He had long given up on finding Harry because he realized that it was of no use. Why bother using his valuable time searching for his eldest child when he had Jamie to spoil?

"Lily dear, let's just give up on finding Harry ok? It's been five years, he's gone, we shouldn't have to care for him anyway. Jamie's our top priority and I'm not letting our search for Harry weaken our relationship with him" James said softly and gingerly. He knew he shouldn't be saying this to Lily, who was famous for her fiery temper but he just felt like he needed to put it out there.

Lily immediately whipped up from her chair and winded upon her husband, "How can you so easily give up on Harry? He's our son, our eldest son, any family member is important!" The amount of ferocity Lily displayed towards Harry vexed James.

"Why do you care so much, Lily? He's nothing special! If he lives, great! If he dies, nothing changes! We've spent 14 years without Harry and we still live without regret!" James declared angrily. He was fed up with Lily caring so much about Harry when Jamie was the better one. That was the main reason why they left Harry with the Dursleys. It was because Jamie was the boy-who-lived who needed more attention and care than a normal kid.

"Argh, I can't believe you, James! What if Jamie isn't the boy-who-lived? Albus makes mistakes all the time so how can we be so sure Jamie's the one destined to defeat Voldemort?" Lily exclaimed back furiously. It was futile trying to argue reason with James because he was so thick-headed and biased.

"The prophecy, Lily! Jamie was born 'as the seventh month dies', he is the one the prophecy speaks of. He has a scar, Lily, that's Voldemort marking him as the one!" James hissed vehemently.

"Harry's birthday is always in July, James! He has a scar too, you know" Lily argued.

"Yeah, I know. But his scar is from the fallen debris!" James countered.

Lily scoffed, "How would you know? Both of us were knocked out before we could see what caused the scars." Yes, it was true, Voldemort had gotten to both of them before they could see what truly happened after he fired the AK. Lily only faintly remembered being bound and seeing Voldemort cast the unforgivable killing curse before she blanked out from stress and extreme anxiety levels. Recovering after that experience had proven to be quite difficult but the treatment only left Lily with ambiguous and irregular memories of that night.

"Why does that matter? Jamie's going to have the power Voldemort doesn't have" James defended, getting steamy that Lily didn't seem to agree with his side of the argument.

"Yeah and is Jamie showing any special talents yet? No, he hasn't and we've patiently waited for too long. James, the Death Eaters already appeared at the Quidditch Finals! We cannot wait any longer for Jamie to get his special talent or he'll die in the hands of Voldemort!" Lily appealed.

James growled in frustration before he sat down in resignation. Lily felt her heartache, she felt extremely unhappy that they had started a whole altercation during a particularly stressful day. She didn't wish for her sweet Jamie to die but it was the truth, it's been too long and Jamie wasn't showing any progress. Lily silently walked over to James on the couch and sighed.

"I'm so sorry James. I shouldn't have raised my voice in the first place. It's just a very stressful day for both of us" Lily admitted. "Perhaps you may be right, let's focus on Jamie more. What do you propose we should do? Jamie's too young, he doesn't know a lot of spells. How will he survive in the tournament if we aren't allowed to help as teachers?"

James paced around their common room, thinking as hard as he could. It was his son's life they were talking about and he was willing to do whatever to save him. "I don't know. Jamie's at an age disadvantage right now. The other champions are older than him with more knowledge, and with the limited time until November 24, there's no way Jamie can be at their level."

"Wait! What if he knows whatever the first task holds and based on that, he could prepare for it without learning useless spells?" James suggested. It was an idea but a risky one.

"But Jamie will get caught trying to find out the first task! He'll be disqualified and face the ancient punishments of the Triwizard Tournament for cheating!" Lily shrieked, nauseous about the thought of Jamie being chained to the walls with shackles in a gloomy dungeon. Who knew what type of cruel punishments the people of the past made up for the Triwizard tournament? And since the tournament was renewed this year without much fuss, the administrators hardly changed the punishments and rulings to be more up-to-date.

"No. Jamie will not know of this, I'll do it myself. I'll find out what the first task is and tell him so that he can effectively prepare for the tournament" James strongly affirmed.

Lily wasn't so convinced of the plan and voiced her concern. "Are you sure, James? What if we get caught? We will be criticized for helping a student cheat when we were specifically told not to." James gulped, he was taking a really big risk here. He had already been highly reprimanded by Dumbledore for attacking Cadmus Flamel without provocation and placed under probation. If he was caught doing something out of line like helping a champion cheat, he would be fired before he could even say 'Quidditch.' But Jamie's life was on the line, James could hardly care about his job if it meant his son was at risk of dying.

"It'll be fine, we won't be caught. Besides, I have a good excuse in mind if we do get caught. Relax Lily" James assured his wife. He had to be extra careful not to be Lily closed her eyes and took a deep breath as though she was trying to clear all her worries.

"Alright, I trust you, James. We'll be going under the cloak if we go outside, right?" Lily asked, searching for confirmation. James nodded his head in concurrency. So they had a solution to helping Jamie survive the tournament, now they needed some rest. Thank goodness it was Friday afternoon.

In a far remote area in England, a scrawny short man timidly carried a bundle in his arms. One may ask why this grown man was so afraid of a baby but this was a different story. The baby was Voldemort without a mature body since that last incident where he lost his host Quirinus Quirrell. Voldemort wasn't repentant about the loss of that blubbering fool, as many lives needed to be taken for him to rule over the wizarding world. Yes, once he took over the whole wizarding world, he will honor Quirrell's humble sacrifice but now he needs to regain his body with the works of a ritual. However, his enemy's blood must be taken for the ritual to work and that was proven to be difficult as he couldn't track the boy down.

Voldemort had sent out his useful spy to infiltrate the school during the Tournament and enter the boy's name in. Even as an added precaution, Voldemort made sure his little spy also kept a close tab on the boy's brother, the wizarding world's boy-who-lived. It would be foolproof, the boy would have to compete and he will be able to take Potter's blood and regain his body. Ah yes, Jamie Potter hailed the boy-who-lived by Dumbledore, but Voldemort knew the real one. Harry Potter. The little boy with haunting green eyes defied him once again and like the prophecy will have the power he knows not of.

The sound of his spy's arrival near the wards excited Voldemort to no end, he was ready for the plan to be set to work. As his spy painstakingly made his way past all the wards and obstacles set out for unwanted strangers, Voldemort read the evening newspaper. Well- he couldn't read, Pettigrew did but he liked to take credit for it. A few minutes in, Voldemort's eyes flashed an angry red as the news talked of the Triwizard champions of the tournament.

There came a knock on his door and Voldemort in his infant form angrily ordered Pettigrew to set him down and get the door. Pettigrew cowardly opened the door and ushered the guest in. The hooded figure cautiously strolled into the room before halting to a stop and dropping to one knee with his head bent downwards.

"My lord" the hooded figure greeted, taking off his dark hood and revealing a man with dark straw blonde hair that took on a lighter shade under the light.

"Barty Crouch Jr. I hope that everything that is asked of me is done?" Voldemort enunciated slowly, dragging out the question. The man in question twitched before he bowed his head.

"Yes, milord. The Potter boy has been selected to be the fourth champion. Your plan is flawless and will succeed" the man passionately answered, holding his head up pridefully.

"Are you sure? I asked nothing much from you, Barty, and yet you fail to produce the required resultsss" Voldemort drawled, his voice dripping with venom. The man shuddered nervously, which was rather weird as he was speaking with a baby.

"W-What do you mean, my lord? I have done what you wished for" the man stammered out, trying to remain as quiet as possible in an attempt to avoid his master's wrath. Voldemort laughed- which coming from a baby sounded like a giggle making it much scarier.

"Tell me, Barty, why Harry Potter is not named the Triwizard champion?" Voldemort hissed dangerously. Barty shivered, it seemed the room had dropped a couple of temperatures in the presence of his master's anger.

"Please I can explain, milord! You must understand, Harry Potter isn't at Hogwarts. He disappeared several years ago and no one knows where he is.." Barty trembled, fumbling for a coherent response.

Voldemort's eyes flashed red once again. "You fool! I need Harry Potter's blood for this ritual to work, not Jamie Potter's! Harry Potter is the true boy-who-lived and without a body, I cannot end him" Voldemort snapped loudly, causing both Pettigrew and Barty to jump up in fright. There was a chilling pause before a creepy smile came upon Voldemort's face.

Fearing for his safety and his master's health, Barty prudently asked, "W-What's wrong, my lord?" Voldemort gave a terrifying laugh before he regained his seriousness.

"Silent! I need Jamie Potter to stay in the tournament. Make sure he can survive each task and in the end, bring him to me alive. Perhaps I can use him against his brother and lure him in. Their blood is of the same family. Yes, that will work" Voldemort mused to himself, silently praising himself for being smart.

"Do not make me question your true loyalty, Barty" Voldemort demanded. He will not have a traitor among his followers. Every death eater knew how paranoid their master was and what happened to those who turned their backs on Lord Voldemort. If you were on the receiving end of Voldemort's anger, it would not bode well for you. Most ended up with serious injuries, others died.

"No, milord, my loyalty is always to you! I have remained faithful to you when the others haven't and I've risked everything willingly to do whatever you pleased. I promise!" Barty cried out devotedly. He had dreamed of being his master's second-in-command and never let go of his goals. Voldemort raised an eyebrow, doubtful of Barty Crouch Jr's fidelity.

"We'll see about that. I have decided to give you another chance, Barty. Fail and it'll be the end of you. Succeed and you may join my inner ranks. Wormtail! Prepare a hot meal for our distinguished death eater here- it may be his last" Voldemort ordered.

Peter Pettigrew bowed his head and scrambled towards the kitchen, adamant in faithfully carrying out his master's orders. Barty, relieved to live, was extremely grateful that his master gave him another chance and bowed very low. Then he rushed after Pettigrew, pathetically tripping over Moody's oversized shoes before regaining his composure and stumbling after Pettigrew.

Alone in the room, Voldemort smirked to himself, thinking that nothing could stop his irrepressible path to rule over the wizarding world. Yes, after he gets rid of that Potter brat and fulfills the prophecy, he can easily take down the corrupt Ministry and rebuild the new ideal world run by purebloods.

A/N: OMG, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter especially the scene with Voldemort being furious at Barty. It's a somewhat middle-length chapter I guess, letting you guys in on some different perspectives. What did you think? So Lily and James choose to risk and help Jamie cheat to survive the first task. How will that turn out for them? Well, you'll have to find out in the next few chapters. James has given up on Harry, just going to show how inconsiderate and uneducated of a person he is. Lily yet again follows the lead of her husband and doesn't speak up for herself, which may lead to another fatal mistake. The first time was when they abandoned Harry at the Dursleys...The description of Barty Crouch Jr. is found on Harry Potter Fandom.

Besides matters of the chapter, I would like to remind everyone that has been acting up lately with me, causing me not to see your reviews and be able to review to them. I am terribly sorry, I've tried writing an email to support and waiting on a response. Please keep tight, the problem will get fixed. If you haven't seen my review in the review section, I was just telling you all that I send responses to your reviews via private messaging. I don't know if you receive them because no one is helping me confirm that, so keep a watch out for pm's. But in case, you don't receive my pm responses, I usually write responses to your reviews in the review section. Look for me there. If you haven't already, follow me on Instagram for polls, stats and sometimes even early chapter teasers!

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mintloveme523