- This is a Fem OC x Bartemius C. Jr. story.
- I own nothing, don't sue. Also, I'm taking direct quotes from canon. As well as altering them at points for the benefit of the story. Harry Potter is J. K. Rowling's work, not mine.
- I will be following canon closely with a few alterations to tailor the exceptions I've made.
- Rating may change to M later.
On with the story!
"He's late Bella, why hasn't he arrived? It shouldn't have taken him this long to kill the Potters." declared Rabastan.
The air about Lestrange Manor was tense; none of its inhabitants felt right.
Rodolphus looked between his wife and younger brother and frowned.
He had a bad feeling about this whole situation; deep down, he knew he shouldn't have let the Dark Lord leave without him or any of them as a backup for the matter.
They all begged him, but he wouldn't listen; Their Master only said to wait for him.
Voldemort said that he'd call upon them later when he arrives in Riddle Manor for a meeting, but he never called.
'It's been more than an hour-', Rodolphus' thought, but it never even made it to completion before his dark mark burned most agonisingly until slowly fading.
The three of them looked at their inner left forearms in abject horror; without lifting his eyes from it, Rodolphus barked at his brother, "Rab. RABASTAN! grab Barty at once".
The Lestranges and Barty Crouch Jr. headed to the Potter's Cottage at Godric's Hollow.
Before they reached the house, the group found what looks like the entire wizarding community shouting and celebrating joyously at what seems to be the...
Did- did they say the death? of the Dark Lord?
The lot looked about in confusion and slight trepidation around the ruins of their destination from afar.
The village only seemed to get louder.
"Lads, we have to go. We're starting to get noticed." Barty whisper-shouted at the surrounding Lestranges, to be heard over the crowd's irrevocable level of noise.
His eyes darted around the crowd; Tone breaking and quivering even through whispering.
Whilst Bella's eyes kept wandering around the horrific sight before her, the rubble that lay scattered amongst the well-maintained grass and the cottage that was still mostly standing.
Bella's eyes focused mainly on the right side of the top floor; it had blown apart.
That, she was sure, was where the curse had backfired.
"I agree. This investigation needs to relocate. I can spot about five Aurors, a couple of ministry personnel and the halfbreed giant. We need to go elsewhere,"
The moment he said this, Rabastan enforced his words by grabbing the now increasingly frantic and fighting Bellatrix quite strong and apparating them both back to Lestrange Manor.
Without a moment of hesitation, both Barty and Rodolphus soon followed.
The second Bella's feet dropped in the cold stone floor of her Manor-house, she began to weep in a positively hysterical manner.
Thankfully, Bellatrix's hysterics rendered her brother-in-law to come out of his shock.
While Rodolphus paced frantically around the room, looking like one of the ghosts that frequently wandered their Manor's halls, Barty kept murmuring to himself.
"No. No... no, I refuse to believe that the dark lord is gone. I cannot lose him. I cannot lose him..." Barty looked like a mentally deranged patient.
He twitched every few seconds in an odd quirk, totally unable to help himself stop.
All the while, Rabastan stood in silence, his pensive state going overdrive in deep thought until he spoke in hushed surprise.
"The blood traitors. The- the Longbottoms! Let's go to them; they're one of the best Aurors in town and members of the flaming chickens' order. They should know what happened!" Rabastan said.
Rodolphus stopped pacing and smiled maniacally at his brother, "Alright, let's go. Bella, dear, come." he ordered in his booming gruff voice; his tone filled with sudden enthusiasm.
It had the sort of callous command that took years to cultivate through living as a pureblood heir-turned lord.
During the fleeting moments that Frank Longbottom was capable of coherent thought, he couldn't help but note how the current situation which he finds himself could be best described; as an act of pure hate and diabolical sadism towards his person.
Unfortunately, his thoughts were breaking far too fast by the time his wife Alice reached him.
And she was forever unable to help him in any way possible.
The proud, intelligent man recognized his defeat and mentally gave a unique version of an old Welsh goodbye to his beloved wife and son.
The Lestranges and Barty attacked the Longbottoms in full force with the cruciatus curse.
Unrelenting and cruel, there wasn't a hint of remorse insight.
The four of them incessant on questioning the pair of Aurors to the point of absolute confusion and demented insanity.
"This is not working. We're wasting our time, I reckon. They know nothing," Rabastan huffed in exasperated fury as Bellatrix approached the Aurors with a noticeable shiver, her body aching for the kill.
Seeing that her husband's eyes narrowed, and we went to hold on to her in fear of her rash behaviours.
She was a bit too 'Wand Happy' at times for his liking.
Rodolphus always was more appreciative of the methodological parts of the torture process.
Farther away from his comrades, Barty's brows furrowed, his hands unconsciously rising to scratch the back of his head in thought.
He hesitated for the briefest of moments before coughing for attention, "I have an idea, but I'm not a hundred per cent sure on how to go about it... The Dark Lord cannot die; this much I've gathered from his words over the years, I believe he did something to prevent his death, but we need to research Death Magicks further to know what he did exactly."
He paused for a moment, gathered his thoughts a bit more and continued,
"I suggest we use a black blood ritual to find the Dark Lord. It's fairly common. We can probably find it in one of our main ancestral home libraries".
Rabastan blinked; His sheer wonder at his best mate's brilliance shining through as he heard Bellatrix add her two sickles, "I'm all for it ickle Barty, but if you're saying that this is a blood ritual, then how can we do it when he's gone?".
Rabastan rolled his eyes at her downright denseness, letting Barty patiently explains: "We use the little Lady, of course".
Upon hearing that, Bellatrix's stance became rigid at once in response to Rodolphus' simultaneous shouts from afar, still holding the curse at the Longbottoms.
"Are you mad! We can't harm her." Rodolphus' booming voice rang.
Barty sighed, his thinly veiled patience quickly running down by the minute at the pair before him, then drawled, "It'll only be a prick; you can even administer some numbing solution so she won't feel a thing and quickly heal her after".
When he saw their stance loosening, he continued with utter finality.
"Now, run along and start that while I finish off these blood traitors, we shouldn't lose any more time on this. Go ahead, I'll be by shortly".
Barty's widely younger age never showed as he took charge, hastily casting a Legilimens at the Longbottoms for any extra information he can milk out of them before being rendered into complete vegetables.
Shortly after the Lestranges had left him to his work, an entire squad of finely honed Aurors descended upon Barty like invisible birds of prey, completely catching him by surprise.
The Aurors unthinkingly stunned and apprehended him, never once hesitating in their apparition to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to bring forth an immediate emergency trial at the court which is presided by both the Wizengamot and the Council of Magical Law.
While Barty waited on the sidelines, hidden behind the tapestry and the partially open backdoor.
He peaked in trepidation at the beginning of the so-called trials, which he immediately summed up that they were merely a sham and a way for the Ministry and his father to save-face.
He strained his ears hearing: "This session of the Wizengamot has begun, please, be seated," said Bartemius Crouch Snr, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
He was responsible for the deliberation on the Death Eater trials and his unfortunate father.
Barty noted how his hateful father's clear, unwavering voice resonated within the now silently raptured court.
The trials were very brief; Barty clenched his jaw at the nerve of the Ministry.
The court never even tried to hide that their members were prested the evidence against the accused beforehand.
He saw them filtering through the accused fastly by bringing them to give their testimony before the panel of judges pronounces judgement.
Until now, none of the prisoners was actually of worth; all of them were people whom the Dark Lord had us imperios to do petty tasks from the inside.
Barty's enumerations about the Ministry's incompetence paused, however, when he heard his father say, "Igor Karkaroff, you have been brought from Azkaban at your request to present evidence to this council".
There was a slight shuffling of iron chains against the tiny cell he knew would be in the middle from his years of observing this godforsaken court and heard the heavily Slavic tinged croak of Igor Karkaroff.
His eyes narrowed in anger and disgust at the man when he decreed his dislike for the Dark Lord, proclaimed his forced subjugation and betrayed his comrades.
Barty's father quickly grabbed at the golden opportunity before him and let the traitor present his information before the court.
Igor Karkaroff trembled in fear as he gave several unworthy names of cleared purebloods.
"There was uh, Rosier," he began frantically, "Evan Rosier," he said.
Among the names he gave were Dolohov, Travers, and Mulciber. Quickly frustrating Bartemius Crouch Snr and annoying the court to no end as Bartemius Crouch Snr lacked the mere facade of patience, nonetheless having the actual personality trait.
"You must understand that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named always operated in the greatest secrecy… we never knew the names of every one of our fellows. He alone knew exactly who we all were-," said Karkaroff in a rush, before he was interrupted by the ever so gruff, Auror Alastor Moody.
"Which was a wise move, wasn't it? As it prevented someone like you, Karkaroff, from turning all of them in".
When Bartemius Crouch Snr looked about ready to cast him back to Azkaban, Karkaroff became dismayed to hear yet another one of his names was useless.
He gave two more names in a final touch of weak desperation, two of his oldest friends.
But these names wore nothing short of notable; The traitor named Severus Snape.
Karkaroff was quickly interrupted; Albus-too many bloody names-Dumbledore immediately vouched for Snape.
Bloody Dumbledore. Leader of the light side and the order of the burnt roosters.
Albus reported that Severus had come to him and explained that he had been the one to overhear the prophecy and reported it to Voldemort, which led the sycophantic sheep presiding over the court to clear Snape of all charges.
However, their minuscule brains gave a pause at the second name, "Rookwood: a spy. He gave valuable information through the Ministry to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!" croaked Karkaroff once more, revealing another comrade in arms.
Augustus Rookwood, a highly stationed death eater the Dark Lord placed as a spy when he got a job as an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries.
Bartemius Crouch Snr gave the immediate order for his capture and sentence to Azkaban before releasing the traitor Igor Karkaroff to roam free.
Barty Jr. hissed at the injustice and promised himself to hunt down this coward, this filthy traitor of a swine to kill and present to his Dark Lord with blood.
In the meanwhile, the Lestranges ran in a frenzy all across Lestrange Manor.
They gathered everything of use and readied themselves to flee to one of their many family Châteaus in France, never knowing about their closest friend -Barty's- current predicament.
After gathering his most private belongings, Rabastan requests his older brother to finish packing up both of their remaining items along with the rest of the household's essentials whilst he does the same for the Dark Lord in his Manor.
Before leaving, Rabastan hurriedly reminds his brother not to forget to command their House-Elves to close their Manor and relocate.
On his way to the parlour that holds the fireplace they use for flooing, he stopped by Bellatrix's room to take her with him.
"Bella, I need you to come with me. Other than the Dark Lord, you're the only person Nagini trusts fully, so you'll have to take care of bringing her with us. And while you're at it, pray, take Lady Slytherin and pack up on her behalf." Barty said.
"Alright then, let's go," Bella replied.
The pair soon arrived in Riddle Manor and hastily separated to do their tasks.
Bellatrix headed for the northern wing of the Manor. It held the Dark Lord's and Lady's rooms.
Rabastan headed straight for the Library.
Nagini hissed at the sound of an incoming intruder, quickly warning her little hatchling to hide under the covers but ceased her death-threats once she scented Bellatrix, her master's most faithful and loyal follower.
Although unable to speak or understand Parseltounge, Bellatrix never undermined the intimidatingly large snake's understanding of the human language.
She was one of the rarest and fewest humans to give Nagini the respect she deserves, making her one of the few humans the Python liked and refused to threaten or harm.
The snake mused; she'd only ever reciprocated three of her master's followers; Bellatrix Lestrange, nee Black, young Barty C. Jnr, who her master treated as his hatchling.
And one of her master's first and earliest followers, Rosier, who flirtatiously called her a rose among the Dark Lord's thorns.
Upon their arrival, Bellatrix told Nagini everything that happened and asked permission to take both Nagini and the baby to France for protection and finding the Dark Lord.
Once she received a nod from the snake, she began spelling everything her eyes could see inside a trunk she found in the corner before grabbing her master's precious baby girl in her arms and left to join her husband with Nagini trailing behind her back.
Back at the Ministry of Magic, courtroom number ten was bursting to the brim; Barty had never seen a Wizengamot trial so full.
But his eyes immediately sought after the person he despised the most; his father's rigid form, and weirdly enough, his weeping mother who was present for his trial, sitting next to her damned husband, who presided as the judge.
Barty huffed derisively and swore at the biased trial.
Barty's brain filed the scene before him and quickly made use of it; After all, what was a Slytherin worth if he couldn't fake his way through life?
So Barty Jr. prepared himself for the act and hunched his back and let loose a couple of fake tears to appear as weak and frail as his short and wispy-looking mother.
The soonest his rattling chains got locked into place, Barty's father spoke up before the entire assembled council.
"You have been brought here before the Council of Magical Law so that we may pass judgement on you, for a crime so heinous... that we have rarely heard the like of it within this court."
Bartemius Crouch Snr paused, clearing his throat, and looking at the crowd of witnesses such as Rita Skeeter without a flinch, then continued.
"We have heard the evidence against you. You stand accused of capturing an Auror -Frank Longbottom- and subjecting him to the Cruciatus Curse, believing him to have knowledge of the present whereabouts of your exiled master, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named".
Knowing that the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is under extreme pressure to appear to be punishing the terrorism perpetrated by Lord Voldemort's Death Eaters didn't give Barty much hope.
However, he thought that his young age might help his fragile facade, so he screamed and begged at his father.
"Father, I didn't! I didn't, I swear it, Father, don't send me back to the Dementors. No! Mother, no! I didn't do it. I didn't do it. I didn't do it. I didn't know!" his whole body shook.
Barty rattled his chains within the cage, and screamed, "Don't send me there. Don't let him! I'm your son! I'm your son!".
Barty Never once renounced his master; he took no time to become even more insistent about not taking part in the torture of the Longbottoms.
He kept screaming, "I'm your son! I'm your son!" after every interval among his shouts of innocence.
Mrs Crouch's sobbing increased tenfold at the scene before her.
Watching her husband ruthlessly renounce and publicly disown their newly turned sixteen-year-old son.
Snr brutally condemned him to life in Azkaban without listening to the boy's crying pleas, and explanations were her own torturous experience.
Bartemius Crouch Snr shouted over his son's pathetic and heart-wrenching pleas and claimed, "You are no son of mine! I have no son! You disgust me," Crouch Snr said then continued,
"The torture of the Longbottoms is considered one of the evilest crimes recorded. Guards, take him to AZKABAN." to the roaring approval of the court.
Mrs Crouch collapsed in shock and grief after the sentence passed as her son mentally seethed in anger at a cruel father.
A man who wouldn't even give his son the benefit of the doubt nor allowing him the accused to provide testimony before being given a life sentence in Azkaban, disregarding his beloved rules and the miserable court's laws in the process.
Whilst at the Dark Lord's grand library, Rabastan grabbed any book pertaining to Barty's referred topics; Soul Magic, Black Magic, Dark Rituals and Blood Rituals, leaving nothing behind.
But he doubted himself and wondered for the thousandth time where Barty was and worried at his lateness.
Sadly, he couldn't digress any further and called upon the Manor's head Elf and asked, "Poppy!".
A loud pop sounded within the room, almost like a shotgun.
And her squeaky voice preceded her visibly shrivelled appearance "Yes, Master Lestrange, how can Poppy bes of help?".
"Did master hold anything of great importance in the Manor which he would like to keep with him at all times. Perhaps he has anything that holds significance to his past or ancestry? And are any of these books important? What about potions ingredients? Are there any that he's more inclined to use and protect? If so, bring it at once; the master is in great danger and needs us. We have to find him. It is urgent Poppy".
Bellatrix, Eda and Nagini arrived in Lestrange Manor just in time to grab onto the international port-key Rodolphus held in his left arm.
They transported to their long-ago decided emergency meet-up point, Black Château in Argent, France.
The lady of the house noticeably frowned at the Château's interior; She hadn't visited the place since the age of eight.
Despite the grandeur, everything she saw and the entirety of the room's designs were overly ornate. Simply put, it was too- French.
Bellatrix huffed at her Grandmother's taste in décor and retired to the main drawing-room for their inevitable meeting.
Throughout their walk, Bellatrix stated out loud the functions of the rooms they passed by to Nagini and Eda's benefit as first-time visitors, Completely ignoring her husband's long strides towards the opposite side of the Château.
Bellatrix instinctively knew he liked to unpack immediately, whenever they travelled anywhere. It was just another one of his quirks, she thought fondly.
Back in Riddle Manor, Rabastan works hard to collect any useful potions ingredients the Dark Lord had in-store for the number of dark rituals.
He's positive they'll have to do.
Every once in a while, his search gets interrupted by Poppy's arrival with one or a few of their master's important belongings, including but not limited to; the Dark Lord's ring.
Rabastan immediately raised an eyebrow at the black aura from the obviously heavily cursed item and told the ever so zealous Poppy to be careful when handling and transporting the thing.
Another hour had passed by the time Rabastan heard the excessive tapping of mail-order owl.
The nineteen-year-old man sighed yet again for what seemed like the umpteenth interruption of the day.
He shuffled towards the only window within the Dark Lord's deeply troubling office and cracked it open just enough for the owl to enter.
Rabastan removed what he now recognized as the Evening Prophet and gave the owl the required amount so that it may leave his sight.
In his hurry, Rabastan ignored the glaring title and haphazardly shoved the newspaper inside his robes, then hurried to finish off his task before meeting the rest of his family in France.
Rodolphus unfurled the newspaper his mournful looking brother, handed him to read with a grim face.
He took a deep breath to prepare himself for the worst and began reading out loud for the benefit of his wife and Nagini.
The Evening Prophet's announcement rang clear for all who could read:
HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED DEAD (31 October 1981) BY E. LIMUS. Rodolphus cringed at the title and continued-
In a brief statement, on the evening of Halloween in 1981. Minister of Magic, Millicent Bagnold confirmed that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has been defeated by Harry James Potter. Remember his name, fellow Wizards and Witches! "It is with great pleasure that I must confirm that the Wizard styling himself Lord - well, you know who I mean - is finally dead," said Bagnold looking tired and flustered as she addressed reporters. "It is with almost equal regret that we report the mass revolt of the remaining Death Eaters, who have shown themselves averse to continuing in the Ministry's efforts in capturing them. We believe that these dangerous criminals are currently taking direction from Lord - You-know-Who's upper crust of hand-picked soldiers. We urge the magical population to remain vigilant. The Ministry is currently publishing guides to elementary home and personal defence that will be delivered free to all Wizarding homes within the coming month." The Minister continued.
The people of Godric's Hollow communicated that Lord Voldemort arrived at Godric's Hollow and murdered James and Lily Potter. He murdered James first, who tried to distract the Dark Lord; unfortunately, he did not have his wand with him and got killed immediately. A neighbour then heard He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's advance on the Muggleborn Witch Lily Potter, who died trying to protect her only son and Heir, Harry Potter. Professor Albus Dumbledore stated, "When Lord Voldemort attempted the curse on young Harry, it backfired. And instead of murdering Harry, Voldemort lost all his powers making his physical form become completely obliterated".
As the Wizarding community joyfully celebrates the fall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. The Ministry of Magic and its Aurors continue to work hard on capturing the at large criminals. Just moments ago, they captured the Crouch Heir, Bartemius Jr and sentenced him to life in Azkaban. It was for breaking into a pureblood home and torturing an Auror -Frank Longbottom- and subjecting him to the Cruciatus Curse along with his wife Alice, rendering both into complete shells of their prior selves. The Wizarding community may have lucked out with the capture of the deranged young Crouch. However, the Minister asks all Wizards to be careful and act with caution and to not attempt to use magic against any suspected Death Eaters. The Minister only asks to notify the Aurors immediately by owl the Ministry of Magic in the case of known Death Eater sightings.
The deep shudder of a withheld sob echoed within the walls of the quietened drawing-room.
Most of them lost a dear friend and comrade in arms to the Wizarding Prison, but Rabastan lost a younger brother.
Bellatrix nervously patted the baby, a calming gesture of sorts to ease the tension the smallest of them could feel.
She had always been rather perceptive; Almost too perceptive at times. Nevertheless, she was the daughter of the Dark Lord.
And to Bella, that explained all the oddities of the strangely adult-like toddler.
Rodolphus squeezed his brother's shoulder in solace; comforting his kin was one of the earliest requests his late father had given him, and he never stopped.
Rabastan took a deep breath and let his eyes wander the room for a bit to clear them from the unshed tears.
His eyes saught the copious amount of Goblin-made silvers and the rich fabrics of deep forest greens and the darkest hues of the colour blue, decorating the room in a disgusting show of privilege.
The Blacks always were too wealthy for their own good; They never knew what to do with their money.
Squaneding it away on such frivolities was such a waste.
His eyesight suddenly got obscured by a small bundle when a pair of the softest and squishiest arms simultaneously slapped his cheeks then tenderly patted them in comfort.
Rabastan gaped at his Lady's sad-looking icy blue eyes and sombre babble.
Bellatrix looked at the scene fondly and spoke: "she wants to comfort you silly. Hold her Rab."
Soon after, the adults in the room started discussing everything they knew, the repercussions of fleeing England and the probable whereabouts of the Dark Lord.
Every once in a while, Nagini interjects with a few nods of confirmation or shakes of the head.
The moment they veered off-topic, she instantly shows them how far off they were getting in their discussions.
Before going back to paying all her attention to her hatchling, otherwise known as the heiress to the Slytherin line, and the daughter of the Dark Lord.
After many fights and theories, the lot of them adjourned to their chosen rooms, leaving the Master suite to the Dark Lord and settling baby Eda and Nagini in the closest suite to her father.
The moment they entered their chambers, each of them got assaulted immediately with the pageantry of the rooms.
Everything was overly ornate; It seems that the entirety of the Château is a placeholder for the most opulent furniture money can buy.
They'd get used to it with time, just as every generation of the Black family had before them until this level of splendour becomes the norm for them.
In France, the three Lestranges work hard to search for the Dark Lord in the different ways they had discussed during their first meeting based on their abilities to perform them.
While Rabastan researches the dusty old tomes within every library he had access to and solidifies his alliances with the European pureblood community, Rodolphus does the dirty work behind the scenes.
He bribes wizards for information on the whereabouts of the Dark Lord; roughs up a 'few' people, and travels to the highs and lows of Europe.
Rodolphus seemed to be in a constant state of searching for any leads and going after the most minuscule of clues.
Bellatrix, however, took the most difficult job in her opinion and her personal hell if anyone had bothered to ask.
But surprise, surprise, she had gotten the role of motherhood and taking care of a young pureblood heir as the only available female with human body parts.
Bellatrix rolled her eyes at Nagini's worthlessness in this situation.
To make it worse, it was a girl, meaning frills and pinks, constant girl-talks about being graceful, dainty and ugh submissive.
Bellatrix almost hurled at the thought but bucked up; because she had a duty to the Dark Lord, and who better than a born member of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.
Bellatrix had to stop herself from physically scrunching her nose at the thought of being a mother as she had never planned on becoming one.
Especially after seeing both her sisters producing heirs to the House of Black.
She had simply ignored her duty to produce an heir to House Lestrange because she knew that Rabastan would take the sacrifice at some point in time and marry some shallow Italian model or a French hussy of a less affluent background.
Bellatrix shuddered when recalling their Hogwarts years; her brother in law had the worst taste in women.
She always marvelled at his inherent magnetic ability to attract the most deplorable squealing, giggle shrieking whelps, who constantly gossiped.
Constant huffs of agitation filled the stuffy library, making puffs of dust scatter everywhere between every interval of defeat.
Rabastan's eyes twitched; His patience thining further with every page he read, "I cannot believe a tree died for this," He muttered.
Many months had passed rapidly and without pause, and yet his research hadn't moved an inch.
He scowled at his wayward thoughts and ploughed on with reading the piece of garbage he held.
Rabastan tried following his friend's instructions, but none of the leads worked.
It felt like he had a missing piece of the clue which unravelled the puzzle.
The more he thought about Barty Jr's words, the more he got confused.
Rabastan heaved another dejected sigh; He couldn't believe his luck.
He was never supposed to be the one doing the research.
That was Barty and Rookwood's job, as they were the brains behind the operation.
Researching such trivial matters was never his forte; Snide remarks and politics have always been his strong suit, not whatever he was supposed to be doing at the moment.
Because he couldn't even lie to himself and call it proper research.
That would be a complete exaggeration.
Rabastan shot yet another dark look at the Latin horror-show of a tome he was trying to read and internally mourned the loss of his best mate.
Oh, how he wished he could help him at this moment in time and rescue him from this fate.
They lost so much time because of Barty's imprisonment. He's positive; they would have found the Dark Lord by now if it wasn't for Barty's current whereabouts.
Rabastan can only do so much. However, neither one of them was book smart and intelligent.
None had the unique capacity of creative thinking like Barty.
And, to make matters worse, they couldn't trust the other death eater's loyalties when they found that none of them tried to contact them to help find their master.
The lot of them are traitors now, including that posturing albino leech, Malfoy.
Rabastan sneered at the filth he used to consider his comrades; They were all as good as dead.
His family has to find the Dark Lord first.
"Expelliarmus" Rodolphus' eyes softened at the scene before him.
He might have agreed with his wife about not bearing any children, but he couldn't help but become warmed by the sight of his wife playing with a babbling toddler.
Their young Mistress was growing like a weed. The year they've had with her has already changed much about her.
Their Lady's eyes shown with a brighter shade of blue and her previously wispy baby hair became much thicker with time.
However, the colour didn't change one bit; It was still the same shade of jet black she inherited from the Dark Lord.
It seemed to be the traits of their family line, Blue eyes, fair skin and Black hair.
Rodolphus wondered whether these genetical traits of theirs went back to ancient times.
But he digresses.
Rodolphus cleared his throat to announce his presence; The drawing-room still looked the same even after living there for a year.
It was completely, but uselessly grand.
"A lovely morning to you, my dear," he chimed when his wife noticed his significant presence.
It was a bit hard not to with his size, to be honest.
The man was overwhelmingly massive; His broad-shoulders alone came at the same size as a sizeable refrigerator.
Bellatrix greeted him with a distracted nod; Hyper focused as she was on getting her Mistress to correctly pronounce Expelliarmus.
"Say it again, dearie. Say Expelliarmus," Bellatrix placed a special emphasis on the 'ex' within the word.
Rodolphus chuckled; This scene has been happening for two days now.
Bellatrix would get a set of everyday words and try to teach Eda from the moment they wake till dusk.
But in his wife's defence, the process was working.
With every second or third day, depending on the level of the words Bellatrix chose, their Lady seemed to get a handle on saying them without any trouble.
The toddler was a genius; He had never seen any child progress as fast as this one was.
Turning away whistling, Rodolphus relaxed in a nearby chair for a relaxing day after a long, hard night in Kosovo.
He felt he needed a treat; After months of dead-ends, he had finally heard some useful whispers about a rising in Dark activities in a neighbouring town in Albania.
It seemed to be unnerving quite a number of the town's muggle inhabitants.
All the better, he thinks.
He hummed in satisfaction; Rodolphus had a clear plan, and his next destination all in order now came some much-needed family time.
The snow settled, and with it came a new year.
Despite the cheerful holiday displays around the surrounding muggle villages, however, the Crouches were going through their most difficult times.
Mrs Crouch's health deteriorated drastically from the stress of her son; Barty's imprisonment.
By the end of the year 1981, she had officially entered the last few weeks of her life.
The frail mother spent those latter weeks; begging her husband to rescue their son from prison as one last favour.
Her dying wish, if you may; In the end, she was able to break through her husband's many walls.
Mrs Crouch was finally able to convince Bartemius Crouch Senior to allow her to trade places with her only son in the Wizarding prison.
About one year after Barty Jr's imprisonment, Mrs Crouch used her husband's high status in the Ministry to get a deathbed visit in Azkaban.
She is a very loving mother, desiring her son to live out a new life for the better, wanting her beloved son to enjoy some fresh air and freedom as she takes her last breath.
A sudden whoop of joy broke through the suffocating silence of yet another one of the Black family's stuffiest of libraries.
The sound was so alien.
In fact, it was so strange to the point it led to having a couple of some of the more teetering books to fall out of the shelves.
The portraits of Phineas Nigellus and his wife Ursula quickly became agitated at their interrupted sleep.
And what was usually a place of tranquillity and cold austerity suddenly became penetrated with the sounds of the most uncouth cursing.
Rabastan winced at their tone then blinked upwards at their choice of language.
After all, it wasn't an everyday occurrence you hear such words uttered by someone of their societal affluence and calibre.
Setting the room right with a flick of his wand, Rabastan silenced the now alarmingly loud portraits of his sister-in-law's ancestors.
He devilishly smiled at his achievement; He has finally reached somewhere with his dreadful so-called research.
Rabastan Romulus Lestrange was almost unbearably happy; it was absurd.
Quickly gathering his materials and books, he ran outside.
His destination fastly became Black Manor's oppressive daunting gates so that he could finally apparate back home.
His master awaits; He couldn't let his lord or his family down.
Tracking down the Dark Lord was quite the feat. Deep in an Albanian forest in literally the middle of nowhere, Rodolphus found the Dark Lord's soul in shade form.
The soul piece was ravenously feasting upon the body of a now-limp unicorn.
The sight of the helpless animal was heartbreaking.
However, Rodolphus' happiness at finding his Master overrode any lingering sad feelings about the dying magical creature before him.
He had done it; he had finally found his Lord and Master after all this time.
Rodolphus didn't need to ask any questions to confirm if the shade truly was his Master.
The intoxicating Magic of his Lord was over-powering, completely encircling their surroundings in its potency.
Fastly kneeling before him and awaiting his Master to finish drinking the innocent creature's blood.
Rodolphus looked downwards in silence until he felt the presence of someone standing abnormally close to his person.
"My Lord," Rodolphus murmured; His scratchy voice shook with wonder.
With Crouch Sr's high status as a Ministry official, the Crouch couple was permitted access to Azkaban prison during the eve of the new year.
Dying at the time, Mrs Crouch persuaded her husband to use Polyjuice Potion to switch her for their son.
Out of love for her, Bartemius Crouch Senior agreed to his wife's ridiculous plan.
Both mother and son drank Polyjuice Potion to take on each other's appearance.
The mother swapped places with her son to allow him to escape prison while she suffered in his place.
Bearing her son's visage forevermore in case any of the prisoners were watching through their cells.
Mrs Crouch enabled Barty Snr to smuggle his son out of Azkaban, knowing that the Dementor's blindness hindered their ability to tell the difference between her and her son.
Lady Crouch took advantage of the Dementor's blindness. They only recognised a healthy person and a dying person entering the fortress, and a healthy person and a dying person leaving.
Mrs Crouch slipped into her son's prison cell then drank the remaining potion slowly and sparingly whilst Barty Jnr went to live in hiding.
She always made sure not to expose herself in front of the other prisoners.
She died shortly thereafter in Azkaban, still disguised as Barty.
Mrs Crouch was buried outside the fortress by the Dementors under her son's name and appearance.
The saddest part about her endeavour was Barty Snr's inability to retrieve his precious wife's body from Azkaban without exposing what they had done.
He staged her death; and then held a quiet, private funeral for her, with an empty grave.
Crouch Snr took his real son home, having his house-elf Winky to nurse his denounced boy back to health.
Sometime after that, Crouch Snr searched long and hard for methods to restrain his son from returning to Voldemort.
He eventually forced himself to utilise the Imperius Curse to keep Barty Jnr under house arrest.
The father ordered Winky, the house-elf, to have Barty Jnr's body hidden under an Invisibility Cloak 24/7 and later assigned Winky to become the boy's keeper and carer.
For a long time, Winky would try to coax her older master by awarding his son for his good behaviour, despite her effort's complete uselessness.
Crouch Snr subjugation of his son was as harsh and relenting as his personality.
It all got even worse after his 'son' died.
The fastness of the imprisonment started to overtake the rash decision of the trial.
The public reacted badly.
Suddenly, people began to pity Crouch Jnr for his father's glaring neglect.
It led Crouch Snr to lose his popularity and chance to become Minister for Magic.
He was quickly shunted sideways after that to the Department of International Magical Cooperation.
And Cornelius Fudge succeeded Millicent Bagnold as Minister instead.
Info Dump!
Edasich Cadmus Riddle, Lady Slytherin= Eda for short.
Bartemius, disowned Heir Crouch= Barty for short.
- I will be de-ageing Barty C. Jr. 2 years, now born in 1964.
- Barty Jr. never graduates from Hogwarts.
- Barty Jr. is the youngest ever death eater (Recruited at the age of 15 and shortly becoming an inner circle member before the age of 16 after receiving 12 OWLs and proving his worth).
- Barty Jr. gets imprisoned at the age of 16 in 1981. He escapes Azkaban in 1982 with the help of his father who imperios him into house arrest for 12 years until he escapes in 1994.
- The daughter of the dark lord is 2years old during his fall born in 1979.
- Barty Jr. and Eda reunite in the summer before her fifth year when she's 15 years old.
- The age difference between Eda and Barty is 15 years.
- Eda is the only known female "pureblood" with a male middle name.