CHAPTER EIGHT

Barty awoke the day he would be testing the wards around Mossbridge Hall and its neighbouring dragon reserve with a renewed sense of purpose. He had heard from Augustus Rookwood that not only had Rodolphus met Harry's dragon family, but the grumpy Healer had also somehow managed to win over Harry's adopted dragon children and help the shy Welsh Green at the dragon reserve with his own courting issues! Barty didn't need a scoreboard to know he was already lagging behind in the overall point scores. But he was very determined to change that today.

So was his mother, apparently, who had painstakingly selected one of his best pairs of trousers, shirt and blazer and had already laid them out by the time Barty returned from his much needed hot shower, where he was mulling things over and planning his own strategy. Evan had taken Harry to the duelling club, Rodolphus had taken him to dinner – Barty had thought about taking Harry to Lincoln as a day trip. Lincoln had always been one of Barty's favourite places to go as a young lad and he was dying to go back just even for a day. What better way to do it then to also take the young Potter Lord with him?

Barty smiled to himself as he packed his Wardmaster bag, as he had always called it. He had already made an excuse to his father and to his father's secretary that the project he was working on for his department needed him to take a trip outside of London and that he could not be reached for the rest of the day. Barty had also pulled some strings with Lord Slytherin's help to make sure that should Barty Senior ask any awkward questions, no suspicion would be aroused in the slightest. There was one trait Barty did share with his much loathed father: they both hated to lose, and Barty refused to allow his father's interference to ruin any of his chances of winning.

After packing, Barty hurried downstairs to pick up some quick breakfast. His mother was already seated at the table, eating a crumpet and reading a new novel by one of her favourite writers, Clarice Fairweather. Barty had always been relieved that he took after his mother more than his father, both in looks and temperament. He would pick his mother's golden hair and bright blue eyes any day over the dark hair and grey eyes of his father. Mrs. Crouch had raised her head as soon as she heard the dining room door open and greeted her son with a glowing smile.

"Morning, Barty! My, don't we look handsome today? Your old mama hasn't gotten completely batty yet it seems," she joked.

Barty flushed in embarrassment as he wrapped two croissants in a napkin. "No, not yet, Mother," he chuckled.

"You are not staying for breakfast?" his mother frowned, sounding very disappointed.

"Not today, apologies, Mother," Barty sighed. "I have two sets of wards to look at today and I would like to just get started on this."

Mrs. Crouch nodded in understanding, a small smirk etching onto her face. "I am sure Lord Potter and the Lady Regent will be expecting you with a cup of coffee prepared."

Barty scoffed. "Do not be ridiculous."

Mrs. Crouch chuckled knowingly. "You are not a mother, Barty. Mark my words; the Lady Regent is not going to simply allow you to work on her wards without proper sustenance. But you had better get going and not keep them waiting. Potters are a notoriously impatient lot!"

Barty chuckled. That there was an understatement!

He gathered his case and cloak and as soon as he stepped out of the good-sized manor-that-wasn't-quite-a-manor that was the main residence of the Crouch family, Barty Apparated straight to Mossbridge Hall. Once he appeared in front of the Mossbridge gates, Barty took one more fortifying breath and stepped onto the property. It was a good thing that he had not betted against his mother, because the moment Barty did so, the front doors had opened and both Harry and Lily Potter had stuck their heads around the door and had waved enthusiastically at him.

Yes, they had indeed been waiting rather impatiently, it seems! Barty almost had to laugh at how childish but how similar both mother and son were acting, despite being two very formidable and terrifying characters. Here was the Lady Regent who had a reputation for eviscerating people with her sharpened words acting like a nine-year-old waiting to see the Muggle's Santa Claus! Were the wards this bad that they were relieved when a suitable Wardmaster had shown up?

"Barty! Come inside! We have coffee! Have you eaten yet?" Harry shouted as Barty approached.

Ah, there was yet another point to Mrs. Crouch, who would be dancing with glee if she knew.

Barty was sorely temped to lie and simply stick to his croissants in his bag, but then he remembered it was very rude to turn down a host's offer of refreshment or food. "No I haven't eaten yet," he answered as soon as he was close enough for both Harry and Lily to hear him. "Coffee would be amazing."

"Well, it is the least we can do since you offered to help us," Lily reassured with a beaming smile that made Barty almost wish he had brought sunglasses with him. As Barty entered, Harry took his case and cloak for him. "How we never had them renewed is beyond me! I mean, I would have thought Fleamont and Euphemia would have been on top of that, but apparently not."

"So, when was the last time they did get renewed?" Barty asked, looking and sounding very appalled as the Potters led the way to their dining room.

"Goodness! Ermmm … to be honest, I haven't the foggiest idea," the Lady Regent admitted sheepishly. "I have tried to find out in the old family records, but I haven't found anything as yet. I am beginning to think that it has not been done in at least a few centuries."

"Merlin! Then I really have my work cut out for me!" Barty laughed as he sat down and poured himself a cup of coffee, which he only just admitted to himself he really needed.

"Apologies in advance-" Lily was beginning to apologise.

Barty decided to cut her off before she could go further though. "I assure you, my Lady, that I like a challenge. There is no need to apologise," he reassured as he sipped his cup of black coffee. "Just point me in the direction of the focal point of the wards and I will see what I can do."

Lily beamed gratefully and decided to concentrate on eating her cooked egg. Harry eyed Barty curiously. "How did you manage to escape your father?" he asked curiously.

Barty grinned like a Cheshire cat. "Lord Slytherin helped me make an excuse that I am away for the day as an essential part of my department's new project and that I was not to be disturbed for the rest of the day."

Harry laughed shortly. "So, he has no idea his son is a candidate to try and win one of England's youngest Lords?"

"None!" Barty stated gleefully as he allowed himself to make a crumpet with some butter and honey. "I'd like it to stay that way for good reason."

"I'll say," Lily Potter agreed. "No offence, Barty, but your father is one of the most insufferable people I ever had the misfortune to make the acquaintance of!"

"Believe me, my Lady, I share you sentiment," Barty chuckled darkly, "as does most of the Ministry! Unfortunately I have to play the role of the dutiful son and heir, or risk getting cut off without a penny, which also means I have to accompany him to the Abraxan races this weekend. Some very prominent Ministry workers and Nobles will be there."

"We know. I am going this weekend," Harry stated with a grin.

Barty blanched. "No! You have never been at a race, have you? My father would have surely tried to make your acquaintance-"

"Which was why I always went disguised," Harry finished with glee. "I used to go with Lucius Malfoy in Draco's stead. Uncle Regulus gave me a Glamour that would make me look like his kid so I could go out without anyone suspecting it was me. It worked a bloody treat!"

Lily Potter shook her head at Harry's antics fondly but had to giggle at the utterly flummoxed expression on Barty's countenance, like he couldn't believe he had never sussed that the strange child with Lord Malfoy was actually Harry in disguise. Barty was indeed kicking himself. It was known that Regulus Black wasn't married, nor had any intention to start courting. The running rumour about the child was that he was an illegitimate scion of the youngest Black but no one had dared to ask Regulus about it.

Now it all made sense.

"Some Ravenclaw I am!" Barty berated himself out loud.

"Oh come on! Don't beat yourself up like that. Even Lord Slytherin didn't figure it out," Harry informed happily, causing Barty to pale further. Great; even the Dark Lord had been bamboozled by a bloody child!

Actually … now that Barty thought about it, that was rather funny. The Dark Lord fooled by the Glamour of a child. Barty found himself descending very quickly into peels of laughter. He knew he had to strengthen his Occlumency shields just in case Lord Slytherin decided to peak inside his head to see how Barty was feeling about Harry, though.

"So, why are you going to the races?" Barty asked Harry once he had regained composure.

"My friends and I are going to support the Greengrass horse, Pride of Maia," Harry informed happily. "She is finally ready and had qualified with flying colours."

"Wow! That certainly is something. Last I heard the Greengrasses were really struggling to compete," Barty said in amazement. "I mean their last two races weren't that spectacular but now for one of their horses to qualify for Silverstone, that is exactly the kind of thing good old Harold needs."

"I think it is because Lord Greengrass allowed Daphne almost complete control over who gets to train Pride of Maia and who the rider is," Harry theorised. "You see, Lord Greengrass thought it was time that Daphne and Astoria got some responsibility for a horse. Just to see if they have what it takes to take over their Abraxan stables in the future. Daphne didn't let their ancient trainer anywhere near Pride of Maia!"

"Good! Why Harold still employs that creaky old antique is beyond me!" Barty snorted. "The man's ideas are outdated and the world seems to be moving on without him, and it is making the Greengrasses suffer for it. Malfoy's horse is also racing, right?"

"Yes, much to Draco's irritation," Harry laughed. "Blaise enjoys teasing him that his father cares more for the horse than for Draco, and it irks dear Heir Malfoy more than anything!"

"Oh dear," Barty chuckled. "Will Heir Malfoy attend then, or will he be sulking at home?"

Lily snorted rather inelegantly at that.

"Oh no, Draco insists on attending for the sake of Daphne and Astoria," Harry responded simply, sipping his tea. "I think it is more to prove a point to Blaise and the others, though. Everyone knows Draco hates the Abraxan races more than he hates having a hair out of place."

Barty and Lily both chuckled at this.

"Who else from your friendship group will be attending?" Barty wanted to know, genuinely curious.

"Adrian Pucey, I know he is. Blaise too, naturally. If Augustus is coming, I think there is a chance Lawrence will be coming with him. I am certain, but Draco and Blaise are trying to get Marcus Flint, Crabbe and Goyle Junior and a bunch of the others to come as well," Harry listed. "Draco thought since most of the group will be there, we might as well make it a group day out."

"That does sound like fun," Barty smiled. "The least I can hope for is to escape my father and stay hidden with Lord Slytherin for a bit!"

The easy atmosphere between Barty and the Potters continued as the topics moved onto various other random themes. Lily Potter eventually had to excuse herself in order to deal with more paperwork and affairs on her son's behalf. Barty had thought that the easy feeling would disappear along with the Lady Regent, but was rather relieved that it didn't as Harry immediately offered to take Barty to the wards' focal point.

Barty collected his case and cloak and followed Harry through to the back of the house, through the conservatory made entirely out of glass and to the extensive back garden. Barty had grown up in the magical world and had seen all manner of gardens, but the garden of Mossbridge Hall took his breath away. There were plants and herbs he had never seen before. The mini orchard was home to Bowtruckles, squirrels and several different corvid families. Near the ponds Barty spied several different colour frogs – purple ones with blue spines, orange ones with yellow swirl patterns, red ones with strange green horns to name some of them – hanging around other water creatures Barty couldn't identify. There were two kneazles out hunting mice. Barty was most in awe of the amount of jackalopes that lived in the garden: domestic jackalopes with Billy goat horns, Ryukyu jackalopes with their midnight black fur and white dots on the back and even one Greater jackalope with large hind legs and horns akin to a stag's. As if he couldn't be taken more by surprise, Barty spotted almost a mini town of fairy houses up in one of the trees. As they passed, the animals greeted Harry and looked at Barty curiously.

It was in that moment Barty understood why Mossbridge Hall was so secluded and hidden. It wasn't just to protect the Potters; it was to protect the wild life that called it their home, some of which magizoologists would give both their arms and legs to document and observe.

Harry had watched Barty's awe with pride and some kind of satisfaction. Out of all three of his suitors, Harry had guessed Barty would be the best to introduce to his creatures and his garden first, and he had been absolutely right. The Crouch heir seemed to almost have forgotten why he had come to the house in the first place; he was so busy trying to take everything in.

"My friends are impressive, right?" Harry said, derailing Barty's train of thought.

"Absolutely!" Barty breathed. "Merlin, it is like you have a section of the Otherworld living in your own back yard."

"Ha! Not entirely incorrect," Harry replied with a grin as he led Barty to the grove at the back of the garden. "A great portion of them would be classified as fairies. Here we are: the origin of the wards around Mossbridge."

Barty looked around him. In the middle of the grove, surrounded by poppies and other wild flowers was what looked like an ordinary statue of what he suspected was supposed to depict some kind of dryad or wood nymph, considering the fact her entire under half had been sculpted to simulate bark of a tree and her hands had been sculpted to look like they could easily blend into the bark of the tree. However as Barty grew closer, he sensed that there was some seriously arcane magic attached to the statue.

Barty knelt down in front of the statue, opened his case and began to unpack his runes, his journals and the candles he brought just in case he needed to perform an extra bonding spell. The Crouch heir unsheathed his wand from its holster and ran a standard diagnostic spell.

No sooner had the spell been cast, did invisible runes that had been etched into the base of the statue begin to glow with a mellow orange light. The light spread down the base of the statue and began to snake its way through the wild flowers and form itself into a very intricate sigil of some sort. Harry had no idea what the sigil or the light signified, but Barty did.

"Well, Lord Potter, your mother was right; these wards have not been renewed in at least a century," Barty informed as he studied the sequence of the runes closely. "Had the runes been new they would have been glowing bright blue. This colour signifies that they are dangerously close to losing their power all together."

"But you can fix this, right?" Harry wanted to know, looking rather nervous.

"You doubt me, my Lord? I thought you had faith in me," Barty teased, rather pleased with himself he got the precocious young Lord to blush. He turned back to the statue and once more at the sequence of the runes. "First Othala, then Algiz, Eihwaz, and Uruz for extra strength … yes, I can work with that."

Barty placed the rune stones that corresponded with the correct rune on the statue with magic, then closed his eyes as he grounded himself and focused on the magical humming from the runes. It was faint, like a faint heartbeat of one close to death's door, but Barty could still hear it as clear as day. Without saying as much as an incantation, a blue light emanated from Barty's wand, hitting first the rune stones and then the runes, making the statue light up in a bright blue hue. In an instant, it felt like an earthquake had struck Mossbridge Hall; Harry felt like he could topple to the ground from the force at any moment. Harry watched in awe as when the ground stopped shaking the blue light dissipated from around the state and began snaking its way down into the ground, slowly turning the sigil from a sickly orange to a sparkling turquoise. Once Barty removed the rune stones, Harry saw that the runes glowed in the same shade of turquoise – apart from Uruz,which was glowing an amethyst colour.

Harry looked at it in confusion. "Why is that one purple?"

Barty grinned mischievously. "I decided to give that one a little extra power, since it is essentially the binding agent of the wards."

Harry laughed in relief as the turquoise slowly receded as the runes and sigil once more turned invisible. "Thank you, Barty. I mean it."

Barty flushed as he packed up his case. "It was no problem, Harry. I live for this kind of work." He cleared his throat as he got to his feet, desperately trying to hide his embarrassment. "Erm … shall we head to your dragon reserve?"

"Yes," Harry lit up. "Bartok, Synok, Rocla and Layna are very eager to meet you. I told them you would be coming to help their humans today; Rodolphus made a good impression on them, so they are rather excited to meet you."

"Oh," Barty said, gulping. "But … what if they don't like me?"

"Why wouldn't they like you?" Harry asked with a comforting smile. "You have done nothing to them and you are invited by humans they trust to help them and their friends. Trust me, that alone has won you some credit for them."

"OK," Barty still wasn't entirely convinced, however.

He was silently fretting and panicking all the way to the dragon reserve while Harry talked some more about Owain the Welsh Green and his continuing efforts to win over his suitors. Barty tried his best to pay attention but his mind kept going to the worst possible scenarios where Harry's dragon children were roasting him over a spit fire because they didn't like Barty. Indeed, the secret Wardmaster was almost as white as snow when he and Lord Potter reached the entrance of the dragon reserve and found Lila Rookwood, another woman whom Barty assumed was Anya and four small Hebridean Blacks waiting to meet them.

Barty tried to keep his composure. He knew that young dragons didn't stay small for very long but the dragon children were bigger than he initially had suspected. As soon as they saw Harry, they hissed and snarled in excitement, greeting their Papa with affectionate nuzzles, which made Harry laugh.

*Papa Harry, we managed to breathe our first fires yesterday!* they chorused proudly.

*Rocla put someone's butt on fire,* Synok added.

Rocla huffed. *You scared Arca with your breath and it took two hours to get her to calm down so you were not much better!*

Harry translated his children's hisses with amusement. Barty watched them in awe; they were acting no more mature than a bunch of nine or ten-year-olds but were apparently almost a year old. It was wonderous to behold!

Bartok was the first to greet Barty. The young dragon seemed to sense Barty's apprehension and padded over to the Wardmaster carefully, looking up at the strange human with wonder and curiosity. *You are one of Papa Harry's potential mates?*

Barty nodded as soon as Harry had translated, flushing a little. "I am. I am Barty. What's your name?"

*I am Bartok. My siblings from left to right are Synok, Layna and Rocla. Papa Harry says you are here to help protect us using some kind of weird word magic.*

"Yes I am. I am going to use Runic Magic to try and strengthen the magical wards around the reserve to make sure no threat can get in and out," Barty explained.

*Wards are the invisible protection walls, right?* Bartok guessed.

"Correct," Barty replied, surprised at how clever the young dragon was.

*Are you good with the weird word magic?* Layna wanted to know.

Barty blushed. "I am pretty good with them, yes."

"OK everyone, you can badger Barty on the way," Lila stated, grinning at their antics. "He has a job to do after all."

Badger Barty on the way they did. The dragons asked Barty about everything and nothing – his family, why he liked the 'weird word magic', what he liked the most about their Papa Harry (this made both Barty and Harry flush crimson), whether Barty wanted kids or not and his favourite food. Barty in turn asked them questions about their favourite things: their toys, food, who they liked the most out of the other dragons and what they liked the most about their three human parents. All the while the Wardmaster couldn't believe that he was playing 20 Questions with four young, intelligent Hebridean Blacks.

Rather fittingly, the conduit for the wards of the dragon reserve was a pool of very warm water right smack bang in the middle of the dragon reserve, with the runes in question being right at the bottom of the pool. Apparently the wards of the reserve worked in conjunction with leylines that travelled through the earth of the reserve, which made Barty rather excited. It seemed that not even the dragons had realised this because the four Hebridean Blacks had been very confused as to why their wizards were taking their father's potential mate to their favourite 'spa pool' as they called it.

*So our spa pool has the funny weird word magic?* Rocla had hissed in amazement when she realised the reason why. *No wonder the water is so nice!*

Barty had knelt down on the side of the pool, unpacking his case. Bartok, Synok and Layna joined him, flicking their tongues out at the rune stones to investigate. They tasted of powerful magic but didn't smell nice at all. Definitely not worth eating.

"Bartok, Synok and Layna, do not distract Mr. Barty from his work, please," Anya had warned them gently but firmly.

Barty largely ignored what was going on around him as the pool's waters vanished for a moment – much to the surprise of the dragons – to allow him to reveal the runes that were integrated into the stone work. Barty was amazed just how intricate the rune work was – not only had Old Futhark runes been used, but someone had used Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics as well! Whoever did this was highly skilled, and Barty would love to meet this person at least once.

He ran a quick diagnostic spell and was pleased to see the pool light up with a sky blue hue. Good, this meant that the wards were not weak; it simply meant someone had managed to either sneak in by accident, or was let in on purpose by someone on the inside. None of those options were great, but it did mean that Barty could focus on strengthening and playing around with what was already there, rather than worrying about fixing the problems first like he did at Mossbridge Hall.

Once more, Barty closed his eyes, focusing on the magic radiating from the rune work and the hieroglyphs. This time, it was almost as though Barty heard the ancient words sing to him an ethereal chorus; that was how healthy and strong the magic in them was. It almost made Barty sing along. On instinct, Barty placed his hands on the side of the pool and allowed his own magic to spring forth and meet the magic of the wards' focal point. Barty decided to add another verse and chorus to the coir in his head. He focused on boosting the strength of the protection barriers and adding a rather nasty segment to the song focused on retribution on those will ill-intent towards the dragon residents inside.

Harry, Lila, Anya and their dragon children watched in complete silence, utterly immobilised by the power they felt rippling through the ground and then going straight into the invisible, protective dome around the dragon reserve. Once Barty was done, the pool's waters returned, still glowing with the last remnants of magic and Barty collapsed back slightly from exhaustion. Bartok had caught him gently, making sure he didn't fall back entirely and Harry was by his side in an instant.

"Are you all right?" Harry's peridot orbs danced with worry.

Barty chuckled. "Yeah," he answered breathlessly. "Tired. The wards here … are really strong. Gave them an extra power boost." He laughed shortly. "I think I could use a cup of tea and a lie down."

To his surprise, Bartok nuzzled Barty gently. *That was amazing! Weird word magic is so powerful.*

*I think I like this one better than Rodolphus,* Layna hissed.

*I disagree. This one is not scary enough,* Rocla argued.

Barty had no idea what to make of this while Harry looked set to scold Layna and Rocla for being rude. Lila and Anya did that job for him while he attended to Barty. The two women took Barty to the dragon keepers' canteen, followed by Harry and the grumbling dragons. Barty was soon sitting contently with a cup of cinnamon tea and watching Harry and his colleagues interact and the four dragon siblings go from one table to the other, greeting people.

Barty and Harry spent a good few more hours with the dragons, visiting Inyala – who profusely apologised to Barty for trying to kill him – Metis, and Owain and his suitors. Barty enjoyed his 'discussions' with Metis the Pendragon the most; for a dragon, she was exceedingly well read, keeping a literal hoard of books in her lair. Her favourites were plays by Shakespeare and Gothic Horror books. It was funny and disconcerting at the same time.

But it had warmed Harry's heart and that was all Barty cared about.

"Thank you again for today," Harry said for perhaps the thousandth time during the day. "I really don't know how I can repay you. I mean if you want a fee-"

Barty lit up. He, on the other hand, knew exactly what he wanted for his payment. "I do not want a fee. I would like to ask you a question."

Harry cocked his head to one side. "What is it?"

Barty smiled. "I want to take a trip to Lincoln soon. I haven't been there since I was around your age and it used to be one of my favourite places to visit. Next week I have a day away from my father and I was hoping to use it wisely. Would you consider coming with me?"

A blinding smile spread onto Harry's face. "I'd love to. Just let me know what time and day you wish to go."

Barty couldn't help but grin himself. It was safe to say that the day Barty had with Harry had not only been his favourite day in a long while, but it gave him a taste of what he could have if he started living his own life truly for himself.

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Sorry that this chapter took so long to write. I had a bit of writer's block on this one and I also hadn't been feeling too well so hopefully it still turned out OK. As usual, I am playing in the sandpit of JK Rowling's world.

I will see you guys in the next one, where Harry, his friends and his suitors go to the Abraxan races. As usual I love hearing all your thoughts.

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