Disclaimer: This is the trial chapter, so I ganked an awful lot from JK Rowlings for this one. Pretty much all of the dialogue and actions are JK Rowling's. And just for the record, Harry Potter and all of these characters are her property as well.

"...his own son, a Death Eater..."

"Probably should've spent more time at home with his family..."

"... wife sick... heard that she's begged him to release their son..."

"So much for him being the next Minister of Magic..."

Crouch gritted his teeth as he listened to the whispers around him, his eye beginning to twitch. In the last few weeks he felt like he had aged ten years.

"...ironic, he's the one who gave permission for the Unforgivables to be used on Death Eaters..."

"I hear that he drove his son to You-Know-Who..."

"...probably going to let his son off easy..."

He tried to pretend that he couldn't hear the conversations, but the last comment made his blood run cold. He knew what he was going to do, letting his son off easy had never really crossed his mind, despite the blazing rows that he'd had with his wife over the last few weeks.

His gaze flickered over to her. She was sitting near the front, looking teary eyed and very pale. She'd gotten worse. The Healers were now predicting that she wouldn't last the year. Yet another thing that his son was responsible for.

The door to the side of the courtroom creaked open, six Dementors entered, escorting the four Death Eaters into the room.

The chamber was like a dungeon, bare and forbidding. There were four chairs in the middle of the room, ornamented only with chains, and rows of seats positioned around the chairs, each with a perfect view of the hapless prisoners at all times.

Barty hardly noticed any of this. He was shaking from the effects of the dementers so badly that it was all he could do to follow Bellatrix, who was walking in front of him, to the middle of the floor where he was forced to sit in the chair next to her. She sat in her chair like a queen; he just sort of slumped in his. His straw coloured hair was plastered to his forehead and he was trembling from head to toe, more scared than he had ever been in his life.

As the effects of the Dementors began to wear off, he remembered where he was and what he had to do. He had to convince his father that he was innocent! He couldn't go back to the Dementors. He heard the whispers and muttered conversations of the people watching all around him, they sounded like bees buzzing around his head. He heard a sobbing sound somewhere behind him, and winced as he realized who it was. His mother, she was already so sick. He didn't like being the cause of her pain.

He looked up just in time to see his father stand up. He shuddered as his father looked at him. His father's eyes, which had never been particularly warm, were like ice as he looked at his son.

"You have been brought here before the Council of Magical Law so that we may pass judgment on you, for a crime so heinous..." His father began, speaking quite clearly and precisely.

"Father," Barty broke in, his stomach clenching at his fathers cool voice, "Father... please..."

"... that we have rarely heard the like of it within this court..." His father drowned him out, "We have heard the evidence against you. The four of 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 you exiled master, He- Who- Must- Not-Be-Named..."

"Father I didn't!" Barty shrieked, desperately trying to make his father listen, "I didn't, I swear it, Father don't send me back to the dementors..."

"You are further accused," bellowed Mr. Coruch, "Of using the Cruciatus Curse on Frank Longbottom's wife, when he would not give you information. You planned to restore He-Who-Must-Not-be-Named to power, and to resume the lives of violence you presumably led while he was strong, I now ask the jury..."

Barty, truly panicking now, turned to the one person who always stood up for him,

"Mother," Barty screamed, "Mother, stop him, Mother I didn't do it, it wasn't me!" Mrs.

Crouch didn't do anything, she just sat rocking back and forth, weeping.

"I now ask the jury," His father continued relentlessly, "to raise their hands if they believe, as I do, that these crimes deserve a life sentence in Azkaban!"

In unison the members of the jury raised their hands. Barty could hear the people around and behind them clap their hands and cheer savagely. The room began to swirl uncomfortably around him. "No! Mother no! I didn't do it. I didn't do it, I didn't know! Don't send me there, don't let him!" Barty pleaded; dread settling in as the dementors glided back into the room.

Calmly, almost serenely Bellatrix and the others stood up. For a second Barty was envious of their calm. Bellatrix looked up at Barty's father and pronounced, "The Dark Lord will rise again Crouch! Throw us into Azkaban; we will wait! He will rise again and will come for us; he will reward us beyond any of his other supporters! We alone were faithful! We alone tried to find him!"

Bellatrix and her companions serenely followed the dementors out of the courtroom, but Barty, dismay and terror coursing through him, fought them every step of the way. Disbelief flooded through him, his father was actually giving him to the dementors! He fought for just a few more seconds, desperately trying to make his father relent. "I'm your son!" he screamed at his father, "I'm your son!"

"You are no son of mine!" His father finally acknowledged him, his eyes bulging out as he bellowed, "I have no son! Take them away!" His father roared. "Take them away and may they rot there!"

"Father! Father I wasn't involved! No! No! Father please!" Barty screamed as he was led out the door. He caught one last glimpse of his father, sitting down heavily in his chair, his face still red with anger, before the door closed behind him with a final, dreadful thud.

Barty stopped struggling all at once, as if he finally realized the futility of it. As they led him away, the dementor's effects washed back over him, forcing his mind back to their cycle of nightmarish memories.

As the door closed behind his son Crouch slumped back in his chair, all of his suddenly leaving him. Closing his eyes, he willed himself not to think about what he had just done.

"Mr. Crouch!" A cry interrupted his thoughts. Crouch opened his eyes to see a tall wizard with dark hair waving at him, "Mr. Crouch, it's your wife...she's fainted. We can't get her to wake up!"

Wearily, Crouch stood up and went over to his wife. He sank down beside her and gently picked her up. Ignoring the stares and the whispers around him, he took her through the door on the other side of the chambers, leading towards his offices.

He sighed as he nudged the door to his private office open and laid his wife down on the sofa. Making sure she was positioned carefully, he sat back and waited for her to awaken. He knew from experience that all it took was time.

Crouch didn't have long to wait before she finally opened her eyes.

"Barty?" She gasped, looking around wildly.

"He's not here." Crouch answered her.

Mrs. Crouch stopped looking around, realization dawning on her face, "You gave him to the dementers." She stated flatly, not looking at him.

"Yes, I did." He said calmly.

"How could you?" She asked looking at him accusingly.

Crouch sat back on his heels, deflated. "I had to...you have to understand that. He betrayed us, betrayed all of our kind..."

"You gave him to the dementors." She interrupted him; a deadened look came into her eyes.

Sighing Crouch looked at her. He knew what he had done, he knew why he had done it.

Barty had ruined everything for them. His career might never recover from this scandal; his wife might never recover from this scandal. Still, as he looked into her eyes, he couldn't remember a single reason that made any sense.

"Yes, yes I did." Was all he could say.

A/N: As I said in my disclaimer, much of this chapter can be found straight in the GoF. I didn't want to deviate too much from what JK Rowlings says about the trial in the GoF. Pretty much all of the changes were made so that this chapter would fit the tone of the rest, and to shift the focus to Mr. Crouch and Barty. I also wanted to use this moment to really get more into Barty and Mr. Crouch's characters.

I know Mr. Crouch seems out of character a bit here, and the Mrs. Longbottom seemed a bit out of character in the last chapter, so I thought that I 'd take this moment and explain my reasoning for that. When we see them in the series both Mrs. Longbottom and Mr. Crouch are in ordinary circumstances. So they are acting as they normally would. These, however, are extraordinary circumstances. For example, in the last chapter, a few people mentioned that, in essence, Mrs. Longbottom was too sweet and soft. My reply is that she certainly wouldn't be acting like her usual crusty ol' self right after he son was driven insane. She would be grieving and in shock. The same goes for Mr. Crouch.

Sorry this chapter took so long. I've had some personal problems lately that has interfered with my writing schedule. The next chapter won't take so long I promise.

(Grins) Only one more chapter to go folks! Thanks for the reviews so far. And now for the personal replies...

Camilas: Thanks for your comments. I'm glad that you are liking this so far.

Danny Barefoot: The idea behind Gran kind of disapproving of Alice had more to do with her taking her son away, then any pureblood reasons. I don't really think that that would matter much to any of the Longbottoms. You're right. I just noticed that I do tend to use a lot of adjectives in my writing. Thanks for pointing that out. I'm glad that the emotion is coming through... I'm still very new at writing so I appreciate knowing what is working and what is not. Thanks for your comments!

Kiflyn: Yey! (bounces up and down) I'm glad that you're finally reading this and that you like it. Thanks a lot for beta reading for me, and you know I'll return the favor when you start writing your stories. (grins)

Lightmare852Even though you didn't leave me a review, I appreciate being put on your author alert list! Thanks!

Miss Piratess: See above for comments about Mrs. Longbottom. Basically she would be acting a little out of character at this time. Thanks for all your wonderful comments. Any clue when you'll be updating your story?

The Sneeze (On Chapter 3): I'm glad that you liked the torture scene. I love the word "writhe" for some sadistic reason. I was really nervous about that scene, glad that it turned out okay.

The Sneeze: No, I'm afraid I'm not going to be taking very good care of Barty ;) I'm very very sad that your story is over. Are you going to be writing more? About the epilogue, I considered doing something like that, but I already know exactly how I'm going to end this, and that wouldn't really fit in. Who knows... maybe I'll do a one-shot about Neville on of these days.