All's Fain in Lust and War

I don't own 'Harry Potter'

Warning: genderbent character (Harry)

On the one hand, she knew this was complete and utter stupidity, but on the other, she had to know.

Magnolia hated her life, and she had long before being entered into this stupid tournament by some idiot trying to get her killed. People were too fickle, too hypocritical, and everyone on Dumbledore's side was far too hesitant to do what they needed to do to sort things out.

She'd admit, she didn't know as much as she should about their society, but Magnolia had no doubt that Dumbledore could have done something to help Sirius. Or helped the petrified students last year instead of leaving them in the Hospital Wing for an entire year. Or – bloody hell, she could go on all day at this rate. Either way, the point remained. Dumbledore was a patronising twat.

And don't get her started on her friends. While she could still see their good points, their bad ones were far more overwhelming. Hermione always had to be right, and Ron was a fucking jealousy-ridden wanker who turned on people whenever he felt slighted. It was ridiculous, not to mention that being jealous of someone who only had money because their parents had been murdered was one of the dumbest things she'd ever heard, and she'd grown up with Dudley.

Magnolia was more observant than people gave her credit for, she just didn't say anything because she'd grown up knowing that any sort of attention was bad, would always be bad for her. Unlike Hermione who thought that regurgitating text books was knowledge, Magnolia preferred to know things that would actually help her. Like which portraits and ghosts would help students without reporting on their behaviour, or how certain Professors would be more lenient with punishments if you made yourself look more downtrodden, or which students you should never let yourself be alone with.

She'd much rather know how to keep herself alive rather than how to turn a match into a needle.

Hence why she was stood outside of Professor 'Moody's' office just before curfew.

She knew damn well it wasn't actually Alastor Moody running around the castle as their professor. One thing she'd gotten used to doing was watching the map and how people moved, and she knew how odd it was for people to stay completely still for hours at a time, not to mention the person in question.

It seemed as if Barty Crouch and Moody were always in the office together, but Magnolia had seemed them together just after her name came out the cup. They despised each other. They never spoke without the both of them pacing around and sniping at one another, so having Moody not moving an inch while in the vicinity of Crouch was ridiculous.

Then there was the fact that she'd been watching the map out of boredom once and noticed Crouch walking around with Dumbledore for ages despite having an actual job at the Ministry. Then of course she saw the Headmaster with the new DADA Professor instead of the uptight git she'd expected, and she'd thought, well, fuck.

Having once deliberately brewed Polyjuice for some illegal escapades herself, Magnolia hadn't taken long to guess the truth. Well, half the truth, because seeing both 'Moody' and Crouch together had admittedly stumped her further. She didn't think it was a Time-Turner, because her new Professor's hatred for the Ministry official looked to be entirely genuine, with a glint of pure hatred in his natural eye whenever he spotted the grumpy sod that was Bartemius Crouch.

So who was it? Well, that's what she was going to find out, for better or worse. And if it really was some sort of Death Eater, well …

There was a reason that the Sorting Hat had tried to put her in the House of self-preservation.

She took a deep breath and knocked.

"Lady Potter?"

She turned from her desk to see Barty looking at her somewhat warily.

The man looked to be infinitely better than he had when she was fourteen, but now and then his nervous behaviours tended to run away with themselves, making him twitchy and trigger-happy with his wand, slipping back into the Imperius Curse-driven insanity that had almost swallowed him entirely.

Tom – well, she supposed it was Marvolo now – had managed to coax his loyal servant back to a sound mind after his own psychological state had been restored. Somewhat, anyway, because the man that had decided to become a Dark Lord as a teenager was always going to have some sociopathic tendencies born from his lack of empathy.

But he wasn't a maniacal murderer anymore, so there was that.

"Lord Crouch?" she asked with a small smile, lips twitching further at the older man's red cheeks. Magnolia knew that she'd grown to be an attractive woman, helped along with her finally learning how to care for her appearance. (Her cousin Narcissa was a godsend when it came to her hair, and Magnolia would never be convinced otherwise.)

Barty himself was more than enough to catch her eye, even though others might disagree with her. She liked his common dark brown hair and the way it reflected the light around him. His eyes were narrow, but a stormy shade of blue-grey that reminded Magnolia of stormy days at Hogwarts. Barty certainly wasn't a tall man, just 5'8", but there was enough of a difference between them that she couldn't care less. Not not mention that five years later the man had very much regained his slim yet muscled figure, finally filling his clothes instead of them hanging off of his frame.

The man was to her liking, clearly liked her, so really and truly, she just had to start things going. Marvolo might be annoyed at her, but she had warned him that she was going to do things her own way if he let her live. It was his own fault for not firing off a green flash at her all those years ago.

"I was wondering if you might –"

Magnolia cut him off by leaning up and pushing her lips against his, taking advantage of his silent gasp to slip her tongue in his mouth, exploring every inch possible. She gently raked her fingers through his hair, subtly pushing her not-so-inconsiderable breasts up against his shirt. Narcissa had told her time and again that sometimes a woman had to remind a man what she had at her disposal, and the blonde hadn't been wrong yet.

She could sense Barty's hand's flailing somewhat at her sides and almost groaned in annoyance. She wanted him to give in, not flap about and pretend not to want it like the gentleman she really didn't want. Magnolia pushed harder, moaning lowly into Barty's mouth, the sound ending in a desperate whine as she sucked on his tongue, trying not to grin at the hardness she could feel against her abdomen.

The woman pulled back and gasped in an exaggerated manner, ensuring her heaving breasts were well within the older man's sight. She licked her lips and tilted her head slightly forward before peeking up at Barty from beneath her thick lashes. Merlin, she was so fucking close to getting him to break, she could feel it.

Magnolia bit her bottom lip and blinked slowly, almost innocently. "Do you want me, Barty?"

And with a growl, the older man crushed her slight frame to his body, mapping out the inside of her mouth as he hastily threw up several wards around her door. She let herself get walked back towards her bed and collapsed on it, feeling the fire race through her veins as she smirked up at her soon-to-be lover.

Who knew seduction of the dark side was so easy?

A/N: Hello again!

Yet another request from the imaginative Wednesday_addams_potter on AO3. Barty is an intriguing character for me, even while insane. I always imagine him as being friends with Regulus and in a similar situation, joining the Death Eaters but not out of a love of their cause. But I should stop now before I start ranting and getting into my own headcanons. I'll be here all day if I start that.

As for what happened with Voldemort, the war and everything at Hogwarts, I deliberately left it vague so everyone can imagine things in their own way. Plot and think away to your heart's desire.

See ya next time!