Chapter 131: Azkaban Duo, Lovegood House (1/2)
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The link is also in the synopsis.
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[The chapter is edited by Editor: Alan_Loo/AlanL]
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Bartemius ”Barty” Crouch Junior entered a well-decorated hall with a scowl that didn't suit the beauty of the room. If the gaze in his eyes held magic within them, he would've burned through everything he set his eyes upon.
”What has made you so upset, eh, Barty?”
Barty Jr. gazed towards the ornate dining table in the room to see Peter ”Wormtail” Pettigrew reading a newspaper while sitting in a chair with a cup of tea on the table in front of him. He looked relaxed, as if he didn't have any care in the world. As if he was enjoying the small pleasures of life.
”Moody! That one-eyed freak is weirdly resistant to the Imperious,” spat Barty with a toxic tone. ”He has begun to somewhat refuse to answer my questions.”
Peter looked at Barty. He attributed this to two reasons. First, that Alastor ”Mad-Eye” Moody was simply a freak of nature with an iron will to resist an Imperious, and second, that Barty Jr., who had not been allowed a wand for over a decade was still rusty when it came to magic. Even he himself had been terrible with magic for a few months after getting out of Azkaban.
”I'll help you to worm information out of Mad-Eye,” spoke Peter, picking his cup to sip on some tea. ”It's imperative that we get as much information from him before you go to Hogwarts. You have to know everything about him, from the way he moves to the way he behaves. You will be working in close quarters with Dumbledore; anything less than perfect isn't acceptable.”
After they found out that Dumbledore had asked Moody to come to Hogwarts and teach Defense Against Dark Arts, the Dark Lord had ordered them to capture the ex-Auror so that they could infiltrate Hogwarts for his plans and schemes for his revival. He had been kept under the Imperius curse constantly to gain information about himself so that Barty Jr. could impersonate him.
”You will help me?” scoffed Barty Jr. He looked down on Wormtail as he continued, ”Don't act all high and mighty just because you found the Dark Lord. I still remember the cowardly you. Don't behave as if nobody remembers that. You'll always be that pathetic rat who twitches at the slightest of movements. You'll never be a true servant of our Lord.”
Peter set down his teacup back on the table and folded his newspaper. He then stood up from his chair and walked towards Barty Jr. He didn't seem angry at Barty Jr.'s cutting words.
”If I remember correctly, you cried for your mum during the time you were in Azkaban, didn't you?” spoke Wormtail with a calm tone. Barty Jr.'s eyes twitched. He growled. ”What was it? Only a month with six dementors assigned to you? That's what you enjoyed in Azkaban, wasn't it? Before your mother took your place and allowed you to escape. You say that you remember the old me, but do you know that the 'true' Death Eaters you respect who didn't escape Azkaban were there when you screamed for your mum like a f**cking whiny little b*tch? They will remember that.”
In 1982, his mother's health deteriorated drastically from the stress of her son's imprisonment. In the end, she persuaded her husband to help smuggle their son out of Azkaban. The couple had been allowed to visit due to Bartemius' high status in the Ministry and as Mrs. Crouch's dying wish. Using Polyjuice Potion, undetected by the blind Dementors, Mrs. Crouch took her son's place. She died a short time later and was buried outside the fortress under the guise of her son.
”What you experienced was a happy trip to Azkaban,” chuckled Wormtial, but Barty Jr. could see his haunting eyes. ”I suffered ten dementors for over a decade. Do you know how it feels to have everything sucked out by those relentless demons for eleven long years? Not spared a single moment of happiness. To be drowned in misery for a decade.”
Barty Jr., who thought of himself as the greatest follower to Lord Voldemort, became silent for once and listened to Wormtail. He couldn't recognise this Wormtail from the one he knew before.
”Hmm? Tell me, how is it to be cared for as if you were an infant by a house-elf as we experienced hell in Azkaban,” mocked Wormtail. ”Was it hard to get three hot meals, a soft bed, and luxuries? Tell me your struggles, Barty. Tell me the horrifying moments you suffered through while the dementors hovered over you.”
Peter stared up at the taller man and smiled, ”Don't forget that I just didn't find the Dark Lord. If I hadn't found Bertha Jorkins, the Dark Lord would've never ripped past through the memory charm that your father placed on her. If not for me, we wouldn't have come to rescue you. Without me, you would still be rotting beneath an invisibility cloak under your father's imperious...”
All of it had started when the Dark Lord decided to gather information about the wizarding world. He started with Bertha Jorkins, a ministry employee that Peter had brought along with him while looking for the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord had been surprised after he found that someone had put a powerful Memory Charm on her upon torturing her. After breaking the charm, he learned from her that this year the Triwizard Tournament would be held at Hogwarts and that Alastor Moody, an ex-Auror, would teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. She also knew that Bartemius Crouch Jr, one of his most loyal Death Eaters that apparently had been imprisoned in Azkaban after his fall and was thought to be dead, was alive.
Voldemort, unable to possess her body and mind that was damaged by the spells he cast, killed her. Voldemort also knew that Peter's status would attract too much attention, so he didn't possess his body either. Together, they built a rudimentary body that Voldemort used for travel and performing magic. While in this form, Voldemort was forced to drink a Rudimentary body potion made from unicorn blood and venom from Nagini, whom he had turned his Horcrux using Bertha Jorkins.
After creating himself a body, Peter and Voldemort moved to the Crouch residence. Voldemort needed a loyal follower to help him regain power and easily managed to free Barty Jr. from his father's imprisonment. They put Bartemius Sr. under the Imperius Curse and forced him to keep working at the Ministry as he usually would. The house-elf, Winky, who had been caring for Barty Jr. for a decade, was killed without a single thought as she, sadly, provoked the wrath of the Dark Lord.
They stayed at the Riddle House in Little Hangleton for a while because Voldemort wanted to stay close to Little Hangleton's graveyard. Still, Peter convinced Voldemort to move to the house of the Crouch family, away from the muggle population. Since then, the trio had been living in the Crouch residence while planning their future moves.
”... Bartemius Junior, keep in mind why you are here and who you're talking to because, if you don't, things might just surprise you, and that surprise won't be a pleasant one,” said Wormtail before walking back to his chair and resume what he was doing.
Barty Jr. looked at Peter and recalled a chat he had had with the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord had told him that he had rescued him because of his loyalty. The Dark Lord told him that he didn't trust Wormtail and that Barty's presence filled him with relief in that turbulent time.
Right then, he understood why the Dark Lord didn't trust Peter Pettigrew. The man he saw now and the man he was a decade ago were just too different. Neither he nor the Dark Lord believed that Peter would look for the Dark Lord after escaping Azkaban; that he would run away from everything and leave behind the life that had put him into Azkaban. But unexpectedly, Peter didn't run away and looked for the Dark Lord.
As he stood there looking at Peter, Barty held himself from lashing back.
'It isn't the right time,' thought Barty Jr. 'The Dark Lord will reward me when he returns to power. Then, we will see who matters more. All that matters is the Dark Lord and his return.'
Barty Jr. gave Peter one last look and then turned towards the door. It was time to see his Lord, who had called him to discuss some things. Unlike Peter, Barty Jr. was a true and faithful follower and would never betray his Lord. He didn't notice the look that Peter gave him when he turned, missing his cold, calculative gaze.
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- (Scene Break) -
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Quinn laid on the bed. He was reading a book that hovered in his head while occasionally turning pages without actually touching the book. His fake wand lazily laid in his hand and his eyes moved left-to-right on the lines as he moved down the pages.
He removed his eyes from the book. He had heard the noise of a discordant crunch and continuous things snapping together, which created a popcorn of satisfying clicks in his ears. The repeated sound rang in Quinn's ears. It was like white noise, but was so satisfying that Quinn had to look at the source of the noise.
Quinn watched as a dainty hand picked up tan-colored plastic bricks while adding them to a grand, yet incomplete structure with a satisfying snap. One by one, the plastic blocks, which looked like bricks, started to be added to the structure. And with each addition, the structure moved towards what looked like a castle. The conical tops were grey, whereas the rest of the building was tan in color.
”Luna, there are two protrusions rather than three in the big tower,” said Quinn as he saw his blonde junior add a mini castle head to the side of two other castle heads that extended from a much larger castle tower.
Luna Lovegood looked at him with her dreamy eyes and blinked a couple of times before nodding and silently removing the third mini castle head, leaving the other two alone. She looked at the work-in-progress, which was a representation of Hogwarts made from what Quinn had gifted her, Legos.
At first, she didn't understand the aim of those Lego bricks, but after Quinn sat her down and made a small cabin surrounded by woods from a load of bricks together, she understood the potential of the gift Quinn had given to her. From that day onwards, Luna got obsessed with Legos and started to build so many things from her imagination; from buildings to magical creatures to… well, anything Luna could imagine. Just as Quinn had promised her when he gifted her the boxes full of colorful bricks, tiles, plates, studs, and tubes type Legos.
”Are you going to help me?” asked Luna while continuing to add Legos to the incomplete Hogwarts castle, which was only in an initial stage- as Luna planned to recreate the landscape around the castle.
”Yeah,” spoke Quinn, took out a thin A-4 size notebook, and handed it to Luna.
”What's this?” inquired Luna and opened the notebook to see detailed sketches of every part of the Hogwarts exterior sketched onto the numerous pages. Some were up close; others were from far away, from a bird-eyes view, or from the ground. As Luna flipped the pages, she saw every conceivable angle of Hogwarts she could think of.
”You can reference those for your build,” muttered Quinn and continued to read his book. He had a mental structure of Hogwarts inside his head; he was sure that he knew Hogwarts better than anyone else. So after Luna sent him a MagiFax about her upcoming build, Quinn drew up an entire notebook worth of Hogwart shorts.
”So you aren't going to help me?” asked Luna once again, setting the notebook aside. Quinn raised his fake wand prompting Luna to immediately interject, ”Without magic.”
Quinn snatched the book out of the air and snapped it close. The book went back into his expandable pockets, and he slipped down from the bed to the blue rug that was spread on the floor of Luna's room in the Lovegood house.
”What do you want me to take care of?” asked Quinn.
”The viaduct bridge, please,” answered Luna.
”Alright. One bridge coming up,” nodded Quinn, and his hands went into the box of legos.
As the two Ravenclaws built Hogwarts, Quinn occasionally looked around the room while recalling how Luna's room had been described in the books. He remembered that in The Deathly Hallows, Harry had described Luna's room and had come across his and the other Ministry Five's faces painted on the ceiling with the word ”friends” written in golden ink, creating a circle around each of them and connecting them together. Currently, the top was bare with no faces or any other mural painted on it.
In the books, Harry described Luna as having pictures of hers and her mother in the frame, and this was true, as he saw Luna and Pandora Lovegood in photos together. But what made Quinn smile was the fact that there were more photos in Luna's room other than her mother's.
He saw familiar photos: photos of him, Luna, Eddie, and Marcus, together at Hogwarts. He and Luna together at the A.I.D. office. Luna playing catch with Eddie while flying on a broom. Marcus and Luna playing chess in the Ravenclaw common room. A few photos from Luna's second year at Hogwarts, the year she became a part of Quinn's friend circle.
'Have to make sure that she makes more memories,' thought Quinn and went back to putting blocks into the structure.
”Quinn, is Hogwarts a girl or a boy?” asked Luna.
”Hogwarts is a lady, Luna,” answered Quinn.
”How do you know?”
”Don't know, I just think Hogwarts is a lady... Lady Hogwarts just sounds right.”
”Lady Hogwarts... Lord Hogwarts... hmm, you're right, Lady Hogwarts sounds better,” nodded Luna. ”So we live inside a girl?”
”...”
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Ivy Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ginny Weasley walked on a stamped-out path between the grass. They were surrounded by trees and flowers that grew in patches; there wasn't a single sign of urbanization in sight.
”How much more do we have to walk?” asked Ivy as they moved across the small, quaint village known as Ottery St. Catchpole in Devon, England.
The village had both muggle and magical communities, the latter being quietly established after the Statute of Secrecy in the 17th century. Four wizarding families were known to live around Ottery St. Catchpole: the Weasleys, the Fawcetts, the Diggorys, and the Lovegoods.
”It's a fifteen-minute walk, so maybe five minutes more,” answered Ginny. She paused to pick up a wild lavender flower. She added it to a bouquet of flowers she had collected during their walk.
The three were walking towards the Lovegood house on the other side of Ottery St. Catchpole. The three girls had escaped the Burrow, home to the Weasley family when the Quidditch talk about the upcoming tournament had become too much for Ivy and Hermione.
And as much as Ginny enjoyed Quidditch, she, too, wanted to get out so she tagged along with Ivy and Hermione. After they got out of the house, they thought about what to do and somehow came to the conclusion that they should go see Luna Lovegood, who lived on the opposite side of the village.
”How is Luna Lovegood?,” asked Hermione. ”I mean, I know a little about her; she is a little weird, but how is she exactly?” The intelligent witch had once called the Quibbler ”rubbish” without knowing that Luna's father was the editor. Luna had heard it and had called her mean. It was safe to say that the two didn't get along well.
”Even though we both live here, I don't know Luna that well. We played a couple of times when we were little, but then, Luna's mum died and she stopped coming over,” answered Ginny. The last time she had played with her was when she had been nine. ”Luna is... peculiar to say the least. But if you ignore her eccentric behaviour, Luna is nice... it's just that she has different interests.”