Chapter 1
On the 16th of February, a woman in London gave birth to her first and only son. She named him Bartemius, after his father, who wasn’t around while the boy was born. The birth was two weeks earlier and nobody had expected it, so he was still on a diplomatic mission in France.
It may never have been his intention to miss his only son’s birth, but it’s a strangely poetic metaphor for the rest of Bartys life.
A few months earlier, on the 5th of December to be exact, another boy was born miles away somewhere in the English countryside. But he wasn’t born in a hospital like Barty, but in his family’s house. The big kind of house, which has been the families property for longer that anyone would know.
Another difference to Barty‘s birth was that he wasn’t the only child his mother had that night. She had twins. A boy and a girl. Their names were Evan and Pandora Rosier.
At this point nobody knew how tight the lives of the boys would be intertwined. They didn’t even know about each other.
But that’s the thing with the special people in your life, right? You never know, who they’re going to be, where you’ll find them and what they’re going to mean to you.
The worlds they grew up in, could’ve hardly been more different.
Barty spent his childhood in London. He grew up in the city, surrounded by life, noise and action.
His father was really busy with his career and rarely around. But Barty didn’t really mind that. He preferred his mother anyway.
She wasn’t as strict and boring as his father. Instead of that she loved him with her whole heart, cared about him and always allowed the fun things.
Barty quickly learned that he had to act differently when his father was home. At this time he had to a be a perfect son, who always does what his father wants. A son who is smart, polite and calm.
But as soon as Bartemius Crouch Sr. left, he could be how he really was.
This way two kinds of Barty grew up in him. The example of the perfect son and the chaotic, real boy with unlimited energy. Something he would carry with him for the rest of his life.
Evan, on the other hand, didn’t have a mother who would let him do whatever he wants. He and Pandora grew up under the supervision of their strict parents. But it wasn’t a particularly bad childhood. They had each other.
The atmosphere of the area, where they lived, was the polar opposite to the city. It was quiet here. Exciting things rarely happened and therefore the twins spent most of their time studying or playing in their huge garden.
They didn’t go to a muggle school because their parents considered homeschooling a better idea. The only other children they knew were more or less distant cousins at family gatherings.
Still nobody would have guessed the significance they would have to eachothers life. The Rosiers knew that the Crouch’s had a son. Bartemius Crouch Sr. was a famous politician. His son’s birth was all other the news. But for Evan’s parents he wasn’t more than just a headline.
Oh, if they knew…