Renouncing Magic's Child

They left the castle at noon ... pumpkin juice from the lunch table.

Sirius grinned nervously. He tried to put off his fear of just how fucked up his older self probably was.

They went into Gladrags Wizardwear to buy a present for Dobby,

Lucius smiled softly. He was definitely going to talk to the prince about gifting him Dobby, so long as that was what Dobby wanted.

where they had fun ... looking very familiar...

Sirius smirked. He was definitely proud of his animagus form.

"Hello, Sirius," ... cutting into his shoulders.

Everyone wondered where they were going.

Then, at last, Sirius ... dimly lit cave.

Severus frowned. He didn't like the idea of Sirius hiding out in a cave, most likely starving. Definitely mentally unwell. 

Tethered at the end of it ... his godfather.

Everyone frowned, realising just how difficult it must have been for Sirius to be on the run from the DMLE.

Sirius was wearing ragged ... He looked very thin.

Young Harry didn't like the sound of that. His dad shouldn't... It wasn't fair. He wanted his dad to be safe and out of danger. Not living in a cave, wearing dirty, old clothes and going without food. It wasn't right.

"Chicken!" ... chicken legs and bread.

"I have a good nose," Sirius murmured, trying to ease some of the tension. It probably wouldn't work. The tension had been simmering since the previous chapter and he was pretty sure things would be explosive when this chapter finally ended and they stopped reading for the morning. He was almost positive that this morning's lesson would be postponed so they could deal with everything they had read this morning.

"Thanks," ... "I've been living off rats mostly.

Several girls went green at the idea of living off rats. Peter blinked rapidly, curling in on himself and Sirius gave him a malicious glare, one that more than promised to make a meal out of him.

Can't steal too much food ... pretending to be a lovable stray."

Severus huffed. "Lovable my arse."

Sirius gave the other man his best puppy dog look but Severus merely rolled his eyes.

He was still grinning, ... things are getting fishier.

"Not wrong about that," Moody growled.

I've been stealing the paper ... What if you're seen?"

Sirius wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulder. "Let me doing the worrying for both of us."

Harry frowned. He couldn't exactly help worrying about his dad.

"You three and Dumbledore ... Now Personally Involved.

The ministry employees paid particular attention to that. Things seemed to be moving so slowly. Why hadn't Bertha's disappearance been handled by the DMLE? Why was the minister now involved? And what the hell was wrong with Crouch?

Harry scanned the story ... house appears deserted...

"It's all highly suspicious," Amelia muttered to herself, glancing towards Crouch Junior.

St. Mungo's Hospital ... he managed to get up here."

"Because he didn't," Moody grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"My brothers Crouch's ... the goblet..."

Everyone was looking between Moody and Crouch Junior, wondering what the hell was going on.

"Getting his comeuppance ... she's not there to look after him."

No one said anything. They'd more than covered this topic and the tension in the chamber was far too high among the adults for a productive conversation to be had.

"Hermione's obsessed with house-elfs," ... Crouch a seat, right?"

The aurors sat forward. That was a significant point. Why hadn't Crouch made an appearance in the top box? Moody frowned, his eyes darting back to Crouch Junior. "Unless she wasn't saving him a seat at all."

"Right," ... you'd left the Top Box?"

Tonks frowned at that. She hadn't considered that the elf had access to the Prince's wand in the top box. Except that didn't make sense. It wasn't the elf that cast the dark mark into the sky. That had definitely been a man. Unless... What if the elf wasn't alone in the top box? An invisibility cloak? Disillusionment charm? It would explain the weird way she had been walking in the wood.

"Erm..." ... stole my wand in the Top Box?"

"It's certainly possible," Amelia murmured thoughtfully. There were so many puzzle parts, it was almost impossible to piece them together. And yet... It seemed to all be coming together in a very worrying way.

"It's possible," ... steal that wand!" Hermione insisted.

"No one said she did," Blaise complained irritably. He was finding all the talk of House Elves incredibly tedious.

"The elf wasn't the only one ... the Malfoys... "

Narcissa grimaced. She could easily imagine that her family was about to become suspect number one.

"The Malfoys!" ... "I bet it was Lucius Malfoy!"

"For once, I had nothing to do with this," Lucius said.

"Anyone else?" ... Ludo Bagman," Hermione reminded him.

"People often forget about Ludo," Moody growled. "No one ever suspects him of anything."

"Oh yeah..." ... Triwizard Tournament."

"And that would be suspicious if we didn't know the man has a gambling problem," Amelia said.

"Does he, now?" ... a liking to me," said Harry.

"And if that isn't creepy I don't know what is," George said.

"Hmm," ... "Remember?" she said to Harry and Ron.

Everyone leaned forward at that. Was Bagman involved?

"Yeah, but he didn't stay ... where he Disapparated to?"

Moody nodded. "Good. Don't just believe what people say."

"Come off it," ... she's obsessed with house -"

Hermione glared at Ron for a moment. "You don't understand. You have no idea what its like coming into a completely new world, where everything you used to think you knew, no longer makes sense. It's..."

"It's disorientating," Harry said.

Hermione nodded, as always she could trust Harry to understand.

But Sirius held up a hand ... wasn't anyone else there."

Moody nodded. So Crouch Junior was there in the woods. He cast the dark mark using Potter's wand.

"Of course," ... let herself get trampled -"

Terence Higgs rolled his eyes. Sure, it sucked that the elf's oath had been dissolved. But it was hardly the most important thing in this discussion.

"Hermione, will you give it a rest ... not his equals."

There were murmurs of agreement all around the chamber.

He ran a hand ... I'll eat Buckbeak."

Barty Crouch Junior snorted. The man wasn't wrong.

"D'you know Crouch, then?" ... without a trial."

"And he'll get a trial of his own for that," Amelia said shortly. "You have my word."

Sirius nodded. He didn't quite believe it but he wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Amelia looked back at Crouch Junior. Just how had he escaped Azkaban? And why did she have a horrible feeling that he'd been living imprisoned by his own father? His father would certainly have the means to break him out of the prison, although she could hardly believe that Crouch would do such a thing. He was such a stickler for the rules. Except apparently he took no issue with sending an innocent man to Azkaban without a trial... so maybe it wasn't as outlandish as it seemed.

"What?" ... Law Enforcement, didn't you know?"

"There's a lot of things I don't know," Harry muttered. "No one ever tells me anything."

Harry, Ron, ... and power-hungry.

No one disagreed with him. There were nods of agreement around the chamber.

Oh never a Voldemort supporter," ... "Try us, why don't you?"

"Everyone says I'm too young," Harry complained, "but then my life constantly gets turned upside down and they expect me to know what to do. But how can I? When I don't know what the hell is going on."

A grin flashed ... "Imagine that Voldemort's powerful now.

Those from the new timeline shuddered at the idea.

You don't know who his supporters are ... that's how it used to be.

Both Mrs Weasleys were crying, curled into their husband's sides. Everyone who had lived through the first war had very serious looks on their faces.

"Muggles weren't the only ones dying," Arthur said, his voice breaking. "We all lost someone."

"It was worse than can be put into words," Amelia said softly. "The taboo put everyone in danger and no one knew what drew the death eaters to those who said it. Not at first, at least. Eventually people started working it out. But we lost a lot of people to the taboo. Good people."

"Everyone was suspicious," Blaise's mum said. "They were suspicious of their own family but mostly they were suspicious of people like me, people with dark cores."

"There was a lot of in-fighting," Lucius said. "The Dark Lord seemed pleased with that. He reveled in turning everyone against one another."

Tom frowned. He couldn't deny the truth of those words. In his insanity, creating that level of chaos had been... intoxicating. It had made him feel powerful. Something he'd craved since feeling so utterly powerless as a child. 

"Well, times like that bring out the best ... I wouldn't know.

Moody nodded his agreement. He wasn't sure if the war had brought out the best in him. That was a difficult question to ask oneself. He certainly did things he wasn't proud of. At times, he'd wondered if he wasn't just as bad as the people he was fighting. He fought fire with fire and that was something he had long ago accepted that he would have to live with. But Crouch... "He was ruthless and power hungry. I'm not sure when it started. Or if he was always like that." He shrugged. They were of an age, old Hogwarts classmates, but he didn't know if he knew Crouch well enough to provide anything close to a character reference.

He rose quickly ... Voldemort's supporters.

"It helped that it was what people wanted," Amelia said with a sigh. "They wanted to know the ministry was doing something. Everyone was scared."

The Aurors were given ... capture, for instance.

"It made sense," Moody growled. "Wrong or right, it saved my aurors. Before those powers went into place, I was losing them quicker than they could be recruited."

And I wasn't the only one ... dementors without trial.

Amelia looked horrified at that. She was the head of the DMLE but she was unaware of that.

"They talk about it," Sirius murmured. "Or they did to begin with, before they lost themselves to the dementors. Only the most high profile cases got trials and even those... Well, they weren't exactly handled well. No legal defense provisions, for example. Mass trials..."

Amelia nodded. She knew about that. It had been a judicial nightmare. And it had set a horrible precedent.

Crouch fought violence ... Unforgivable Curses against suspects.

Moody flinched. "We used them too. We weren't going to refuse to use a weapon that could save our lives. Or the lives of those we were trying to protect."

Harry nodded. He could understand that. "I get it. I've done plenty I'm not proud of in this war."

"We didn't have a choice, Harry," Ron said.

"You always have a choice," Harry countered. "I made a choice. A terrible choice. But it was still a choice. And my choice cost the goblins..."

"You weren't responsible for what Voldemort did," Hermione growled.

Harry couldn't look at her. He shook his head. "I put a death sentence on the entire gringotts clan. Sure, I didn't mean to but actions have consequences. And what I did, brought the end to the war but at what cost?"

No one said anything. They didn't know what to say. How to ease the burdens the young man carried.

"I used the imperius curse on a goblin twice," Harry said in a voice cold with self-hatred. "I broke into their bank to steal a horcrux. I couldn't end the war without it and I couldn't exactly just walk into Gringotts and ask for the goblins' help. But..."

The door to the creature side of Mother Magic's domain opened and the Goblin King walked into the room, his sword at his side. "You did what you had to. You fought valiantly and you brought an end to the war. You did not end my clan."

Harry shook his head. "There's only one of all of you..."

"Because we would have stayed," the Goblin King sneered, although his voice lacked mallace. "We would have defended our land even if it meant losing our lives. But our clan... I promise you we have thousands of contingency plans for protecting our own in the event of war. We are a warrior race. Even in your time, I promise you, the Goblin Nation has not been defeated. We would have evacuated the majority of our people before the war was even announced. Only my fiercest warriors would have remained and believe me, they would be more than willing to sacrifice their lives for an end to the war. Do not belittle their sacrifice by trying to take responsibility for it. It was their choice to remain and defend the Goblin Nation."

The Goblin King waved his hand a chair appeared. He sat himself down in it and settled in to listen to the rest of the chapter. He wouldn't allow the young Prince to place the blame on himself. He was not responsible for the war. The other wixen let him down, not the other way around.

I would say he became as ruthless ... take over as Minister of Magic.

There was a murmur of agreement. They'd thought he was a sure thing at the end of the war.

When Voldemort disappeared ... managed to talk their way out of Azkaban.

"Still not sure how Bellatrix managed that," Lucius commented. "That woman was deranged even then."

Apparently they were trying ... gotten to know his own son."

Crouch Junior stiffened in his chair. He didn't like hearing people talk about that night. He didn't like what he or the Lestranges had done. But he could still remember how scared he was to hear that his lord had gone. He'd never known fear like it.

He began to wolf down ... just like the house-elf."

Augusta huffed. She didn't believe that for one second.

"I wasn't," Crouch said tentatively. "I wasn't in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was a death eater. I just... Well, I didn't know what Bellatrix planned to do. I don't know that any of us did. I just wanted answers. I didn't really care how I got them... But I... I didn't mean it to..." He wasn't sure what he wanted to say.

"You didn't mean to torture my son and daughter-in-law?" Augusta scoffed.

"I didn't torture them," Crouch said. "Not with my own wand, at least. Rabastan and I, we were standing guard. We didn't... But we didn't stop it from happening either so I guess, we were just as guilty."

He wanted to defend himself. Tell them he was practically still a child, fresh out of Hogwarts. That he didn't know what he'd involved himself in. But he couldn't... All he knew was that the Dark Lord had promised him a way to escape his father and he'd jumped at it. To see that chance of escape disappear, well, it had left him unhinged. "I just wanted to escape. I didn't want to hurt anyone... I just wanted out of that..." His voice trailed off and a distant look came over his face.

Augusta looked ready to rage at him but that broken look on his face shook her slightly. She hated it. She didn't want to feel compassion for one of the ones responsible for her son's condition. She hated Crouch and everything he stood for but in that moment all she could see was a lost little boy and it bothered her more than she wanted it to.

"Did Crouch try ... measure of him, Hermione!

That got a bark of laughter from Crouch. "My father wouldn't do that. He'd sooner kill me himself than see me damage his career."

Anything that threatened ... sent him straight to Azkaban."

Crouch flinched at the words. They hurt more than he wanted the people in the chamber to know. He'd always tried his best to make his father proud. But nothing was ever good enough. So, he'd found himself someone else to look up to. And sure, the Dark Lord wasn't really the best father figure. But he'd promised him freedom. A life away from his father's tyranny. And he'd jumped at it.

"He gave his own son ... his mother by nightfall.

Augusta looked at Neville. Crouch hadn't been much older than her grandson when he'd been imprisoned. But she didn't want to think about that. She wanted to go on hating the man in peace.

He went quiet ... shrieked in their sleep...."

Everyone shuddered. They didn't want to think about what life as an Azkaban inmate was like.

For a moment, ... closed behind them.

Severus wrapped an arm around Sirius. He hoped he wouldn't have to see that look in his eyes. He would make sure he got all the help he needed to deal with those particular demons.

"So he's still in Azkaban?" ... "He died?"

"Apparently not," Augusta said.

"It was my mum's dying wish," Barty said. "She took my place."

That surprised most of those present.

"I wish she hadn't," he muttered to himself, although everyone heard him.

"He wasn't the only one," ... they got excited.

No one spoke. They barely breathed.

The quiet was eventually broken by Ragnok. "That prison is criminal. And that's by goblin standards."

Harry frowned. "What do you do with criminals?"

"We put them to work in the mines. It's hard labour but they're fed and watered. They get health care. And in time, they're rehabilitated. Of course, for the worst crimes we execute. We will not allow our clan to be dishonoured."

That boy looked pretty sickly ... I watched them do it."

Barty had tears rolling down his face now and Augusta couldn't look at him. She hated that she pitied him.

Sirius threw aside the bread ... a big drop in popularity.

"Nothing he didn't deserve," Moody huffed. He could still remember what sort of child Junior had been. He got up and made his way across the chamber. He settled down on the arm of Crouch's seat and pulled the young man into his side. "It was his own damn fault for not being a decent father when he had the chance."

If anyone was surprised by his actions, they didn't comment on it.

Once the boy had died ... gone so badly astray.

"Good question," Moody growled. "Twelve OWLs, outstandings in all his NEWTs. Prefect and Head Boy. Barty was the perfect son. Old Crouch bragged enough about his son but didn't once say he cared about him. Didn't talk about the time they spent together like most fathers do. The way Arthur is always going on about how he taught his boys to fly or Amos goes on and on about his and Cedric's fishing trips. No. Crouch never had stories like that. He just bragged about the boy's achievements like they were his own."

"He did?" Barty asked, looking surprised.

It concerned the old auror how much the young man looked like a small child eager for his father's praise. Had his father never told him he was proud of him?

"Frequently," was Moody's gruff reply.

The conclusion ... Magical Cooperation."

Augusta sighed. It seemed this entire war was a result of children growing up in abusive households. "I'm sensing a theme..." she muttered to herself.

"A theme?" Amelia asked.

"It would seem there's a lot more child abuse and neglect in our world than we'd care to admit," she explained.

Amelia nodded. It certainly seemed that way.

There was a long silence ... fall from grace at the Ministry.

"Most likely," Augusta said harshly. "Selfish, egotistical man. I wasn't happy with the trial. I wanted answers. And all I got was the ravings of a mad woman."

"Moody says Crouch ... catching one more Death Eater."

They all frowned. They didn't like what they were hearing about Crouch Senior. And Amelia was already adding him to the list of things she would need to deal with when they returned. But first, she needed to work out just what he'd done with his son.

"And he sneaked up here ... Sirius shook his head.

"Sirius is right. It doesn't make sense at all," Shacklebolt said. "Why stay home when he had the perfect excuse to be in the castle, if he wanted to search Snape's office? No. He was after something else. Potions ingredients... But it's much more likely that it wasn't Crouch Senior that Harry saw on the map."

"Listen, if Crouch wants ... Hermione broke in.

The Slytherins all groaned. Why did everyone always immediately blame the Slytherins?

"Look, I don't care what you say ... Dark wizard couldn't fool him -"

Minerva huffed. She would have defended Severus once upon a time. But now she wasn't so sure. Except Potter seemed to have forgiven him and wasn't that strange in and of itself. The man was responsible for his parents' deaths.

"Why did Snape save Harry's life ... kick him out-"

The lions all rolled their eyes, seeing another of the pairs fights coming.

"What d'you think, Sirius?" ... greasy-haired kid, he was," Sirius added,

"Don't hold back, love," Severus murmured, causing the other man to blush.

"Sorry," he muttered.

and Harry and Ron grinned ... half the kids in seventh year,

"Now that's definitely not true," Severus said with a bark of laughter.

and he was part of a gang ... they're in Azkaban.

Neville tensed at the mention of the Lestranges.

Avery ... not that that means much.

"I was definitely accused," Severus said mildly. "Dumbledore defended me."

Plenty of them were never caught ... keep that quiet," said Ron.

"Being friendly with Karkaroff wouldn't endear me to either side," Severus said.

"Yeah, you should've seen Snape's ... I couldn't see what it was."

"The dark mark," Severus explained for the children's benefit. With a sigh, he rolled up his arm. "Voldemort branded us all like cattle."

He showed Snape something ... "Well, I've no idea what that's about...

"I'm not surprise," Moody growled. "We didn't learn about the marks until we started arresting people at the end of the war."

but if Karkaroff's ... he'd ever worked for Voldemort."

That got derisive laughter from almost everyone in the chamber, including Snape himself.

"Why are Moody and Crouch ... he never killed if he could help it.

Moody nodded. He'd certainly tried. Failed more than he'd liked mind you.

Always brought people in alive ... judging the tournament?"

The aurors were muttering between themselves. How did they know Crouch Senior was even still alive?

Sirius lapsed into silence ... Percy loves Crouch."

Percy groaned. He'd really been an idiot that year. In his defense, he hadn't known any of that about Crouch.

"And you might try ... quite the reverse.

The Hogwarts professors all nodded their agreement.

She was a bit dim, ... liability at the Ministry of Magic...

Pomona nodded. That was certainly a fair assessment of the girl.

maybe that's why Bagman ... someone to attack you."

"It would be if that's what they planned to do," Harry muttered to himself. He really resented that he'd spent that entire year fearing an attack, only for it to turn out that the death eater at Hogwarts was intentionally keeping him alive.

"No one's tried to attack me ... Sirius scowled at him.

"You need to remember just how precious your life is," Sirius said crossly.

"I don't care... call me Snuffles, okay?"

That got some laughter from the youngest in the chamber. It was nice to hear them laugh. These books were so morbid.

He handed Harry ... admire Crouch even more.

"I didn't," Percy said, glaring at his brother. "For what its worth."

Yeah, Percy loves rules ... dementors," said Hermione severely.

Percy's brothers looked unconvinced. But they didn't say anything. They weren't sure how much of Percy's behaviour was a result of the love potion. Percy himself looked uncertain. He'd like to think he wouldn't... But honestly, if his family had done what Crouch and the Lestranges had done... Yeah, he might have then.

"I don't know," ... Percy's really ambitious, you know... "

George glared at Ron. "Percy isn't just ambitious. He's a lot of other things too. If he sent us to Azkaban, it would be because we deserved it."

They walked up the stone steps ... Imagine having to live off rats."

"They're not the tastiest, that's for sure," Sirius said.