The Winning Bet
I had checked the map and saw that Barty had gone down to the lake alone. I made up some excuse and said goodbye to Peter and Marlene. It was a rare chance that Barty was found alone and if I was going to show Reg he wouldn’t settle I had to take the opportunity whenever I saw it.
I picked up some nice flat stones on the way down to the lake as a distraction if Barty started asking how I’d stumbled upon him in such a big castle. As I approached the lake I spotted him immediately, he was sitting on the ground looking out over the water and seemed very relaxed. I strolled up beside him pretending not to notice as I sent the first rock flying toward the water “One, two, three, four” I muttered counting the skips.
“Not bad Potter, may I?” I turned to face him and smiled. I handed him one of my rocks.
“Why not Crouch, my record’s seven. Care for a friendly competition? If I win, you’ll let me take you on a date.” I used my old record trying to convince him he could win this easily.
“Is that so? And what if I win hmm? What do I get?”
“One day. I’ll do whatever you want, within reason of course, for one whole day.” I smirked. “What do you say, Crouch? Two rocks each, most skips from a single rock wins?”
“Alright Potter I’ll take that bet, seems like a win-win for me though” He winked. I took a steadying breath and tried to hide my smile, I couldn’t miss this chance. “You can go first.” I thought through my strategy, I could continue to downplay my skipping ability and purposefully throw the first round but I’d have to be perfect the second time. I had no more time to think, I purposely threw a bad angle.
“One, two, thr-” The rock sank on the third skip. “That was a rough one, you’re next Crouch.” Barty stepped slightly closer to the water’s edge and gracefully threw a 5-skip rock. “Not bad Barty,” I took a breath and concentrated on the angle of the rock in my hand, as I exhaled I easily threw a 10-skip. “Too bad I lied, my record’s ten.” Barty let out a chuckle as he readied his final rock. He threw his rock as he spoke, a smirk on his face.
“And mine’s twelve, sorry Potter.” I watched and counted and sure enough, Barty had thrown a 12-skip rock as if it were nothing. I tried to hide the shock on my face as I turned to face him.
“I suppose that means you get to make me do whatever you want for a day Crouch, I’m impressed.” I tried to look him in the eye but found it hard to hold his gaze. He really was quite handsome.
“Lovely! So first thing’s first, next Saturday will be the day. I’m sure you won’t mind hearing that the first thing I’m planning is a trip to Hogsmeade, just you and me, You can call it a date if you’d like.” He smirked as I looked away hearing that. As it turned out my loss wasn’t all bad, I still achieved what I’d tried to achieve. I took a steadying breath and turned back to face him.
“So, you get to choose anything and you decide to make the choice that gives me exactly what I want hmm? That seems to me to mean that you want it as well.. You’re interested, aren’t you Crouch?”
“As I said last night Potter, you ain’t too hard on the eyes. You’d look good on my arm. We can see where it leads, unless, of course, you’d rather take away my prize. It's not as if I can force you to meet me in the entrance hall at ten thirty Saturday morning.” With that said he turned toward the castle and disappeared over the hill. I stood in stunned silence my mind repeating the conversation over and over again trying to determine if Crouch had been bluffing.
Barty Crouch had invited me to Hogsmeade, something he typically reserved only for his friends and the occasional Favourite but, it made no sense his favourites were always spotted with him at least a few times before their Hogsmede invites and he certainly didn’t consider me a friend. Had I somehow become a favourite of Crouch’s completely skipping everything leading to my Hogsmede invite?
I slowly made my way back to the castle millions of scenarios running through my head. I don’t know how or why but somehow I had caught the attention of Barty Crouch so wholly that I’d been invited to Hogsmede immediately. That must have either meant he’d been watching me for a while now or I had something that intrigued him.
The rest of the week seemed to rush past at triple speed and each night the knot in my stomach grew tighter, was Barty messing with me? Surely I’d stand in the entrance hall all day only to have Barty and his crew show up to laugh in my face right? This couldn’t be true, it wouldn’t be. Suddenly it was upon me, Saturday morning. After grabbing a bite to eat in the great hall I’d returned to the dorm and put on the outfit I’d stressed over all week, if I was about to be stood up I was gonna look damn good doing it and if I wasn’t, well, I wanted to look my best.
I stood in the mirror for what felt like hours trying to perfectly complete the look. I finally settled, not quite perfect but it’d have to do. I took a deep steadying breath and allowed my nerves to calm slightly as I headed for the entrance hall. I waited for what seemed like hours until my watch hit 10:30, there was still no sign of Bartemius, five minutes passed, then ten. I could feel little tugs of anxiety deep in my chest, I’d been right, I was being stood up. Just as I was about to panic and head back to the tower a familiar voice called out to me.
“Potter!”