Summer 1976
It had been a fairly nice summer so far. He was fourteen and going to be entering into his Fourth Year before long. The day was nice and temperate, he and Mother were enjoying a delicious breakfast that Winky had prepared. The cheese over the eggs seemed melt into his mouth. Mother was also enjoying as she took a sip of her coffee.
“Delicious as always Winky,” she said with a contented smile.
“Hic—“came from the kitchen.
Mother and son blinked as they looked to one another and then back.
“W-was that a hiccup?” she asked.
“Sounded like it to me,” he answered, trying hard to stay more focused on his breakfast in order to keep as straight a face as he could.
Mother sighed and set down her coffee on the saucer. She leaned forward slightly.
“Winky? Are you alright?” she called.
“W-Winky is—hic—is—hic—“
Just then, Winky started staggering into the dining room. She paused a moment trying to get her footing back and swayed a little. She reached up to rub her head and groaned, her ears twitching and flopping about of their own accord.
“Hic—hic—“
Mother blinked again watching as Winky lost almost all control over her limbs. He was desperately trying to keep himself in control as to not burst out laughing. A few moments later, she lost all sense of herself and collapsed on the floor hard.
Mum gasped in shock and went to her immediately, crouching down to examine her. Barty meanwhile blinked in surprised but lost his battle, snorting as quietly as possible and shaking his head, returning to his meal. Apparently this was not lost on Mother.
“Bartemius Crouch Junior!” Mum cried. It wasn’t often that she used his full name but when she did, he knew he was in deep trouble.
“Yes mum?” he said while looking up halfway from his breakfast.
“What in the hell did you do?” she asked, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. Oh great she was swearing too, that didn’t happen much either. Uh oh.
“Mother I didn’t do anything,” he said trying to recover somewhat of a straight face. “Although it’s quite funny watching Winky walk around like she’s blasted.”
“That’s not funny at all! Winky won’t be able to take care of the house because of this! What did you do?” she said.
“Mum I didn’t do anything!” he protested.
“You’re lying,” she said, seeing right through it. She folded her arms over her chest, drumming her fingers expectantly and staring straight at him. “What did you do?”
He drew his lower lip in and looked from side to side. Great that was a dead giveaway wasn’t it? He sighed and lowered his utensils, biting down on that lip.
“Um, I kind of went and poured a shot of Father’s special scotch into her porridge, sprinkled a little sugar to cover the taste and stirred it up,” he said sheepishly and very slowly, not looking up at her and trying to once again keep as straight a face as possible.
Mum blinked. “Son, you know that house-elves can barely handle a touch of butterbeer let alone a shot of alcohol—she may be drunk for a week!” she said.
He kept shifting his eyes from side to side; deciding that remaining quiet was the best course of action.
“You wait until your Father gets home!” she declared.
“Guess that means we’ll be waiting for awhile then won’t we?” he smirked with a touch of typical teenage sarcasm. Well if that didn’t put the final nail in the coffin…
Mother sighed with exasperation and glared at him, shaking her head. She looked down at the now unconscious house-elf and appeared to be deep in thought a moment. For his part, he was afraid to as much as look at her. He had a pretty good idea of what was coming and just waited for the ultimate pronouncement.
“You’re grounded!” she said firmly with no room for argument. “You’re grounded for two weeks and in that time you will do all of her chores that she would normally do until she’s feeling better, in which you will also help in. Do I make myself CLEAR?”
He simply froze in place and tightened up. “Yes Mother,” he answered obediently, giving a slow nod of his head.
She nodded. “This and whatever your Father decides to add on if anything.”
He shuddered even harder, not even want to think about that. All he did was nod once more.
“Good,” Mum said. “Now first thing is is that as soon as you’re done with breakfast, you can start with the dishes and then dust the banisters top to bottom.”
He groaned and nodded. “Yes ma’am.”
Mother picked Winky up and cradled her. “I’m going to put her in her room to rest and when I get back, you better be working!”
He nodded and proceeded to do so, all the while dreading his Father’s arrival and being fairly sure that he would get more. It made him more anxious. He even had to try and make dinner, which wasn’t actually too bad. Father had come home shortly after he had cleared off the table, and while he was in doing dishes, he could hear Mother telling him all about what happened and he shivered unconsciously. As expected, he was none too happy.
“Bartemius Crouch Junior, get in here!” Father bellowed.
There it was, his full name being used again--lovely.
“Coming Father!” he called while taking a towel and drying off his hands. He took as slow as steps as possible and with dread. Once he arrived in the dining room, he kept his head down afraid to look at him.
Father cleared his throat. “Look at me,” he said strongly.
He did so with his hands behind his back and as expected, the look on his face could melt ice in a half a second and his arms were folded over his chest. He started to shake and his heart pounded.
“Son how old are you again?” he asked.
“Fourteen sir.”
“Which means you’re not a little boy anymore right?”
“No sir.”
“And if you’re not a little boy then what are you doing acting like one?!” Father said, his voice raising just a touch.
He tightened up and shivered. Never would he have thought Father would have been putting things in this way. He bit his lip again and shifted his eyes from side to side and was having a hard time coming up with an answer, but he was Father and he had to answer him.
“Um…”
Father and Mother both looked at him expectantly, the former adjusting his arms over his chest. Mother just simply remained still. He felt really really small right then and he sighed.
“Because um well…I—I thought it would be funny,” he said finally but honestly.
“Funny!” Father said stronger. “Funny enough to get yourself grounded and do all her chores?”
He shrunk slightly and became thin-lipped, “I—I wasn’t expecting that to happen to her, that it’d make her that sick.”
“Well it did!” Father said. He turned to Mother and then back to him. “Your Mother filled me on everything, including a certain ‘Guess that means we’ll be waiting for awhile then won’t we?’” He said arching a brow. “And what exactly is that supposed to mean!?”
He groaned inwardly. If he wasn’t in enough hot water as is, he’d tell him exactly what he meant. He looked at Father again and took note of how his features were turning even deadlier—maybe not.
“I’m sorry Father,” was the best way he could respond.
Father nodded. “Oh you’ll be sorry alright! In addition to what you’re mother gave you, you’re getting another week with the same restrictions and for that little comment of yours, you’re grounded from Quidditch for the rest of the summer,” he said, passing the additional sentence.
Yikes! If there was anything he wasn’t expecting, it was that. If he was being grounded from Quidditch, then he knew Father really meant business, for as much as he loved it, it was like being given a life sentence. He shrunk and tightened up even more and simply nodded in acceptance.
“Understand me?” Father asked seriously.
“Yes sir.”
“Good,” Father continued. “Besides you’re heading into your Fourth Year, you can now be using this time doing what you should be—and that’s focusing on starting to prepare for your OWLs. I will never deny you your hobbies and activities but your schooling comes first.”
Now how did he know that he was going to say something like that? He simply nodded. “I understand Father.”
“Very good,” Father said with approval. “Now go finish the dishes and go to bed.”
“Yes sir,” he said before turning to Mother. “Goodnight Mother.”
“Good night Barty,” she answered.
He went back to the kitchen and did as he was told. And with that began perhaps the worst summer of his life.
Barty opened his eyes and could feel a warmth spreading all over his face with embarrassment. He bit on his lip as he finished recalling. Oh hell with the perhaps that was the worst summer. But life went on and he survived it. He never did get Winky drunk again, in fact he felt so horrible for having done that to her that he went out of his way to try and make it right to show his sincerity, including a heartfelt apology. In reality, he really did genuinely care about her, which made his guilt all the worse. He was rather thankful when Winky not only accepted it but kept refusing his offers to make amends. ‘Winky is knowing Master Barty is sorry—nothing more is needed,’ she said. If anything he learned to appreciate all she did around the house and for the family as a whole and as a result since then, he would use her bond to the family to tell her he would be helping her from time to time, to which he knew she couldn’t say ‘no’.
He sighed and smiled thinking of her. He practically grew up with her around and unlike most pureblooded families, he included her when in speaking of the family because well to him and mum that is what she was, much to his father’s consternation as he saw her as nothing more than a servant and treated her as such. While he understood this and how Winky had to obey everything, he sometimes didn’t agree with it but knew that Winky would be offended if he had interfered in anyway. Her family has served theirs for three generations now and has done so with not only the normal obedience but above and beyond and with great love and unwavering devotion; and it is because of this that when it came to family in his opinion that was all that mattered and hence also had to be protected. In fact that was something else he’d use that special bond for--to tell her to always make sure she remembered how much she was loved and appreciated.
‘I wonder what she is going to make for dinner!’ he thought to himself as he glanced out the window. He had no idea how much time had passed but that hardly mattered. He smiled a bit more and licked his lips, getting hungry at the thought of it as Winky was one of (if not the) best cooks on the planet in his opinion.
He couldn’t wait to see her and knew without a doubt that all would be in readiness for when he arrived, it always was. And most likely she had went through his room meticulously at the very least three times if not four already and probably would again before he got home; for her everything had to be perfect for her masters and nothing less would do. And even though he understood the rules of house-elves, he often saw just how much she did do and felt bad that there was really nothing that they could give her as a way to show her how much she was loved and appreciated aside from simply saying it.
“Arriving at King’s Cross in ten minutes. Arriving at King’s Cross in ten minutes. Please make sure to check for all of your belongings before leaving your compartments and please do mind the gap as you exit the train. Thank you for riding the Hogwarts Express and have a pleasant summer!”
Barty blinked out of his thoughts as he heard the announcement and his heart jumped instantly. He put the certificate back into the folder and closed it before reaching down for his travel bag. He worked quickly to get everything in order, going through it several times to make sure all was where it should be, jamming the folder into the already tightly compacted side with much frustration. The zipper fought him tooth and nail as he struggled to zip it all the way close but he finally managed, considering the war won. Bah, he could have sworn he was better organized than that! He flopped back into the booth and once more looked outside, his pounding heart picking up both nervous and excited to be home and he couldn’t help but bite on his lip lightly.
He turned his full attention back outside, a hand resting lazily on the bag. London started coming into view before long and along with it, his entire world and the first day of the rest of his life.
