5 times Barty lost a bit of sanity and the one time he went insane

3. james

Barty liked going out of his house. It meant more peace and more freedom than being trapped in a Victorian house with his abusing father.

Sometimes he would just wander around exploring the neighboring hills. He would hike up onto the nearest one enjoying the view and feeling accomplished when he reached the top. From up there you could see the village but also the bigger town some miles away. You could see the lonely houses scattered around the country, some fancy and big like the Crouch manor and some country houses with bigger estates around them for farming. Sometimes he would meet the grazing sheep or cows and rarely even other hikers.

Sometimes he would go into the village and meet the other kids living there. There was a group of friends who would let him to play with him but he never really called them anything closer than acquaintances.

There was a chubby pale blonde boy called Peter who would always want to play hide and seek that Barty honestly kind of despised. But he never said no, not because he was afraid but rather because they were the only people younger than 30 in a few miles' radius.

There was a fairly tall and skinny girl with her hair cut short, called Marlene. She would kill with looks and basically murder anyone saying anything sexist towards her. She always hung out with boys so she never really consider herself a girl.

And then there was a dark skinned curly haired boy called James. James was brave. James was good looking even at such a young age. James was funny. James was creative, always thinking of the best games to play and the best places to explore. Barty always idolized James even though he was completely different than him and would never actually do anything to be more like him. And while Marlene and Peter never got really comfortable around Barty, James accepted him as a brother he never had. He would be the only one of the three to actually go seek for Barty, even ring his doorbell hoping to invite him to hang out (he was usually met with a drunk and angry Crouch senior).

Barty liked having someone who knows you. Not that he would spill all his secrets, no, rather the opposite. He would mostly be quiet letting the other three lead the play date. And he never trusted the kids. He learned to never get too close to anyone because they will either die or become an enemy. But Barty still had hope. Some hope of keeping them as friends even though he would never admit it to himself.

So as he turned 11 years old and his Hogwarts letter the first thing he did was go to the village to meet the kids. They were all a year older than him so they've already spent a year at the school. He knocked at the Pettigrew house first and an kind looking lady opened the door.

"Hello, Barty is it?" she said.
"Yes" he mumbled.
"Peter's told me about you. D'you want tea?"
"No, is Peter here?"
"Oh I'm sorry dear, no he's not. He's out with his friends somewhere." she felt sorry for the young boy standing outside her door.
He just walked away, going to the next house.

He knocked on the door of a small house on the side of the village by the stream.
"Hello, do I know you?" a man opened.
"'m Barty. Marlene knows me. Is she here?" he kept looking at his feet not wanting to share eye contact.
"Oh I'm sorry kid but no she's spending summer at a friend's house in the south."
"M'kay bye."

He took a deep breath before knocking at the Potter's house. If he was to meet James he could come off as a child showing that he got the same letter James got a year ago.
"Uhm hello. Who are you?" an old looking lady in a nice dress opened.
"James' ... friend or whatever you'd call me. Is he here?" he said quickly.
"No I'm sorry, he's out with friends."

He thought for a few second, who did they mean as friends, James and Peter wouldn't hang out without Marlene. He brushed the thought off for sometime. He looked around thinking of a way to find them. After thinking for half a minute he decided to just go into the forest where they usually were. He walked for sometime ignoring everything around him which was unusual for him. He was a person who'd stop and look at the sky or listen to birds singing but that day he just walked.

Soon enough he heard voices. As expected he heard James' voice. But he wasn't alone, there was Peter of course but there were two other boys as well. Barty just watched for a few moments before walking out of the bushes he was hiding in and face the boys.

"Uhm hello? Who are you?" one of the 2 boys Barty didn't know saw him first.
"Barty." he simply replied.
"Ohh yeah you're a Crouch aren't you?" the long haired boy chuckled before turning to his friends, "He's like my third cousin twice removed or something like that."
"Hey Barty." Peter finally said something. Barty just looked at him without saying anything.
"Oh Pete you know him?" the same unknown boy said again. Barty realized he wasn't very fond of him.
"Yeah Sirius, me and Peter know this kid. He's from our village. Everyone knows eachother." James told the boy.
"Oh okay, well then what do you want Crouch?"
"Nothing. I realize I'm not wanted. Goodbye." he started walking in the direction he came from. Before he left he heard Sirius say: "He speaks like my brother, in poetry."

Barty didn't turn around, not once. He didn't think about going to Hogwarts anymore. He wasn't even excited about it that much. He realized people can change for other people so quickly. He realized that day that real friends don't forget you the second someone more fun than you comes into their life. He realized he's going to start picking who he trusts more carefully.