Loyalties | Barty Crouch Jr

Easter Break - Pt. 2

March 26, 1978 - Sunday

The night before, Barty had sent Leonora an owl asking her to arrive at his Manor sometime before seven that morning. She wasn't sure why he had wanted her to arrive so early, but she currently stood in front of the large fireplace in the sitting room, a fist full of floo powder.

She had already said her goodbyes to Illyria's parents the night before, telling them the same lie she had told Narcissa; That she would be spending the second week of break at Thalia's. Just like Leonora had assumed would happen at some point, Mrs. Malfoy had asked why she hadn't spent both weeks there to begin with, prompting the girl to tell another lie. She wanted some time away from everyone to relax. The older witch only gave a satisfied hum to her answer.

Stepping into the fireplace, beside her trunk that she had already shoved in, Leonora took a deep breath before turning around and glancing towards the grandfather clock that sat in the corner of the room. It was ten minutes 'till seven. Squeezing her eyes shut and exhaling, she threw the powder down towards her feet, yelling out "Crouch Manor" as clearly as possible. The familiar green flames engulfed her body, and before she knew it, she was standing in the sitting room of an unfamiliar home.

She had never been to Barty's Manor before, but seeing the sleeping boy on the couch in front of her, she knew she was in the right place. Brushing the soot off of her clothes, she quietly stepped out of the fireplace, leaving her trunk behind. She figured his house-elf would take care of it.

Barty's Manor wasn't like her friends Manors. It honestly reminded her of Potter Manor, which really pulled at her heartstrings. His parents were both purebloods, like her own, but neither had been in Slytherin, neither cared about blood purity, and neither were supporters of the Dark Lord. She figured that that was why his Manor wasn't so depressing.

She noticed many moving pictures lining the walls, though only one had their entire family in it. It was the only one in which none of them looked happy. The rest were all of Barty and his mother, both smiling widely, in some they were even laughing hysterically together. It made Leonora smile seeing the boy so happy.

She slowly approached the boy, listening as light snores escaped his lips. She didn't want to wake the peaceful boy, but she also didn't want to be alone while he was sleeping and risk either of his parents coming in. She had never met his parents, though she assumed that only his mother was home at the moment. She didn't want it to be awkward.

Smirking to herself, she tiptoed around to the back of the couch and stood directly behind where the boy sat. Reaching her hands out, she grabbed onto his shoulders and started to roughly shake him awake, yelling out "boo!" in the process.

The boy immediately jumped up with a loud gasp, startled. He whipped around to see who had abruptly woken him, as if he had forgotten that she was arriving that morning. She had a hard time containing her laugh as she stared at his shocked face.

"Merlin, Nora. Why do you scare me like that!" He shrieked, before breaking down into a laugh.

"Payback for New Years," she stated simply, a wide grin on her face. 

"Well, we're even now, then."

Leonora shrugged her shoulders and gave the boy a small hum, as if to say, "we'll see." "How has your break been so far?" She asked him, though she figured that it was probably rather boring.

"Terribly boring," he groaned, moving around the couch to stand directly beside the girl. "I've been stuck inside all week because of the rain, except for Wednesday when my mum dragged me out to Diagon Alley with her to do some shopping. But," a large smile began to creep its way onto his face, "now that you're here, hopefully it won't be as boring."