the crouch family
barty, emily, barty, winky, the grandparents
there was nothing bartemius crouch sr loved more than his job, except maybe for emily crouch. their son, barty, was third on the scale of importance. he was part of the family, that's true, but there was a reason he came after emily and his job: emily was his wife and the mother of his son, and his job was what allowed him to support her and the child. barty would never have been born if it hadn't been for these two. therefore, barty was third.
sometimes emily said, jokingly, that barty was married to his job, and that she only got in the way of their love story. other times though, she said the same thing, but angry. or crying. barty wanted to reassure her, but he could never find the words to tell her you are the most important thing to me.
he knew she was right, his job took up a lot of his time. it made him come home late, it forced him to lock himself in his office. it was a big effort, but necessary. and then, once he had shown everyone his commitment and his value, after having defeated voldemort and become minister, he would have had a lot of time to dedicate to his family. first work, then pleasure.
was that what ruined everything in the end? without realizing it, he had put work first. what would have happened if he had come home on time more often?
what would have changed?
emily crouch loved her son with all her heart... but, sometimes, she felt like she was betraying her husband's trust. he had been there before barty was born, she had loved him before their son. so, emily crouch loved her sweet barty with all her heart, but she loved her husband more.
when they met, they were young and immature. he talked to her about his dreams and goals, and she was enchanted by him. he seemed like a serious young man, with a life plan. someone who would give her certainties. it would have been nice if she could marry a boy like that.
on their wedding day he promised her love and respect. and he always kept his promises. it was important for him, who grew up with a violent father and a submissive mother. the horrible and strict grandparents that barty met only once when he was five, and never again. he told her that he didn't want to be like his father, and he didn't want her to have the same fate as his mother. he was always a great husband.
they argued sometimes, they didn't always share the same ideas. but they always found a way to fix everything, they loved each other. he had given her a purpose, emily was not good at anything, neither in magic nor in life. she would have had no future if it weren't for him. she only had eyes for her husband.
was that her mistake, maybe? she should have given barty more love. was she the cause of it all, all that went wrong?
if she had told barty how much she loved him, would anything have changed?
winky was devoted to the crouch family like no one else had ever been. she had deep respect for her masters, she venerated them, she served them with happiness. they were so kind to her, and she was just a house elf.
she served mr. crouch since he was a child, he was very dear to her. mrs. crouch was a wonderful woman. and when little master crouch joined the family, she was so happy: he was the kindest and most polite child she knew.
sometimes she had heard him say terrible things, terrible indeed, that she would never have dared to repeat. that's why she didn't tell her masters. she made a mistake and ruined everything, there was no other explanation. she was unable to protect the family, and when barty escaped from azkaban she did nothing to alleviate his condition. she should have talked to mr. crouch more, persuaded him to be more lenient. he was a man destroyed by grief, but he was forgetting his son again.
had master crouch felt lonely? had he felt unloved? but then, had he listened to her devoted and sincere words, whispered under the invisibility cloak, or had he simply ignored her all these years?
barty crouch jr hated his family. and it wasn't something he tried to hide, even if they didn't seem to understand it. bearing the name crouch was embarrassing and shameful. bearing the exact same name as his father was an insult. what was "family" to others was nothing more than an oppressive group of people to him. they accused him of destroying their lineage, but why would barty feel bad for doing so? why would he pity an absent father and a mother who only loved him when he was weak and alone?
he had to get rid of them to be completely free. and how ironic, after all, hadn't they all sacrificed themselves so that he would be? but freedom wasn't the air outside azkaban, nor his father and winky's desperate attempt to fix everything. freedom was power, control. and his "family" couldn't give him that. they couldn't give him anything... well, except anger and pain.
but, sadly, he already had those.
39 notes
·
View notes