Morsmordre, Amor

16 December 1980

There was a clash with The Order of the Phoenix. Barty, Nona, Evan Rosier, and Regulus Black stood facing Marlene McKinnon, Arthur Weasley, and Frank and Alice Longbottom.

There was no time for dawdling or small talk, and hexes and curses were screamed and thrown back and forth.

It was freezing, snow falling from the sky and landing in thick layers on the ground. The sky was dark, but the streets were not, and Nona was standing in the middle of it all laughing madly, laughing like she was having the time of her life, like she didn't have a care in the world as she tossed out Unforgivables and cursed fire like sweet treats.

Barty thought briefly about how much he loved that insane little witch, and then everything just... happened.

She raised her wand, pointing it at Alice Longbottom and deflected the spell that she threw at Nona. The Death Eater giggled, the first two syllables of The Killing Curse forming on her rosy lips as the same curse was thrown from the other side.

The green bolt hit Nona square in the chest, and Frank Longbottom stared with wide eyes, as if he was surprised that it had worked.

Barty felt his blood run cold. Bile rose in his throat as he watched her fall back. Her green eyes were open, stunned, and her lips were still parted, still attempting to enunciate the rest of the curse.

He felt himself die with her, staring in absolute horror as she landed on the snow-covered ground. His lungs seized up, preventing oxygen from reaching them, and he fell to his knees as a wrecked scream ripped from his throat.

Tears he didn't notice streamed down his face, and he threw up once, his body heaving in agony as he thought of his love, dead, in front of him.

Can't be. She can't be. No, can't. Can't. Can't be.

He crawled over to her, not worried about Even and Regulus in the slightest. They would be able to handle it, and if they couldn't, well, Barty wouldn't mind dying. Not now.

When he reached her, he fell apart even more, sobbing and letting his head drop down onto her chest. He fisted a hand in her pink hair and came undone.

He was devastated. Furious and full of sadness he had never known. Part of him had died right then and there, and lying there, unable to feel her heartbeat against him, he lost it.

Sitting up, he screamed again, completely unaware of what was going on around him. He gathered Nona in his arms, muttering into her hair, "No, no, no, my love. No, you can't, you can't. Come back. Please, Nona, my Nona, please, come back. Come back! Nona! No, no, no! My love, my gem, you can't! No--" He sobbed, groaning in agony while rocking her body back and forth.

He couldn't believe it. He couldn't even begin to comprehend it. She couldn't be gone. His Nona-- she couldn't be gone. She couldn't be.

He sat in the snow for hours after the duel had ended, deaf to Regulus' and Evan's pleas to get inside. He didn't care if he got caught by the Aurors. He didn't care if he died of Hypothermia. He didn't care.

Nona was dead. That was all that mattered.

Bartemius Crouch, Jr. was never the same after Nona Halix died. There was a madness lurking behind his brown eyes, and people feared him for it.

He remained loyal to the Dark Lord, emersing himself completely in his work. He was ruthless, an unstable killer, and he walked into every duel, hoping that death would finally find him.

That ended, too, though, with the fall of Voldemort. It wasn't over for Barty, though. He and a few other Death Eaters carried on, searching for their vanquished Lord and having some fun along the way.

They continued killing, continued torturing, and eventually, he made his way back to the Longbottoms, taking special pleasure in torturing the Auror and his wife.

They had taken her from him. They were the reason she was no longer alive, and as he watched them writhe in excruciating pain on their own living room floor, he cackled madly, almost able to hear his Nona laughing along with him.

Barty was eventually taken to Azkaban, once Karkaroff sold him out to his own father. He spent years rotting in a cell, practicing ways to block the dementors from his precious memories of walks around the Black Lake and holding hands with his best friend. When his loving mother slyly took his place, he returned home only to be Imperius'd by Crouch Sr.

It didn't matter, though. He found the Dark Lord once again, a shell of who he once was but still powerful. He helped him break free from his tyrant of a father, and Barty convinced himself that if he kept serving him, maybe he'd be able to help bring her back, too. Maybe he'd find a way to get his Nona back.

It took everything in him not to kill the Longbottom boy at first sight when he was impersonating Alastor Moody. He played the role well, though, leaving everybody fooled for the entire year. Someone may have caught on sooner had the Triwizard Tournament not been going on, but it suited him just fine. The distraction gave him time to manipulate and gain the trust of his "colleagues".

When all was said and done, though, and he looked into the face of Albus Dumbledore, newly revealed as Bartemius Crouch, Jr. and under the influence of Veritaserum, he knew that this was it. He had finally done something that warranted death.

And, even then, it did not come.

Instead, he was taken back to Azkaban and left to the dementors once again, forced to shield his mind from them for as long as he could before one leaned down close to his face, that awful, rattling breath surrounding Barty from all sides, and as he felt himself grow impossibly cold and hopeless, he thought about Nona Halix for the last time before she, along with his soul, were sucked away from him forever.