The Intelligent Potter

*** A few months prior to present, Crouch Manor

Bartemius Crouch Sr was reading over some important doc.u.ments for the Ministry while contemplating his son, Barty Crouch Jr.

He had his son imprisoned under the Imperius curse which had worked now for years on end without a single fightback from Barty Jr but in the last month alone, Jr had almost escaped 7 times, when he emanated a magical pulse which nearly wrenched control back from him.

Fortunately for Barty Sr, he had managed to keep control and Jr seemed to be back under the trance doubly as strong now, seeming even weaker than he had before.

Barty hypothesised that Jr had used up all of his magical energy in the final pulse of magic and was now suffering from magical exhaustion.

Now, he had to get back to his paperwork. Ludo Bagman was up to some more of his usual foolery, he was trying to organise a revival of the long dead TriWizard tournament between Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.

Despite Dumbledore seemingly not opposing Bagman like he had expected and the large influential figure of the Lord Black backing him, it was unlikely that Bagman would pass any health and safety guidelines from The Department of Health and Safety, nor would he cooperate with Bagman to coordinate Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. Even after all that, Bagman would have to get multiple sponsors to fund his effort, because the ministry sure as hell didn't have the budget to host such a tournament, what with the exorbitant amounts funnelled into the salaries of the top 10 employees and into the corruption.

Barty Sr read over the proposal in its entirety before beginning to script a letter of denial from his department, stating that he was unwilling to help participate in the creation of the tournament.

Just as he was signing off his name at the bottom of the letter, he sensed a spell coming at him from behind and flung himself out of his chair, just in time to watch the classic Avada Kedavra green smash his chair into smithereens.

Barty Crouch Jr cursed filthily and threw another killing curse with his father's wand that he had picked up from the side-table.

Barty Sr ducked then rolled to the side, trying to get close to Jr.

Barty Sr swept Jr's legs from out under him then ran to his drawer and took out his spare wand, just in time to deflect a nasty looking red curse back at Jr.

Sr responded with a quick spell-chain then followed it up with a stream of fire, he wasn't the ex-Head of Department of the MLE for nothing after all. He could even give Amelia Bones a run for her money.

Jr was also a competent dueller, fl.i.c.k.i.n.g the spell-chain away then countering the fire by blowing it back at Sr with a well placed gust of wind.

Sr initiated the alarm spell that all Ministry employees knew, making an immediate summons to the Auror office to his immediate location as backup.

Jr berated himself for letting his father use the alarm and pressed his advantage by shooting a surprise Imperio at his father.

Without much time to react and being unable to stop the spell with a shield, Barty Sr attempted to fall backwards and avoid the spell, managing that successfully but ending up in a horrible position to try and protect himself from the follow-up Imperio curse from Jr.

Despite his best attempt, he was taken by the relaxing enchantment of the Imperius curse.

When the Aurors arrived, the Head of Department Amelia Bones ready to fight , he turned them away saying it was a false alarm despite his outlaw son standing behind him under a simple invisibility spell.

Amelia Bones smelt something off about the entire situation, Barty wasn't one to raise a false alarm, he wasn't easily spooked and believed himself capable of handling most situations on his own terms, only if he had serious reason to believe his life was in danger, would he call the Aurors for help, which is the reason she herself went with her top squad.

"Very well then Barty, you wouldn't mind me doing a quick sweep of your house, right?" Amelia asked.

"I would rather you not." Barty Sr said coldly, before slamming the door on Amelia, but not before Bones had snuck an identity confirmation spell onto Barty, identifying him to be himself and not an imposter under the Polyjuice potion, or even glamours.

Back in Barty's house, he was writing a different letter, one claiming he was all for the TriWizard tournament, and he would ensure that it happened.

He then wrote another letter to his old friend Adam in the Health and Safety department, asking him to pass the TriWizard tournament through the system, assuring him that he would take care of the entire thing.

He wrote yet another letter to the CEO of Nimbus Brooms, another man who he had worked with in the past, and requested him to sponsor the TriWizard tournament.

Behind him, Barty Jr grinned maniacally, he would get that Potter boy, no matter what, but meanwhile he had another more important mission.

He had to find his master.

*** A month later

Barty Jr had been in regular contact with his father, getting him to follow up on the tournament, getting it fast-tracked through the system, almost a full year earlier than it would have been under any other circ.u.mstances, the tournament was preponed to the '93 school year instead of '94, and Dumbledore was very willing to host it, going so far as to get the wizened Wanamaker Ollivander on board as a sponsor as well.

Meanwhile, Barty Jr had travelled all over the world, following every lead to his master, but being so far unsuccessful.

However, this lead to the forests of Albania seemed to be pretty warm.

~Who goes there?~ Barty heard a hiss behind him, recognising the language as parceltongue, he allowed himself hope, hope that his master was alive.

Hope, that his master would return.

"It is me, my Lord, your faithful servant Barty Crouch Jr." Barty said, kneeling to the ground.

A large deadly viper came up to him and spoke in English, "Very well, Barty, we have much to do, much to do indeed…"

*** End of Chapter