Name:
Mother

Underrated character:
Bartemius Crouch Jr

Plot by:
kencbi

Status:
Taken by @The_girlwholived

Facultative readymade covers:

Bartemius Crouch Jr x Mrs Crouch

Synopsis:
"Oh mother!"

He needs you more than he loves you.

Plot:
Inspired by the song I Know It's Over by The Smiths, the story talks about the mother-son relationship Barty Jr and his mother shared.

Mrs Crouch takes Barty Jr's place in Azkaban thanks to a polyjuice potion, unable to deal with the pain her son is going through there in prison for his act. While Mr Crouch acts like Barty was never his son in the first place, perhaps too ashamed, Mrs Crouch feels too much compassion for him.

However, Barty is only really using his mother's love to get himself out of there. She's dying anyway and everyone knows it, she's been slowly dying for years, and now, she is coming to a slow end. Her only condition to take his place is for him to visit her on a regular basis, somehow. He accepts.

Barty never comes to see her in Azkaban, and a few months later, Mrs Crouch dies of a broken heart and of her disease. The story is told through retellings of every time Mrs Crouch gave in to Barty's pleas, from his younger years to Azkaban.

Other:
1) The story can be either written as a journal or as a normal story, either in a 1st person or omniscient point of view.

2) Mr Crouch was a very absent father, always disappointed in his son, which is partially why his mother gave him twice as much love.

3) The story is very short, told in ten chapters, thus ten times Barty abused of his mother's love. You can put an epilogue if you want to.

4) Mrs Crouch's name was Magdalena. You can always change her name if you want to, but it has a biblical connotation, much like Bartemius, which is why I chose it.

5) I feel like it's obvious, but this is not a romantic relationship.This is a story in between Barty Crouch Jr and his mother, Mrs Crouch, which should not in any way be romanticised. It's a pure motherly love. There is no romance in this story.

6) The story is set circa 1981-1982, but most of the events are retellings that take place in the 60's and 70's, during Barty's childhood and teenagehood.