* means it can be changed

STATUS: available 
REQUESTED BY: dancing_tash143
TITLE: A Tale of Tragedy
FANDOM: Harry Potter
TIMELINE: Marauders Era - Post War
LOVE INTEREST: Sirius Black, Cedric Diggory
OC NAME: Clarissa* Crouch, Pheobe Black
FACECLAIM:

Dafne Keen ⟶ Pheobe Black

❝ C'mon. It'll be fun. ❞

Penelope Cruz* ⟶ Clarissa Crouch

❝ Please don't do this Pheobe. ❞

SUMMARY:

Clarissa Crouch grew up knowing that someday she would change the world. She didn't know exactly how, or when, but she was absolutely certain that she would. Minister for Magic, keeper of the peace, and, maybe someday if the Wizarding World was sick of democracy, Supreme Leader. Sure, it was ambitious, but Clarissa had grown up with a brother who knew exactly what he wanted to be in a family that expected only the best.

Clarissa Crouch expected that great things would happen to her. Hell, she knew that great things would happen to her.

At least if Sirius Black stopped his meddling for a minute and let her study. 

He was always hanging around the Lake, bugging her and pulling her books away. It annoyed her to no end. 

Until they were in the midst of a war, with her plans for the future on her shoulders and worry for her family hanging over her head, and she didn't have the energy to push him away. And for once, she considered that, maybe, instead of being a nuisance, Sirius could help her. Yes, Clarissa quite liked the idea of having him next to her as she ascended to power. 

That is until he betrayed her. Until he left her and sold his friends to the Dark Lord. Until he disappeared, leaving her with a broken heart and a soon-to-be child. When her daughter was born, Clarissa named her Phoebe (Shinning, Bright) in a hope that her daughter would make light in a world that had shown her only darkness.

Pheobe was a shining star in a world that was cloaked in shadows. And so when she met the one boy who shone just as bright as her, it was inevitable that they would come together. 

But as Clarissa had learned long ago, tragedy never trails too far behind when it has such a ready victim in front of it. 

Their family is a tale of tragedy wrapped in silk and velvet, a soft piece of fruit for strife to dig its teeth into. A chandelier full of glass candles in the middle of a hurricane. And Pheobe happened to be a flickering candle that the darkness couldn't wait to snuff out.

❝ You're an idiot, Black. ❞
⎯ Clarissa

❝ Well I'm a good-looking idiot, aren't I? ❞
⎯Sirius

❝ This project is fictional, isn't it? ❞
⎯ Pheobe

❝ Well, I - ❞
⎯Cedric

❝ Enjoy working on things with me? It's okay. You weren't very subtle about it. ❞
⎯Pheobe

❝ I - ❞
⎯Cedric

❝ It's okay! These projects have been fun for me too. Now, is there anything else you want to say or are you going to keep flapping your mouth like that? ❞
⎯Pheobe

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

- I know I kind of went crazy with your request, but I hope you like it! I had so much fun making this plot.

- This story follows Clarissa just as much as it follows Pheobe. It's a mother-daughter tale. You can choose whether or not to start it during Clarissa's lifetime. You can write it as told by Pheobe, with flashbacks of Clarissa and her time with Sirius. Personally, I imagine at as like, one chapter of Clarissa's story, one chapter of Pheobe's. Or even starting with Clarissa's and transitioning into Pheobe's.

- You're welcome to change Clarissa's name but please don't change Pheobe's. 

- For the faceclaims: Dafne Keen is half Spanish, half British. Penelope Cruz is Spanish and as we all know, Sirius Black is British. Please keep this in mind if you want to change Clarissa's faceclaim! Please don't change Pheobe's. Dafne Keen is 16 years old right now and has a bunch of resources from when she's younger, which is perfect for this story. Also please cast the Crouch family correctly based on this. I didn't like the movie casting at all, and I want to have some diversity in the Wizarding World. If you need help finding faceclaims for the Crouch family, I'd be happy to help.

- So Clarissa is the younger sister of Barty Crouch Sr. Her family is very strict. I mean, look at how Barty turned out in the end: the parents have very high standards. Clarissa is overly ambitious, even for her family, though. She wants to become Minister for Magic, and she harbors secret hopes that she'll be a Supreme Leader. She's not like Voldemort, she's not going to act on those dreams, but they're secret hopes that she hides away in the back of her mind.

- Clarissa is (obviously) a Slytherin. She spends a lot of time at the Black Lake studying or practicing charms. Guess who also spends a lot of time at the Lake? Sirius and the Marauders. At first, James bets Sirius that he can't get her to go on a date with him, and of course Sirius doesn't back down. So he starts bothering Clarissa, helping her practice, pulling away her books, and getting her to go to Hogsmede. It's cute. Clarissa holds out, but she falls for him rather quickly once she finally lets herself enjoy her company.

- By the time they finally get together, it's the end of their time at school and the War is starting. Clarissa finally gives in, she and Sirius are a thing. They move in together, and Sirius joins the Order. Clarissa is invited, but she decides that she's going to try to stay neutral in this war. Many of her other friends are joining Voldemort's side, and she's torn. Of course, her brother fights, Sirius fights, the Order fights, and so she feels really guilty. She tries to help Sirius, but she doesn't want to get involved. They fight over this a bunch, but Clarissa is adamant. She's staying neutral.

- Then one day they have a huge fight. Sirius walks out. And then later that day, he's charged with the murder of Peter and sentenced to Azkaban. Clarissa's heart is broken. She truly believes that he's a murderer. Most of it's because they just fought, and he's been acting weird lately, and everything is so messed up in her brain that all signs seem to point to him.

- That's when she finds out that she is pregnant. Clarissa considers not keeping the baby. Why should she? If it has anything of Sirius in it, it'll probably be horrible. But she shoves that thought away. The baby is an innocent thing, it didn't decide who it wanted for a father. Besides, all of this is Clarissa's fault. And so Pheobe is born.

- By this time, Clarissa has given up on becoming Minister for Magic. She's just not interested anymore. Those dreams belonged to the girl who was in love with Sirius, and she can't stand them any more than she can stand thinking about him. She still works for the Ministry (I'm thinking in one of the Departements or something), but she's lost her ambition. 

- You can show a little bit of Pheobe growing up, but this story mainly focuses on her years at Hogwarts.

- Pheobe is a Slytherin. She's not like her mother, she's not ambitious in the slightest. Give her a book and a snack and she'll be happy all day. But she's resourceful. She knows how to make things out of nothing. She's a creator, she takes junk and transforms it. Slytherins aren't just ambitious, one of their house traits is resourcefulness. Pheobe is an expert at looking at things and knowing exactly how to get what she wants out of them. She's also very sweet. Many people are surprised to find a shy little Slytherin taking down the curtains in the common room because there's a piece of metal on one of the rods that she can use. She's kind, she's smart, she's a fun person to be around. Once you get to know her, she opens up and is a bit snarkier. But in general, she's just a pleasant person. She's also very blunt.

- That's why she and Cedric are drawn to each other. They both love helping. I imagine that Cedric is trying to build something for a Herbology project and he's heard about the shy Slytherin girl in his year who's really good at fixing things, and so he enlists her. The two are immediately drawn to each other because they both like, radiate sunshine.

- Cedric finishes his Herbology project (and gets a very good grade for it), but he can't stop thinking about Pheobe. So he invents another project to come see her. And then another. And Pheobe catches on pretty quickly but she likes the attention of this cute popular boy. She's finally being noticed. Pheobe doesn't love the spotlight, but she doesn't hate it either. It just doesn't naturally fall on her, and she's okay with that. But with Cedric, she really feels like the light she's named after.

- And so they fall in love. They're in the same year, and I can see them getting together maybe 4th or 5th year? They have picnics at the Black Lake, where Clarissa and Sirius used to sit (although they don't know that). They create projects together, and Pheobe flourishes.

- When the Triwizard Tournament comes around, Pheobe and Cedric both sign up. Pheobe knows she isn't going to be picked, but she's confident that Cedric will, and she supports him fully. Cedric tries to tell her that she's just as good as he is and has just as much of a chance, but Pheobe doesn't believe him. She's absolutely thrilled when his name gets picked. Less thrilled when Harry's is though. She wants the glory for Cedric. There's a part of her mom in there, the part that strives for glory. The only difference is that for Pheobe, seeing Cedric do it is just as good as doing it herself.

- When Cedric dies, Pheobe is absolutely heartbroken. He was the love of her life. They've known each other for years, and he was the one who helped pull her out of her shell. After he dies, she approaches Harry and asks him if she can join the Order of the Pheonix. She rebels against Umbridge, joins DA.

- Clarissa is horrified when Pheobe tells her what she's doing. She's always stayed neutral, she wants her daughter to do the same. Plus, Clarissa knows that Sirius Black will have been back with the Order ever since he escaped. And she doesn't want her anywhere near her father. But Pheobe won't listen. She joins anyways.

- Clarissa has kept Pheobe away from Sirius, despite getting a letter from him asking if they could meet when he first escaped. She didn't turn him in, but she refused. She still thinks that he betrayed her, and honestly thought he was out of his mind when she got his owl. Who gets out of prison and sends a note to their ex asking to see a child they had no idea existed?

- Pheobe joins the Order. And meets Sirius. She recognizes him instantly (she's been poking around the library for years, trying to learn what her father was like), and hates him on sight. There's a lot of angst because she's been through hell ever since she started school (she has his last name, after all, and that put a target on her back when he escaped), and blames him for it. So she pushes him away. 

- Over time, she learns to forgive him. But then something comes up and she yells at him and they fight and he walks out. And before they can talk again the Departement of Mysteries happens and he's gone. Pheobe's devastated because they were finally getting along and then it was all ruined and she never had a chance to make it up to him. 

- The idea is that Pheobe and Clarissa both lost Sirius and never got a chance to make it up. The only difference is that after Sirius came back, Clarissa chose not to interact with him, whereas Pheobe was separated by an impenetrable barrier: death.

- But that's not all! This is a tale of tragedy, after all. There have to be more than 2 tragic events. 

- In the final battle of the Wizarding War (number 2), Clarissa can't stand it and comes to join Pheobe in the fight. And she dies at the hands of a Death Eater.

- So Pheobe's lost her soulmate, her father, and her mother. She's heartbroken and alone. You can decide what to do with you after that. You can continue her life afterthe battle (make it full of angst !!) or just let her be and let the story end. You can choose what happens after that, but that's all I planned for this fic. I hope you like it!

PASSWORD:
What's your favorite quote from the Harry Potter books?