Edit: this is a year old draft I’m posting after returning
SunKiller ? This may turn in to a fic but I also don’t know how to work AO3 with posting, and have no clue how to do it on my phone (bc that’s all I got 😁):
Barty who’s always had a small, festering crush on James since childhood. His father, of course, knew any and every pureblood who was even remotely known, so of course he knew the Potters. And Barty was always taught to leave well enough away when there is “adult talk,” so he did. That’s what ended him up with James Potter.
At six years old, Barty didn’t know much about a crush. Hell, he didn’t think he’d heard the word except for in the context of him crushing his Mother’s heart by breaking her favourite vase, (his father just about killed him for that), or him crushing up carrots to try and help Winky with the dinner (he was promptly kicked out of the kitchen.) But, thankfully, seven-year-old James Potter didn’t know much, either. They’d mess around, sprinting about the Potter Manor at James’ family’s’ dinner parties, making messes and laughing.
Barty just knew James was probably the best person he’d ever met. He was nice, and his smile was much nicer than Father’s, when he did smile. James looked a bit silly, Barty thought, with his big, round, gold-rimmed spectacles that looked just a bit too big for his baby-face, but it all just added to his charm.
Cut to the start of Barty’s first year at Hogwarts. His father was busy off on some ministry trip- too busy to even see his son off, Barty thought.. well, it wasn’t as if Crouch Sr. ever had much time for his son- so the older had requested the Potters take him to King’s cross. James, of course, had already been one year, and wasn’t starting on two- Barty watched as his best friend bounded over to three other boys- one, short and rather stout Barty observed- he looked rather kind. The second, Barty thought he vaguely recognized, with the long black hair and sharp jaw, sharp nose- but he couldn’t place a name to a face. And the third, looked rather mean. Well, not mean exactly- but he looked like he could definitely beat Barty in a fight. James, too.
As he inspected the three, he narrowed his eyes a little- James seemed to be rather happy, talking with them- and it sent a flare of jealousy through Barty’s chest. Had Hogwarts made James make different best friends? Was James going to not like him now, now that he’s gotten more friends?? Barty didn’t have more friends, who’d be his friend now-
He was snapped out of his thoughts when James beckoned him over, grinning with that signature ear-to-ear grin that made Barty look crazy if he ever tried to replicate. (He knew, he’d tried.)
“Mates, this is Bee! I told you about him last year, he’s my friend from back home. This is his first year. Bee, meet Peter, Sirius, and Remus. Pete, Sirius, Remus, meet Bee.”
Barty smiled, almost shyly, at James’ introduction, and stuck his hand out in greeting- Just like his Father does. See, he was doing well already!
Cut to, Barty standing there awkwardly among the other first years, sending nervous glances towards James at what he’d learned was the Gryffindor table. ‘Gryffindor’s the best. You don’t want Hufflepuff, they’re a bunch of Pansies. Ravenclaw’s fine, I suppose- but they’re a bunch of nerds’ James’ friend Sirius’ words rung in his ears. ‘And certainly not Slytherin.. no, definitely not- those lot are just evil. You don’t seem evil, are you Crouch?’
Speaking of Sirius, Barty’s brows furrowed when he thought he saw him infront of him- but Black was back sitting with James? Barty took a gamble, and reached forward to tap the boy on the shoulder- he seemed just as tense as Barty himself, as he whirled around- he looked much like Sirius, but it definitely wasn’t him.
“Okay. What do you want to be sorted into?”
“Gryffindor. Like my brother.”
“Me too, my friend James is in Gryffindor.”
Regulus was cut off by the sorting hat, calling out names, and the boys quieted down. A few names, and then;
Barty watched intently as his new friend walked up to the old, battered hat. It was placed upon his pristine black curls, and sat there for a moment. And then another, and another, until-
There was a deafening roar from the green-clad table, but Regulus looked rather stricken- matter of fact, he looked devastated, and Barty followed his line of sight back to the Gryffindors- Sirius, specifically- to see a matching expression on the older boy’s face, before it turned cold. Regulus looked like he was about to cry as he made his way over to the Slytherin table, sitting down next to two older girls- one with wild, black curly hair that matched Regulus and Sirius’ own, and then another, blonde girl.
Barty, now rather nervously, walked up to feel the hat placed on his head. Regulus hadn’t gotten into Gryffindor, so why would he? Merlin, what if he was sorted into slytherin, and then James looked at him like Sirius had Regulus-
“You don’t like Slytherin?”
The that rung voice in Barty’s head made him flinch. It felt somewhat like his Father’s, telling him to do things sometimes. Right in his head, compelling him to respond-
“No, Slytherin’s for evil people.”
Barty felt a little bad for thinking that. Regulus hadn’t seemed evil. But James was in Gryffindor, so Gryffindor had to be good. And since James had said Slytherin was bad, Slytherin had to be bad.
“You’d do rather well, Crouch. You don’t seem much the gryffindor type, anyway. And surely not Hufflepuff. More Ravenclaw, and much more Slytherin.”
“No no no, it’s Gryffindor, you daft hat. Just say it already-“
“Dear my, so rude! Well, I should think you belong in-
Barty froze up. No, no. No. No. No. NO, this damn hat, you got it wrong! He was not a slytherin, he was a gryffindor!
Barty’s eyes immediately shot over to James, who looked rather confused. Barty couldn’t deny he felt the same. What? Slytherin? No.
“Go on, Mr. Crouch,” he heard Mcgonagall say, but Barty felt a little lightheaded. That stupid hat got it wrong, and now he was stuck with the snakes.
He shakily stood, and made his way over to the green-and-silver table. He didn’t have any older relatives- he’d been planning on sitting with James, but James wasn’t a slytherin, he thought bitterly- so he sat across from a dreary-looking Regulus and what Barty assumed were his two cousins.