Harry ran through his evening routine of draining his magical core. He cycled through hair colors, lengths, and styles as he felt his limit quickly approaching. Harry used the last bit of focus to return his hair to its usual style. The next step in the process most of the time was him staggering to bed and passing out.
This time, something was different. He could feel his magic coming back at a much faster pace. The normal fatigue was nowhere near it had been yesterday. He hadn't felt any change once Riddle was dead, so it had to be something else. The only thing he could rationalize was the ambient magic. Privet Drive was practically barren, recharging his core took hours. Here, surrounded by all these witches and wizards, he was filling back up much faster.
Harry slipped out into the seating area. He wasn't tired enough to go to sleep and his thoughts were keeping him too focused to relax. Voldermort was dead. There was no reason to allow Moody to be replaced, he could take care of Barty in the next couple of days. Without a figurehead the remaining Death Eaters were too focused on their own designs than to work together. Even with Voldermort alive there were clearly defined factions.
If Barty didn't replaced Moody, then no one would put Harry's name in the goblet. That meant no tournament. Which most likely meant he wouldn't become friends with Fleur, or Krum. Losing their friendships was more of a blow than he had expected.
Ginny had tried to keep Fleur at a distance, but Bill was her favorite brother and spending time together was unavoidable. He and Fleur had become quick friends once everything had settled down. They were both outsiders surrounded by the Weasley's. Even Hermione fit in better with them. Fleur and Harry were the ones always having to adjust. He had learned French instead of letting their quasi-isolation ruin the family gatherings.
And then there was that kiss under the mistletoe.
Harry jolted upright.
The kiss.
~ Then ~
"I have been waiting for you to that again for so long." Fleur whispered. Her fingers trailed along his lips.
"Again?" Harry held her beautiful, hungry gaze with his own.
They were at the Burrow. It had been rebuilt after the war. Harry had even pitched in a decent amount of gold to get it looking better than ever. He hadn't planned on paying for so much of it, but Ginny had asked him over morning coffee.
"Your birthday." She playfully hit his chest. "I thought I had left more of an impression."
"My birthday this year?" Harry asked.
The smile on her face drained away. "You don't remember."
Harry shook his head. He closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to remember something about his birthday. Something about Fleur being there. He found nothing. Only a vague impression of the day.
"There you two are." Hermione hurried over to the with a broad smile. "Some wine for you Fleur, and Eggnog for you Harry."
"Thank you." Harry took the offered drink. He sipped it while he thought. "Hermione…" The question he wanted to ask drifted away.
His perception of the memory shifted, watching from the outside. Ginny huffed as she found Hermione standing near a dazed Fleur and Harry.
"Again?" Ginny snapped.
"You're getting sloppy Gin." Hermione scolded the younger woman. "Today, Halloween, his birthday. That's three you owe me. The potions aren't lasting as long. It has to be something with her not being human. Her allure must be interfering. Get your brother to stop coming over or convince him to let me up her dosage."
"I've tried." Ginny grumbled. "He won't listen and thinks that mom's potions work just as well as they did when they got together."
"Don't blame me if the next egg she lays comes out with silver hair and green eyes." Hermione twisted the knife. "If that happens, you can kiss the Potter fortune goodbye."
"And I'm sure you have a suggestion?" Ginny glared at Hermione. "I'm not ruining my body and my career by popping out a couple of kids."
"It sounds like you could use a partner." Hermione paused, making sure Harry took another drink.
~ Now ~
Harry gritted his teeth.
"It's not them." Harry repeated the phrase over and over. "They're just kids."
If he could give the Dursley's the benefit of a doubt, then Hermione and Ginny would get one too. He had no clue what Dumbledore had done to them. Not to mention Molly. It sounded like she may have done some work for Bill as well. That made Fleur falling for Bill make so much more sense.
He needed to check in on her soon. Just to make sure she wasn't causing trouble. She didn't like Fleur, so it made Harry think that it was Bill who was to blame for that. Harry sat back, thinking about all he knew about Bill.
Bill Weasley was a curse breaker for Gringotts. He married Fleur and they eventually had a child. They had setup something of a safe house for people on the run during the war. Beyond that, he didn't know much about him. Even the holidays they spent together over the years that weren't tinted with memory altering didn't bring up much.
Fleur though. He could see her in his memories over the years, fading. Their eyes would meet and there would be so much hope behind them. A soul deep sorrow always replaced it.
Another life stolen.
Harry wouldn't let his selfish desire to have her in his life ruin hers. He would miss her, but Fleur deserved better than to get pulled into this mess.
He hopped to his feet. A brief moment concentrating on Barty Crouch Jr had his vanish from the sitting room. Harry found himself standing near a thin wizard. The man was well-groomed, wore nice clothing, and seemed to be healthy. Barty was lounging on his plush bed, reading a book that was brand new. All in all, the Death Eater was living in a golden cage.
The locked eyes. Barty sprang forward, throwing the book at Harry. It sailed harmlessly off to the side. The Death Eater pulled into a roll, dashing to the other side of the room before tumbling over an old writing desk.
"The butcher of Azkaban comes for me, eh?" His made voice had a Scottish lilt to it.
"My reputation proceeds me." Harry followed the mad dash with his eyes but stayed in place. "You were a Ravenclaw, right?"
"Ooh." Barty laughed. "Someone's done their homework."
"Do you like puzzles?" Harry asked.
"I'm a Ravenclaw therefore I must like puzzles?" Barty snapped in reply. "You like to hear yourself talk, does that make you a Slytherin?"
Harry sighed. "In my old life I was an auror. I worked a lot of high-profile cases. They like to hand them to me because it looked good in the papers when Harry Potter solved a case."
"Harry Potter?" Barty popped his head up to look at him. "Eh, the chosen one himself. Killed all my mates on the island and now you've come for me. What's this about being an auror? You're a bit young, ain't ya?"
"In another life." Harry waved the question away. "I get the standard ones. Leftover Death Eaters trying to become the next Dark Lord. Some wizard who thought they were the first one to ever try to take over the world. The random murder. That sort of thing."
"You're as batty as I am." Barty stood. When Harry didn't move to attack, he hopped up onto the desk and sat with his feet hanging off.
"If you knew what I knew, you'd be so much crazier." Harry laughed. "There was this one case, that I had that was causing a panic. A magical serial killer. Not some dark lord, but an actual serial killer."
Barty crossed his legs and listened. "This is the most entertainment I've had in years. Last time was when ol' Trixie remembered a full song from the Weird Sisters and belted it out for three days."
"I cut her head off." Harry shrugged.
"Go on ya' mate." Barty chuckled. "The story?"
"Right." Harry nodded. "The thing was the killer wasn't using any The Killing Curse. The curse specifically made to kill people. They would leave the remains of their victims in two piles. One for the bones and the other for everything else."
"Ohhh." Barty bounced in his spot. "How did you catch him?"
"Her." Harry corrected. "A witch. Third daughter of a Pureblood that didn't have any future once she got out of school. They didn't have the money to set her up with an apprenticeship, so she did… independent study of sorts."
"A Ravenclaw after my own heart." Barty beamed with pride.
"Exactly." Harry smiled at the Death Eater.
Their eyes met for a brief moment as they shared a smile. Barty froze as he realized that the young man in front of him was much more dangerous that he had ever experienced before.
"She would remove the bones completely from her victim." Harry continued. "No cuts, claw marks, or burns. Every single one intact. Just outside of the body."
Barty watched as Harry raised his hand, pointing a finger at him. "Do you know what she was doing?"
The Death Eater shook his head.
"Accio Hyoid." Harry spoke clearly.
A splash of blood erupted from Barty's throat as a small bone flew over to Harry's waiting hand.
"She learned the common latin names for the bones of the human body." Harry explained. "Piece by piece, starting with the Hyoid. That way her victims could cast spells, call for help, and were too panicked to think straight."
Barty held his hands up to his throat, trying to keep the blood in.
"We would have never caught her except she had to go to Muggle London to buy the books she needed." Harry watched as the Death Eater continued to struggle. "They don't have the same sort of books in Diagon Alley. Blocking the summoning spell is possible, you just have to know the counter charm, and what they are summoning."
Barty struggled to his feet. He stumbled over to Harry, one hand against his bleeding throat and the other reaching out for the bone.
"She came peacefully once I caught her." Harry stepped to the side, just out of reach. "She told me that she'd do the hands next. The bigger bones took more power and focus. They were easier to get once the person was dead. Otherwise, their struggling would cause the bones to break."
Harry watched Barty collapse on the bed.
"I never understood her fascination with keeping the bones intact." Harry shrugged.
Barty stopped struggling. Harry flicked his wrist, decapitating the corpse. That would hopefully disguise what had really killed the Death Eater. Harry dropped the bone near the loose head. He disappeared before it hit the ground.
Harry walked back to the bathroom and washed his hands. He took extra care to make sure that he hadn't missed any blood. Then, just to be sure, he used a cleaning charm to give himself a once over. He was going to need to plan better if he wanted to continue his nighttime excursions.
Riddle and Barty were dead. It had been a productive day.