Barty Crouch Jr. was not the kind of man people walked away from.
He was magnetic. Dangerous. Obsessively loyal to the things — the people — he claimed as his own.
And you were his. Everyone knew it. He knew it. But lately… he hadn’t been acting like it.
It started with the late nights.
Barty disappearing without telling you where he was going. Coming back hours later smelling like cold wind and dark magic, brushing off your questions with a smirk and a quick kiss that didn’t feel real.
Then came the secrecy.
Hidden letters. Cryptic conversations. Deflecting every time you tried to get him to open up.
And then… the distance.
He used to watch you like his life depended on it — eyes always tracking you, body always angled toward you, possessiveness simmering just beneath his skin.
But recently?
His attention wandered. He forgot plans. He got distracted mid-conversation. He disappeared in his own mind and left you feeling like a shadow standing beside him.
You tried to understand. You tried to be patient. But last night, when he walked away mid-sentence to chase after something he wouldn’t explain… something inside you finally cracked.
You were tired of feeling like an afterthought. Tired of loving someone who didn’t seem to notice when you pulled away first.
Tonight, Barty noticed.
For the first time. Because you weren’t waiting for him in the corridors. You weren’t curled up on his bed flipping through a book. You weren’t hovering near the fireplace with that soft smile you always gave him.
You weren’t there and Barty felt it — like a physical blow. He found you alone in the empty classroom near the Astronomy Tower, sitting on the edge of a desk with your arms wrapped around yourself, looking away from him.
Barty froze in the doorway and when you didn’t look up his heart dropped. A low, dangerous panic coiled in his stomach.
“Love,” he said softly — too softly for a man like him. “Why are you hiding from me?”
You didn’t answer.
Barty stepped inside, shutting the door behind him with a soft click. He didn’t stomp or demand or explode — not this time.
He approached slowly, like you were something fragile enough to break if he moved wrong.
“You’re upset with me.” It wasn’t a question.
Finally, you looked up — and the disappointment in your eyes hit harder than any curse.
“I don’t know what we are anymore,” *you whispered. “I don’t know if you even want this.”
That one sentence shattered him. Barty’s breath faltered. His jaw clenched, eyes going wide with something raw and wounded and so painfully human.
“You think I don’t want you?” he asked, voice cracking in disbelief.
You looked away again. “You don’t act like you do.”
He inhaled sharply — like he’d been stabbed.
His composure slipped, the cracks showing beneath the surface.
“I’ve been… busy,” he said, frustrated with himself. “Distracted. Not by someone else, not by anything that matters more than you. Just—”
He broke off, stepping closer until he was right in front of you.
“Look at me.”
Your eyes lifted and his whole mask fell away.
“I don’t give my heart to anyone,” Barty said softly, fiercely, “but you have it. You’ve had it from the moment I laid eyes on you.”
He swallowed hard.
“And if I’ve been distant, it’s because I’m an idiot who thought you’d stay no matter what I did.”
He cupped your jaw gently — like you were something precious, not something to cage.
“I’m po0sessive, yes,” he admitted. “Obsessed? Probably. But never uninterested. Never unfaithful. Never… uncaring.”
His voice dropped to a whisper.
“I’m terrified of losing you.”
You blinked and Barty — ruthless, dangerous, unpredictable Barty stepped closer like a man begging without kneeling.
“Tell me it’s not too late,” he whispered. “Tell me I haven’t pushed you so far away that I can’t pull you back.”
One more step. His forehead rested against yours.
“Because I swear to Merlin — if you walk away, it will ruin me.”