After they reached the shore, Voldemort roughly seized Barty Crouch Jr. by the collar of his robes and dragged him out of the cave.
The cold stone wall, the biting air, the choking sensation from his collar being dragged, and the darkness gradually receding into the distance were Barty Crouch Jr.'s final memories before he lost consciousness.
His consciousness did not sink into complete darkness, but floated amid chaos, rising and falling, until he "woke"...
He found himself in the familiar study he hated, in the house he called Crouch Prison.
The situation made him realize at once that the potion in that stone basin was far more terrifying than he had imagined, and lasted much longer too.
It was practically like a vicious curse, tirelessly dragging him into the nightmares of the past, replaying again and again the scenes he most wanted to escape.
To Barty Crouch Jr., this curse was far too terrifying. It had recreated this study he hated so much... so vividly, so realistically that it filled him with unbearable pain.
He tried desperately to leave, but remained powerless. No matter what he attempted, there was only one thing he could accomplish—making the details of the study clearer.
"Damn it! Let me leave!" he cursed, his gaze sweeping over the bookshelves crammed with books, over the desk where he had once practiced Transfiguration, before finally landing on the wall where the fireplace stood.
The moment he saw the space above the fireplace, he froze.
Since when had that large expanse above the fireplace been reduced to a single golden picture frame?
In his memory, this place should have displayed all kinds of honors belonging to Old Barty Crouch, with a tapestry depicting the family crest in the center.
Yet in this dream of his, all those