The Failed Rescue

Old Barty Crouch was dead.

The man who had once served as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and might even have become Minister for Magic.

He lay on the wet, freezing ground. The wound in his neck had stopped bleeding; his blood had already run dry. A faint glimmer still lingered in his eyes—guilt and remorse—but it quickly vanished. His life, his half-ruined existence, disappeared from this world forever.

Even Voldemort's Death Eaters could not remain unmoved by the passing of such a man. They stood around him, watching Barty Crouch's body cease twitching, their silence like a moment of mourning.

Bang! Barty Crouch Jr. collapsed as well.

The madness faded from his eyes, but the hatred remained, growing even more intense.

"You cowardly bastard, how dare you... huff."

Barty Crouch Jr. panted heavily.

"How dare you die like this? You don't deserve such an easy death. You... I wanted to kill you for thirteen years. You're the tyrant, huff."

"Nagini!"

With a sharp command from Voldemort, Nagini, which had been coiled and ready, shot forward at once. It circled the father and son, then stopped before Barty Crouch Jr. Harry was certain he saw cruelty and malice in the snake's vertical pupils.

What Nagini intended to do was obvious. A flicker of hesitation crossed Barty Crouch Jr.'s pale face, and that hesitation made Nagini's slit-like pupils narrow, dangerous light gleaming within them.

"Eat him!"

But in an instant, Barty Crouch Jr.'s crazed fervor returned. He shouted furiously,

"He deserves nothing less!"

Nagini flicked out its tongue and coiled its body. Turning around, its monstrous jaws enveloped Old Barty Crouch's head, neck, and upper body. Crack, crack— the sound of ribs being crushed.

Barty Crouch Jr. scrambled to