Playing with Fire

Chapter 61

Bartys's POV

The entire castle had already been under quarantaine for 24 hours since the moment Barty found out his wife had disappeared. It wasn't like her to just walk away, so he assumed she had to be in the castle somewhere. He had people searching every inch of the castle, and he himself was also frantically scanning every little space and room. It was only when his eyes fell on the floo powder standing on the shelf of his own fireplace that he noticed how some of it was spilled on the floor.

She had to have used the fireplace. And that meant that he could trace down where she had traveled to. He only had to contact the Department of Magical Transportation for that, which was what he did immediately. The Ministry could only tell him that she went to Diagon Alley on her own, but that was enough for Barty to know where she had gone. She must have gone shopping for baby stuff. Even thought he had warned her about that. But he wasn't angry, not anymore. He was extremely worried

Of course his first reaction was to follow his wife's tracks to Diagon Alley. He took five men with him just in case, and they went looking for a shop that sold baby stuff. Barty didn't even know one existed, until they passed a tiny shop that had clothes and toys in the display. The little sign on the door said 'open'.

"I'll go alone. Don't let anyone else enter," Barty told his men, and he stepped inside the shop.

No one was there. The owner of the shop must have been somewhere in the back. So Barty just started looking around himself. He carefully observed everything, in the hope he could find traces. When he looked behind the desk, he found Hermione's wand. If he was thinking rationally before, he definitely wasn't any longer. He could only feel fury and fear and panic completely consuming him. He knew from himself that he would start doing crazy things in this state of mind, but he couldn't care less. If people wanted to be safe and not see his dark side, then they should not anduct his wife.

"COME OUT HERE, I KNOW YOU'RE THERE," he yelled to get the shop owner's attentions.

He saw how an elderly woman came through the backdoor. Any sane person would not even think of hurting such a fragile lady. But unluckily for her, Barty was not sane.

"You get one chance to tell me where my wife went," he bristled, showing the woman the wand he found.

"Mr Crouch," the old lady trembled, bowing as deep as her back would allow. "The Order has taken her, sir."

"And where is that?"

"I don't know, sir, I'm sorry."

"Can you contact them?"

"No, sir."

"Do you know what I do to liars?" Barty hissed, taking a step closer.

"I am not lying! I can't contact them," the lady said nervously.

"No... I recognize a liar when I see one... And I'm losing my patience."

"Mr Kingsley Shaklebolt was in Diagon Alley already for a long time, patrolling. He had asked several shopowners, people he could trust, to give him a sign when Miss Granger would show up alone. Excuse me, Mrs Crouch. And that is what I did, sir, I am so sorry," the woman confessed.

"You took my wife away from me," Barty growled, feeling his anger rise even more.

"I am sorry, sir," she repeated, looking up at him with her watery eyes.

But that didn't make him feel any empathy, it only made him more furious. How dare this old woman try and destroy his family? He grabbed her neck roughly, and he could swear he heard something crack. While the woman was screaming, he dragged her outside the shop, where his men took a step back when they saw the fury on his face. He dragged her several meters further down Diagon Alley, right to the busiest point. People who were shopping stopped in their tracks when they heard the screaming and when they saw the old lady being abused. Barty forced the woman down on her knees, which had to be extremely painful for her. He didn't care, he would kill her anyways.