[HPforGrownups] Re: TBAY: The Evil That is Crouch Sr. -- "It's Getting Hot In Here!"

[Eileen]

No: HPFGUIDX 57886

"Power is sexy," announces Cindy. "I have to give you
that. Crouch did try to undo his evil deeds outside
the Forbidden Forest. He probably thought he was doing
the right thing at all times, fighting evil with evil
and all. So, I'm converting."

There is a long silence. 

"What's in that Gatorade bottle?" asks Pippin acidly. 

" Now, I'm not going anywhere near that foul little
Winky/Crouch Sr. ship you've got going with Elkins,
though.  You can forget that."

"That *I've* got going with Elkins? I'm the only one
who's ever argued against that foul little ship! I
even tried to fit the non-ship version into the Crouch
family themes and all that. Where were you?"

"Selling Rookwood thongs, I think," says Cindy
amiably. "Hey! We can sell CRABCUSTARD cups at our new
joint booth. Why don't you pass me one of those
delicious little cups?"

"You do know, Cindy," says Eileen tremblingly, "that
no one has touched one of those in plain sight of
list. Not even me."

"Hand it over!" <slurrrrrp>  Pippin and Becky gag.
Eileen pretends to be very interested in something on
the wall. 

"Delicious!" pronounces Cindy. "Everyone needs to try
one. 

"I think I have to be going," says Pippin. "There's a
Bloodsuckers Anonymous meeting at nine, and I'm hoping
to catch Snape there."

"You're both nutters," says Becky to Cindy and Eileen.
"I personally think he was very evil. It's all that
coldness and cruelty."

"I'm new to this Crouch apologetics stuff," says Cindy
to Eileen. "What's our line on coldness and cruelty?
That it's really quite sexy?"

"Well, it depends..." begins Eileen

"Oh right, Comfort-Hurt..."

"But while I admit that he's guilty enough coldness
and cruelty, I'm not sure he's guilty as charged by
Becky."

"But look at him at the QWC!" says Becky. "Look at the
totally cold and cruel way he destroyed the life of
his house-elf Winky who was quilty of absolutely
nothing except being in a situation beyond her ability
to control (thanks to Crouch)."

"Now, wait a second!" says Eileen. "Whose stupid idea
was it to take Barty Jr. to the QWC in the first
place?"

"Crouch Sr.'s subconscious mind, right?" says Cindy.
"I'm sure there was something about this in the Crouch
novenna."

"Wellll... anyway, Winky was lobbying pretty hard to
have Barty Jr. attend his Quidditch game. And Winky
*did* fail Crouch. She didn't keep an eye on him in
the main box. For all she could have known, Barty Jr.
could have taken a fancy to toss Harry out of the Top
Box, and she was covering her eyes? Relying on the
Imperius Curse when she was supposed to be watching
him every minute? And then, she lost control of him
that evening. She had failed Crouch."

"That's not why he sacked her!" says Becky, her eyes
blazing.

"No, that was a carefully planned sacrifice. He
exchanged her for the safety of his son... and
himself. Sounds familiar?  It's heartbreaking..."

"Didn't break his heart!" says Becky. "It wasn't just
his actions but that he had absolutely no emotional
sympathy or empathy at all for Winky who had served
him faithfully so long."

"No emotional sympathy or empathy?" says Eileen. "Well
now, I've got Elkins here. Part Nine of the Crouch
Novenna: "When I read a character described like
Crouch is described at the QWC, 'his face somehow
sharpened, each line upon it more deeply etched,' I
assume that person really is suffering quite badly, no
matter how little pity he may have in his gaze. That's
a physical description of a man in pain."  

"The Novenna," says Eileen with some satisfaction, "Is
the best thing that's ever happened to Crouch
apologetics."

"But the novenna's thesis is that Crouch is the
personification of the Dementor's Kiss!" objects
Cindy.

"Yeah, but it demolishes all the usual attacks on
Crouch," says Eileen. 

"It was indicated that he really never gave his son
any love at all and that is as large a component in
what turned him into a DE as anything," says Becky.
"It was 
only for his wife, who was mentioned someplace
(where?) as being the only person he ever loved that
brought him to rescuing his son.  It wasn't for
Junior's sake at all really."

"My mother saved me," says Cindy slowly.

"Exactly," says Eileen. "My Mother Saved Me" and "Last
Orders" - Parts 5 and 6 of the Crouch Novenna (Posts
47927 and onwards). You probably love them, Becky.
After all "My Mother Saved Me" begins 

***************************************

"Crouch had been serving the forces of evil his entire
life," Elkins states, from up high on her pale hobby
horse. "He really *was* Ever So Evil, you know."

***************************************

"But," says Eileen. "She rather demolishes the theory
that Crouch Sr. didn't love his son, and that he only
rescued Barty Jr. as a favour to his wife. Unless
someone has anything to say to Elkins's argument..."

"I have something to say," comes a voice from the
shadows.

Eileen spins around. "THE Barb?" she says. "In TBAY?"

"Only as you're writing it," says Barb. 

"Well, I'm honoured to have you here anyway," says
Eileen. "And if I've inconvenienced either you or
Becky in either way, it's just I can't help but TBAY
my Crouch posts."

"It's pretty clear," says Barb. "That Crouch thinks
that he's protecting other people still when he does
things to protect his own career."

Eileen grins happily. "Yes! Yes! That's exactly it!"

"In the end," continues Barb. "It was not Crouch's
cruelty but his capacity to risk his job for his
family members that led to his son being able to
assist Voldemort in coming back.  It was good
intentions that led to the tragedy; if Crouch had
remained implacable and unmoved in the face of his
wife's sorrow and his 
son's possible innocence, he could have been accused
of behaving like a cruel martinet--but one who wasn't
in danger of unwittingly loosing a dangerous criminal
on the world.  Perhaps Crouch, Sr. actually has more
in common with Harry than we'd like to admit."

"Hey! Well, I'm ready to admit it," says Eileen.
"Let's go out for drinks. Cindy's conversion really
deserves a celebration."

Eileen

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