Noon was approaching fast and the sun shined through the skylights of King's Cross station, forcing a short, red-headed girl to awkwardly push a luggage cart with one hand as her other one shielded her eyes from its abusive rays. Finally passing over the bridge at the center of the station and reaching the area where platforms 9 and 10 awaited their muggle patrons, the young wish headed between and casually walked toward the brick support where the entrance to her true destination was hidden. She was alone now, as she had asked her foster parents to just drop her off at the train station instead of following her inside. Her excuse was that she didn't want to be embarrassed in front of her "friends," but really she didn't want them to see what the other students really thought of her.<br/><br/>Karin Blutfremd sighed as she looked forward on her sixth year at Hogwarts, another summer having gone by without poor Ollivander having been able to find a wand that even remotely worked for her. Yet again, the poor witch (or Squib as most of the other students believed she was) would have to sit in the backs of classrooms and watch as the other students actually<em>learned</em>magic, while she just learned about it and stayed shackled to the weight of non-magic life. Her only refuge was in classes like Potions and History of Magic that she could actually participate in, which was lucky, as she hoped to be a potioneer once she was free from the prejudiced school. The logic and efficiency behind brewing potions charmed her more than any other form of magic, and her skill for the art earned her a seat in the Slug Club, though her lack of other magical abilities made it hard for Professor Slughorn to ever put her at the front. Still, as long as she succeeded in this N.E.W.T.-level course and managed to pass the exam next year, she didn't have to worry about being popular for it.<br/><br/>Where most students would have run through out of habit, Karin casually strolled through the barrier onto Platform 9 3/4 and disinterestedly glanced around at the wave of familiar faces that greeted, all of the new ones hidden behind the taller upperclassmen. Twenty minutes early exactly. While everyone else was busy catching up with friends they had not seen since the end of the previous school year, she would quickly grab an empty compartment so she wouldn't be forced to stand out in the hallway the entire trip like she had during her second and third travels to the school. Recognizing the thin face of a Slytherin quidditch player who occasionally tormented her when she was riding her broomstick, the redhead altered her course and went to take her luggage aboard the nearest coach.<br/><br/>The Slytherin Karin was avoiding had spotted her as soon as she came onto the platform, but his mind was far too busy with other matters to worry about some quiet little Squib. At the moment, his family house elf was busy loading his luggage onto the train while his doting mother sobbed next to him about how this would be his last year at Hogwarts. The boy's father was not there, of course; he was far too busy at the Ministry trying to control the endless wave of murders, both of wizards and of muggles, that had been raging especially hard for the last seven years. Little did he know that the son that shared his very name would be taking part in this indescribable atrocities one day very, very soon.<br/><br/>Bartemius Crouch Jr. did not let on to his family what his post-graduation plans were, of course. Both his father and his mother believed he was seeking to be a Hit Wizard with the expressed goal of being the one to bring down He-Who-Must-Not-be-Named, yet the truth was a universe away. The family house elf, Winky, knew her young master was constantly lying to please his providers, yet she said nothing, for it was not her place. The affairs of wizards and Dark Wizards were not a simple elf servant's concerns.<br/><br/>With a last farewell to his emotional mother, Barty, slickly dressed in a red waistcoat, white shirt, dark green tie, and dark green pants, left to go find his friends, family-by-marriage, and those who overlapped both categories. These were the people he needed to stick to, for if the year went as he planned, the summer would not reach Britain again before he left Hogwarts for good. If all went as planned, they would be ready for war before anyone expected them to be. They would join the Dark Lord in his crusade for purity, and Barty would be honored like a son for his mastery of the dark arts and unwavering devotion to Lord Voldemort, whom he believed he could understand better than any other. Oh yes, no one would be more prepared than Bartemius Crouch (he would drop the "Jr." just as soon as he could<em>drop</em>the Sr.).