There's nothing quite as real as being on my own
Character: Barty, Mr Bevan (NPC) Summary: Barty receives the good news with mixed feelings.
Standing up abruptly, Barty paced the scant length of his cell and back. This couldn't be happening. He had been certain he was going back to Azkaban. He had prepared himself for it. Yet, freedom was being dangled in front of him.
"Why are you doing this for me?" he demanded, turning to face Bevan through the bars of his cell. "I didn't understand last time, and definitely not now."
"As I told you last time, you are no longer the Bartemius Crouch Junior who had been a Death Eater. For our registers to have renamed you, you must have been a different person, and so you were."
"But I have committed further crimes since then!"
"And since then the register has altered once more," Bevan patiently repeated.
Barty heavily sat down again. They had been arguing in circles since Bevan had arrived with a copy of the documentation he had submitted to the Ministry.
"Mr Elias, if it is my motives you are uncertain of, I can put your mind at rest. If you return to prison, the Hedera estate - as modest as it is nowadays - will fall into the hands of the Ministry, just as the Crouch estate did when you were Kissed. The bank doesn't like to lose revenue, not when there is concrete magical proof that our client is innocent."
"But I am guilty!"
Bevan smiled and Barty grit his teeth against what he knew to be coming.
"Barty Elias is not guilty. The register changed the moment you lost consciousness in the Department of Mysteries. You have been incarcerated since then. Barty Elias is not guilty of anything, apart from being determined to throw his life away."
"Technicalities!" Barty exclaimed. "And what life will I have? I've seen the reports in the paper. There are people whose lives I destroyed. They will want revenge. They deserve to have it! I can only imagine how seeing that I'm alive will have affected them. The only comfort I can offer is that I will be punished for what I did."
"It seems that you are determined to be lead by your guilt," Bevan said as he got up from the chair the guards had conjured for him. "Unfortunately, Mr Elias, you freedom is now assured. It will be a matter of days before the documents are verified and then you will need to rely on more than self-disgust."
Barty glared at the man as he took his leave, uncomfortably aware of the cord Bevan's words had struck. He had always needed the guidance of others. Without a master he was nothing. He had only his guilt to turn to.
Lying back on his mattress, Barty closed his eyes. As much as he knew he should be punished, freedom was the greater temptation. A few days and he would be able to return home, to make it a real home, his home. He would be able to walk the streets freely without having to avoid the law, even if he would still be dodging Bella and the ghosts of his past.
His last thoughts were of Padma and how wonderful it would be to see the book shop again, before he fell into an uneasy doze haunted by hope.