Bartemius Crouch Junior

Bartemius "Barty" Crouch Junior is the son of Barty Crouch Sr and Mrs Crouch. He was apparently a very talented young wizard, earning 12 O.W.L.s while attending Hogwarts. He left school at the height of Lord Voldemort's first reign of power. Until suffering the Dementor's Kiss in 1995, he was one of Voldemort's most loyal and faithful servants.

Allegiance with Death Eaters
His father, intent on catching dark wizards and becoming Minister for Magic, failed to pay any attention to his son. It is very possible that this had an influence on the younger Crouch's life choices. After Voldemort's first defeat in 1981, Barty fell in with Death Eaters. He was captured with three other wizards responsible for torturing the Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom with the Cruciatus Curse. He and the other Death Eaters, (Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rabastan Lestrange), were brought to trial before the Wizengamot, over which his father presided.

Barty was insistent on his innocence, claiming he had merely fallen in and begged his father before the entire assembled Wizengamot (witnesses included Rita Skeeter and Albus Dumbledore) to clear him of any wrongdoing. Bartemius Crouch, Sr, at the time headed the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and was under extreme pressure to bring anyone to justice over the terrorism caused by Lord Voldemort's Death Eaters. Barty's father chose to make a public example of his son, and sentenced him to a term of life imprisonment in Azkaban at the age of 19.

One year later, Barty's mother's health had deteriorated drastically from the stress of her son's imprisonment, and she was near death. The family formed a plan to smuggle Barty out of Azkaban by swapping him for his mother. Using Polyjuice Potion, and undetected by the Dementors, Mrs. Crouch took the place of her son. She died just days later, and was buried outside the fortress under the guise of her son.

Imprisonment with his father
Barty's father was overcome with grief and guilt, and opted to control him via the Imperius Curse to keep the horrible ordeal a secret. He also forced Barty to hide under an Invisibility cloak at all times. Throughout his time in hiding, Barty was nursed back to health by Winky, the family house-elf.

Bertha Jorkins, a Ministry of Magic employee, discovered the truth accidentally when she came unannounced to the Crouch home. Crouch Sr. attempted to rectify this with a powerful Obliviate charm, but because he was not properly trained, he caused Jorkins brain damage.

Years later, Peter Pettigrew, under orders from Lord Voldemort, extracted this information from her while looking for information on the Triwizard Tournament, which was to be held at Hogwarts. Voldemort murdered Jorkins, and the Ministry deemed her "missing" for months.

Quidditch World Cup
Barty was sent to the Quidditch World Cup under cover of the Invisibility Cloak along with Winky, where by chance he sat in a skybox alongside Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. During the Quidditch match, Barty broke free of the Imperius Curse his father had placed on him. Sickened by his father's actions, Barty decided to get revenge, and stole Harry Potter's wand, which was in view. He then escaped Winky's watch over him, as she was so afraid of heights in the skybox that she covered her eyes for the entire Quidditch match.

After the World Cup was through, Barty added to the havoc and chaos being caused by a gaggle of Death Eaters by casting Morsmordre in the sky over the campsite grounds. Because he used Harry Potter's wand to cast the spell, during the course of the investigation of the appearance of the Dark Mark, Harry was considered a suspect. However, the only individual punished that night was Winky, stemming from the rage Crouch Sr. felt over losing control of his son.

Shortly after, Pettigrew and Lord Voldemort, who needed a loyal follower to help him regain power, managed to free Barty from his father's imprisonment. They put Crouch Sr under the Imperius Curse and forced him to keep working at the Ministry as he usually would.

As Alastor Moody
As part of his servitude as a Death Eater, Barty was charged with infiltrating Hogwarts Castle and bringing Harry Potter to Lord Voldemort. Barty accomplished this by breaking into Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody's home and kidnapping him. He created Polyjuice Potion from Moody's hair and concealed the Auror in his own magical trunk. He then proceeded to take over Moody's job at Hogwarts, teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. He was able to maintain his disguise for months undetected by consistantly sipping the potion from a hip flask.

Barty used his time at Hogwarts to gain the trust of children and associated of Order of the Phoenix members. He entered Harry Potter's name into the Goblet of Fire to ensure Harry's placement for Lord Voldemort's gain. During the events surrounding the Tournament, Crouch Sr. escaped from his home and Apparated near Hogwarts, where he wandered in his confusion in search of Dumbledore. He came upon Harry Potter and Viktor Krum, who raised the alarm that Crouch was in trouble. Barty arrived at the scene before anyone else, stunned Viktor Krum, and killed his father. He transfigured his father's body into a bone and buried it in the Forbidden Forest.

Before the third and final task of the Tournament, Barty volunteered to place the Triwizard Cup in a maze through which the contestants were to navigate. He took advantage of this opportunity to turn the Triwizard Cup into a portkey which transported Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory to a graveyard when they grasped it together.

It was at this time that Peter Pettigrew performed the horrible ritual to restore Lord Voldemort's physical body, using Harry Potter's blood, Pettigrew's own hand, and Tom Riddle Sr's bone from the grave.

When Harry escaped and returned to Hogwarts, Barty ushered him away from the panicking crowd to interrogate him about Voldemort's return. Barty wanted to kill Harry then, but Dumbledore and several other Hogwarts professors descended on the scene and stopped him. Under the influence of Severus Snape's Veritaserum, Barty confessed everything. However, before he could testify before the Wizengamot, he was silenced forever with a Dementor's Kiss.

Behind the scenes
Barty's role in the film differs slightly from the book. He is sentenced for the same crime as the book based on Igor Karkaroff's testimony. Once caught, there is no doubt of his guilt or insanity. He has already been released from his father's control by the beginning of the story and appears in Harry's vision of Voldemort and Wormtail in Little Hangleton. After the Quidditch World Cup, Harry actually sees Barty create the Dark Mark, but does not know who he is. Barty approaches Harry, but flees when his father and the Aurors arrive. When he is unmasked, he does not reveal how he escaped, and there is no mention of him getting the Dementor's Kiss.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)