▬▬▬▬▬ CHAPTER TWO ▬▬▬▬▬

ESMERELDA SNAPPED AWAKE THE SECOND she heard the screams and smelled the fire. Not even caring that she was in a tee-shirt and pajama shorts, she threw herself off the bed and hurried off, slamming her fists into each bedroom door.

"WAKE UP!" She shouted. "WAKE UP, WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"

There was a crashing noise as Tonks stumbled out of her room looking alarmed. "Wh-what—" She stopped talking, pausing to listen to the high-pitched screams and the pounding of running footsteps. She paled and hurried back in her room to grab her wand.

Finally, the other adults exited their rooms, all confused and scared.

"Grab your wands, we need to get out of here!" Esmerelda ordered. She had no idea what was going on. She doubted it was a monster attack—there were thousands of people in the campsite, they shouldn't be able to smell her out when there was so many people around her. It had to be something else.

Once everyone was ready, they hurried out of the tent.

By the light of the few fires that were still burning, she could see people running away into the woods, fleeing something that was moving across the field toward them, something that was emitting odd flashes of light and noises like gunfire.

Loud jeering, roars of laughter, and drunken yells were drifting toward them; then came a burst of strong green light, which illuminated the scene.

A crowd of wizards, tightly packed and moving together with wands pointing straight upward, was marching slowly across the field. Esmerelda frowned when she saw them. Their heads were hooded and their faces were covered by weird looking masks. To her, they bore a horrible resemblance to the KKK.

"No!" Sirius recognized them easily. "Those—those are Death Eaters!"

"Look!" Tonks cried out, pointing above them.

High above the group of Death Eaters, were four struggling figures, floating in midair. Their bodies were being contorted into grotesque shapes, their movements abrupt and forced, like they were being controlled. Two of the figures were very small. Like children. Esmerelda recognized their terrified faces. One of them was Mr. Roberts. The rest must have been his family.

More wizards were joining the marching group, laughing and pointing up at the floating bodies. Tents crumpled and fell as the marching crowd swelled. Once or twice she saw one of the marchers blast a tent out of his way with his wand. Several caught fire. The screaming grew louder.

One of the marchers below flipped Mrs. Roberts upside down with his wand; her nightdress fell down to reveal her underwear and she struggled to cover herself up as the crowd below her screeched and hooted with glee.

"Okay that's it," Esmerelda growled. She turned to her family. "You guys head back to the woods—try and find the portkey! I'm gonna stick around and save those mortals."

"What?! No, Essie, you have to stay with us!" Sirius freaked out.

Esmerelda blasted one of the arsonists that was drawing closer to them. "I'll be fine! You guys just go, I'll meet up with you later or Mist travel to wherever you are! I'll check to see if Harry and the rest of them are okay too!"

"But—!" He darted forward to grab her but Esmerelda had already sprinted away.

"Come on," Tonks grabbed his shoulder.

He shook her hand off. "No! I can't just—!"

He then witnessed Esmerelda viciously attack the Death Eater who was messing with Mrs. Roberts. She first drop-kicked the man to the ground before setting his crotch on fire.

Sirius visibly shuddered. "Okay, yeah, you're right. She can handle this, let's go."

Once they were gone, Esmerelda hunted down the remaining Death Eaters controlling the Roberts family. One of them began spinning the smallest child around like a top, his head flopping limply side to side.

Esmerelda stabbed the man in the back, then used her powers to gently set the boy down before moving on to the rest.

She already broke the arm of the one controlling Mr. Roberts and set the man down as well. The last one left—the one who was levitating the other child—tried to run away and released his hold on the girl. Esmerelda petrified him, before catching the falling child and taking her to her family.

"I need you all to calm down," she said to the sobbing family. Her Charmspeak did it's job and they all slowed down their breathing. "Listen to me closely. You all must stick together and hide in the woods. Stay away from the masked figures. Trust only those who offer their help to you." She doubted the Death Eaters would pretend to play nice anyways.

They nodded dazedly, before standing up and rushing into the woods.

Ministry wizards were getting close, so Esmerelda quickly Mist traveled into the forest before she could be spotted.

In the midst of the chaos, she spotted a familiar head of platinum blonde hair. It was Draco and his parents were nowhere to be found. He looked perfectly as ease, though, despite everything going on.

That was, until one of the masked man stumbled upon him. At first, Draco didn't seem to care, but then the man aimed his wand at him. That was when he started to freak out.

"Hey! H-hey, wait! I'm Draco Mal—" He dove to the side, as a blast escaped the man's wand. The tent behind him was set on fire, along with a nearby tree. Draco tried to stand up, but he must have twisted his ankle or something because he flinched and settled with crawling back.

Uuuuuugh, Esmerelda internally groaned. She would have to save him.

"Are you drunk or something?!" Draco snapped, which was a terrible thing to do in his situation.

"For the Dark Lord!" The wizard slurred, then raised his wand. He suddenly froze as his whole body glowed green, and then—

—FWOOOM!

He was flung back, crashing against a tree. The force so great the tree snapped it half and broke apart. Draco wouldn't be surprised if the man had died on impact, but one question came to mind: who had done that?

"Where's your mom and dad?" Esmerelda asked as she stepped into view.

He gaped up at her. "You—you did that—? But—but—"

She raised a hand to stop him. "Draco, where—are—your—parents?" She asked slowly.

"I'm not a lost child," he hissed. "And I didn't need your help!"

"Yeah, okay, whatever." She said flatly, not believing him in the slightest. "But seriously, where are you parents? I'll help you look for them."

"I don't know where they are," he answered tightly. "They told me to wait here when everything went to shit."

Great parenting, Esmerleda thought sarcastically before she bent down to try and help him stand.

He applied pressure on his left foot and cried out. It was a little dramatic, but Draco seemed like a fragile boy. "Ow, ow, ow! Stop, I can't! It's my ankle! It hurts!"

She sighed. "I think you twisted it when you were trying to get away. Come on, let me help you."

"Wha—no! I don't want your help, just leave me here!"

"I'm not going to leave you next to a burning tree, Draco! It could fall down on you or you could die from the smoke inhalation!" She snapped.

"Okay, okay, fine, you can help me," he said quickly. "But I don't want you to support me."

She gave him a disbelieving look. "Are you kidding me."

"It's embarrassing," was his excuse.

"Then what do you want me do? Drag you by the hair? Because I will."

"Just—just help me up," he ordered through gritted teeth. She yanked him up to his feet and he slowly tried to walk on his own, only to crumple back down on the ground.

"It hurts too much," he groaned. "Just leave me here."

"Oh, you stubborn brat!" She exclaimed. Then, she lifted him over her shoulder.

"PUT ME DOWN!" Draco shrieked. "You stupid puffball, is this your way of humiliating me?!"

"This is my way of trying to save you!" She scowled, though he couldn't see it.

"Put me down! What if someone sees?!" He whined, then spotted a group of masked figures heading their way from Esmerelda's right. "Hey! We got company!"

Esmerelda merely glanced. Then, she waved her arm like she was swatting an imaginary fly. The group of three were flung to the trees, followed by a loud CRUNCH! sound.

Draco immediately stopped thrashing. Maybe it's best that I stick with her, he finally decided.

Esmerelda ambled through the woods with her annoying-ass cousin thrown over her shoulder like a useless sack of potatoes. The only good thing was that at least he had stopped complaining.

"How are you able to do wandless magic?" He asked suspiciously.

She snorted. "Are you telling me you can't? I thought pUreBloOds wEre SuPEriOr." She asked mockingly.

He banged his fist against her back, which was just rude.

"Hey! You want me to dump your ass in the middle of the woods? Because I totally will!" She threatened.

"You suck," he grumbled.

"You suck even more," she shot back.

He scowled, and crossed his arms despite the awkward position he was in. "Where are we even going?"

She looked around and only saw trees, trees, and more trees. "Honestly? I don't know."

"Are you kidding me?!"

"Look," she sighed. "I just saw a whole bunch of people running this way, so I figured it should be safe to follow."

"That is so stupid—"

"—Well do you know where to go since you're such a genius?!"

"At least I'm not a bloody idiot! See that's the thing with you Puffballs—"

"—Draco, I swear to gods if you don't shut up, I'll hang you on a tree branch by the underwear!"

"YOU—WOULDN'T—DARE!" He screeched in her ear.

"That's it," she growled. "I'm dropping you on the first pile of shit I see."

His eyes widened in horror. "Wait—

"—Essie is that you?" A familiar voice interrupted.

Esmerelda whipped around and spotted Harry, Ron, and Hermione staring at her incredulously.

"Oh! Thank gods, you guys are okay!" She smiled in relief.

"Who are you carrying?" Harry asked weirdly.

Draco snapped his head up and tried to crane his neck around. "Hold on, is that Potter?! Esmerelda, put me down!"

Wow, she thought. That was the first time he called me by my name. She was almost tempted to do what he asked for just because of that.

"You're carrying Malfoy?" Ron sniggered.

Draco lifted himself up as much as he could and struggled to crane his neck to face them. "Oh sod, off Weasley! If I were you, I'd be hurrying along now! You wouldn't want the Mudblood to be spotted, would you?"

"You talk tough for someone dangling over another person's shoulder," Harry spat.

Esmerelda reached up and harshly pinched Draco's side. He yelped in pain. "Sorry about him, you guys."

"Why are you helping him out anyways?" Ron asked bitterly.

"I spotted him about to get his butt whooped. I had no choice but to step in," she explained, ignoring Draco's squawk of disagreement.

Hermione was about to speak up next, but the a loud bang was heard from the other side of the trees that was louder than anything they had heard. Several people nearby screamed.

"Scare easily, don't they?" Draco asked as he lazily lounged over Esmerelda's shoulder, probably trying to sustain whatever little dignity he had left. He looked pretty comfortable now. "I suppose your daddy told you all to hide? What's he up to—trying to rescue the Muggles?"

"Where're your parents?" Harry asked, his temper rising. "Out there wearing masks, are they?"

"He doesn't know," Esmerelda chimed in. "I found him wandering alone."

"Shut up!" Draco hissed.

"Stop trying to act cool," she hissed back. "You're literally hanging over my shoulder, dimwit!"

"Come on, let's just go, guys," Hermione muttered. "Essie can handle him." She didn't know why, but Esmerelda always had this 'I can handle this' air to her. She didn't seem to panic much during serious situations and even now she was pretty nonchalant.

"Keep that big bushy head down, Granger," Draco sneered, only to yelp when Esmerela pinched him again.

"Come on," Hermione repeated, and she pulled Harry and Ron up the path again.

Esmerelda watched them go before scolding Draco. "You see, this is why you don't have friends."

"I do too have friends!" He protested.

"No sweetie, you have enablers." She corrected.

He huffed, but didn't say anything to argue against that. She continued trudging through the forest, feeling very suspicious about the lack of people around. Now she kinda wished Harry, Ron, and Hermione had stayed around. At least then she wouldn't have to deal with Draco alone.

"Aren't you tired of carrying me?" Draco asked curiously, wanting to cut through the silence.

"No. You're actually pretty light, which is concerning. Have you been eating well?"

He flushed. "You're not my mother!"

"And thank the gods for that," she muttered under her breath.

Suddenly, something green lit up the sky causing her to pause. She looked up and saw a glowing green skull illuminating the sky. A serpent was protruding from its mouth like a tongue.

Esmerelda had seen that symbol before. Many times, actually. It was the same one branded on her father's arm.

The dark mark, he had told her.

"What is that?" Draco asked, trying to look up.

"The Dark Mark," she said quietly. "Let's move."

She quickened her pace and didn't stop until she spotted an incoming clearing. There were about twenty wizards there and among them was Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Draco spotted them too, and started patting her shoulder.

"Let me down," he said. "Those are Ministry workers. There's no way I'm going to let them see me like this!"

She rolled her eyes but placed him down anyways. His ankle was still hurting, so he needed her support in order to walk right. This time though, he didn't protest against that and actually allowed himself to lean against her.

"I bet you Potter's got himself into trouble again," he said wickedly.

She pinched his side.

"Ouch!"

The wizards watched them approach and tensed up immediately for some reason. One of the adults even aimed his wand at them—but Esmerelda had a feeling it was her he was aiming at. Either way, she didn't like the guy. He was a middle-aged man with short grey hair and a toothbrush mustache which reminded her waaaay too much of Hitler.

"It was you then, Black!" He roared. "Daughter of Sirius Black! Of course you would be the one to conjure the Dark Mark!"

She gave him a flat look. "Dude, seriously?" She was so tired of this bullshit.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and even Mr. Weasley looked like they were about to pipe in for her defense, but someone else cut them to it.

"No, it wasn't."

Esmerelda whipped her head to the side to stare at Draco in pure astonishment. He caught her look and snorted as if to say 'Yeah, I can be nice, but you SO owe me for this'. He turned back to the man and explained firmly, "Esmerelda was with me the entire time. I injured my ankle and she was helping me walk, she wouldn't have been able to even carry her wand."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were gaping at him.

"Uh, yeah," she said dumbly.

But the man only narrowed his eyes even farther.

Draco met his stare and raised his chin up defiantly. "Take me to court if you don't believe me then, thought I doubt my father would be happy with you."

The man finally nodded in defeat, and Esmerelda was amazed. No wonder Draco kept pulling the 'my father' card, she'd do it too if it worked this well.

While some of the wizards went running for the woods to find the culprit, Esmerelda begrudgingly said, "Thanks."

"Whatever," he sneered. "You owe me for this."

She rose a brow. "Uh, no I don't. I saved your ass too remember? We're even now." He scoffed but didn't argue. "So who was der Führer back there?"

He didn't seem to understand the Hitler reference and answered, "Bartemius Crouch Senior, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation. He's an arse."

"Yeah no kidding," she muttered, glancing back at the man. Right now he was yelling at some innocent house-elf. The poor thing was sobbing now. Yep, definitely an arse. "Anyways, do you have some way of contacting your parents?"

"No," he said bitterly. "I don't have my owl, and I have no clue where they are."

"Great," she breathed out, sitting on the ground. "Then I guess we're stuck here waiting."

He fell down across from her. "You don't have to stay with me, you know."

"First of all, you can barely walk without feeling any pain. Second of all, if I leave you now, you'd be surrounded by hostiles," she gestured over to Crouch and Harry, who was famously known for hating Draco. "Besides, I don't mind staying here to wait."

But if the smoke and fire got any closer to them, she was Mist traveling her and Draco out of the clearing, no questions asked.

After about one hour passed, she was beginning to worry that the Malfoys weren't going to come. Harry and his friends had already left and the only people who were here were the occasional frazzled witch or wizard who was too terrified to answer Esmerelda's inquiries about Draco's parents.

As for Draco himself, he was doing a poor job of not looking worried. Not that she could blame him though. The skies weren't getting any lighter and the smoke and fire only seemed to be growing worse from a distance.

And then two platinum blonde figures finally appeared. Draco stood up embarrassingly fast. "Mother!" He said in pure relief.

Esmerelda got up as well, watching the pair cautiously. She didn't trust the elder Malfoys at all, especially since her father told her quite a lot about the family. Lucius was a Death Eater and while Narcissa wasn't, she still supported Voldemort's beliefs.

"Draco," Narcissa hurried to him. As she embraced her son, she glanced over at Esmerelda carefully.

"And who," Lucius began as he approached, his grey eyes roaming Esmerelda critically. "Is this?"

"Esmerelda Black," she introduced herself blankly. "Where were you when the attacks started happening?"

Draco tensed up and shot her a warning look.

Lucius narrowed his eyes. "Are you accusing us of something?"

"No, just criticizing your parenting," she shot back. "Why would leave Draco all alone during this? He nearly got himself killed looking for you!" She would never leave her kid alone during such chaos—no sane person would!

Lucius pursed his lips while Narcissa paled. "You were attacked?" She asked her son. "Is that what happened to your leg?"

"We don't need your parenting advise, Black," Lucius sneered.

She shrugged. "Seems like you do. But whatever. Now that you guys are here, take care of your son. I'm leaving."

"Wha—where are you going?!" Draco spluttered.

"I'm going back home," she answered simply. She gave them a wave. "See you at Hogwarts! Make sure to behave yourself, little cousin!" Then Mist traveled away.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

"Death Eaters attacked the Quidditch World Cup?" Regulus asked, though he didn't seem too fazed. "Oh. Which team won, though?"

"Bulgaria caught the snitch, but the Irish team still won," Esmerelda informed him.

His face fell. "Oh, how disappointing. I've always rooted for the Bulgarians."

"So does Uncle Sirius, which is another thing you two have in common." She added.

He scowled in disgust. "How is that fool, anyways?"

"He's doing great actually," she answered airily. "Pretty in love with muggle fashion though. He visits the mall almost twice a day. Also really obsessed with the new phone I stole for him. Likes to annoy Remus by sending him animojis*."

"You have got to let them pay for their own things," he deadpanned. So far she had stolen cellphones, fancy watches, and apparently even tried to steal a bunch of cars for Remus and the Tonks family before Andromeda politely told her that she didn't need to go that far (even though it was Sirius who made the suggestion for her to do it anyways).

"Aww, where's the fun in that?" She whined.

He rolled his eyes. Clearly spending too much time with Sirius had influenced her too much. "So the Quidditch game, do you know anything else about what happened?"

"Oh yeah, the Daily Prophet wrote about it but Sirius said not to believe it too much."

"Did it say anything about Voldemort?" He asked, looking uncomfortable.

She shrugged. "Dunno. I didn't really read it that much. Kinda lost my interest. Voldemort doesn't really scare me that much. I mean, the dude owns a diary and likes anagrams."

He also likes to monologue a lot, Regulus mentally added. Voldemort's fondness for hearing his own voice was what led to him finding out about the horcruxes after all. I swear to gods if I had to hear him say 'I, who have gone further than anybody along the path that leads to immortality' one more time in those bloody meetings, I would've blown myself up. It's a miracle no one had pieced it together yet, what with all his constant bragging.

But Voldemort's narcissistic personality disorder aside, the point was that Regulus still had vital information about his horcrux. He could always tell Esmerelda about that and he had no doubt that she could defeat the snake-headed bastard with ease, but that was kind of the problem.

You see, his daughter was the perfect balance of interest and disinterest for certain events. She was close enough to the Wizarding World to the learn about Voldemort and the brewing war, but distant enough to not care about it. And Regulus was happy about that because if she cared about it, then she would get involved—and the last thing he wanted was for his daughter to be dragged into another war.

She was only fourteen, she shouldn't even be in one in the first place!

So yes, he was a hundred percent certain that his little girl could take Voldemort down, but she was already in enough danger in the mythological world, there was no need to get her sucked into the issues of the magical side. Everything was perfect the way it was (and all he had to do now was pray that his idiot brother would take a leaf out of Esmerelda's book and not get involved too).

"So you're not worried about Voldemort?" He asked her.

"Nah," she replied, which did enough to soothe his fears. "Uncle Sirius seemed worried though. So did the others."

"Don't mind them," he told her. They could influence her and get her sucked into the wizarding war. "Just make sure to focus on your schoolwork."

She made a face of disgust and he snorted at it. "You'll be starting your fourth year, correct? You'd ought to take it seriously, dear, because things will only get harder after that. If you do well enough, you might become prefect."

"Prefect? You mean those really bossy kids who take points away and give out detention?" She frowned.

"You'll be granted a higher authority," he reminded her. "Plus, it means you've been a good student. I was a prefect when I started Hogwarts."

"I figured. Uncle Sirius said you were a nerd."

"There's nothing wrong with that!" He said defensively. "He's just a moron, don't listen to him. But back to what I was saying: try to do good this year, please? Your report card wasn't, erm..." He tried to think of a way to say his next words nicely. "Stellar?"

Her face fell.

"It was still very good though," he added hastily, though it contradicted his previous statement. "I mean, you've got O's in DADA, charms, divination, and study of ancient runes! That's amazing, but, er, maybe you should study a little harder in the more... theoretical subjects?" She had an E in transfiguration, a P in herbology, a D in potions (though he had a feeling Snape graded her lower because of bias) and a T in history of magic because she had the tendency to use that class for naptimes.

"Is it because of the T?" She scowled. "History of magic is useless though! It doesn't even have the right information..." She was still pretty upset that none of the wizards knew that they originated from regular muggles because Hecate was bored one day. She was sure that if they knew that, then there wouldn't be any pureblood supremacists around (maybe).

"It's still important for you to learn..." Not really but he wasn't going to tell her that. "Hey wait a minute, what did Sirius say when he saw your grades?"

"He took me shopping."

Because of course he did.

"Did he encourage you to study harder?"

"No, not really. He just high-fived me and then we went to the mall."

Uuuuurgh, Sirius, you blithering idiot, Regulus inwardly groaned. I should've given my daughter to Andromeda, at least she would've encouraged her to take her studies more seriously!

"Can you at least promise me to try harder this year?" He nearly begged. "I'm not asking for all O's, but maybe you can get the rest of your grades up to an A or higher?"

She made an uncertain face.

"Studying can be fun!" He said in a pained voice.

She looked even more disgusted, but she sighed in defeat. "Oh fine," she said. "I'll... ugh, I'll try to stay awake for history at least."

He let out a breath of relief. "Good."

"But don't get your hopes up too much. I'm usually really busy because there's always something going on in school."

But Regulus was hopeful that this would be a normal year for her. In her first year, she was stuck worrying about the state of her camp because the borders had been poisoned, in her second year she was kidnapped (and oh if he were alive he'd strangle the little shit and relish in watching the light leave his eyes), and in her third year she was stressing herself out about Sirius.

Nothing could go wrong this year, he kept telling himself. Because honestly, she deserved one good year before she was ultimately sent to the frontlines of the war.

So he kept his hopes high that nothing would go wrong in Esmerelda's fourth year.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Harry was dreaming again, but it wasn't like any of his normal dreams. It was more like a terrible vision, like the one where the old Muggle caretaker, Frank, was killed in. He was hoping that this time that nobody would die again because he was getting really tired of witnessing crime scenes.

Rather than being in an old, dying manor, he was inside a more livelier one. Don't get him wrong, the decor could still use some work, but at least it looked somewhat livable.

"Wormtail," said a familiar raspy voice. It was just like the one who ordered for the death of Frank. Again, Harry couldn't see who it was. All he could see was the back of an antique armchair. Whoever spoke must have been really short then.

Peter Pettigrew, old and balding, was kneeling beside the chair. He squeaked fearfully at being addressed.

"Do make us some tea for our dear guest," the soft voice requested. The third figure in the room was also kneeling, head bowed. He had a bony frame and straw-colored hair, and that was pretty much all Harry could see from him.

"Yes, my Lord," Peter squeaked, then scurried out of the room to fetch some tea.

"My loyal follower," the voice murmured. "There is one more mission I acquire from you, in addition to your mission for Harry Potter."

"Anything, my Lord. I'll do anything you desire," the other man breathed, lifting his head up. Harry had never seen the man before but he held a strange resemblance with Barty Crouch Sr.

"Wormtail has come to me with... troubling news." He whispered. "There is a student in Hogwarts. A troublesome girl named Esmerelda Black. Wormtail fears her, claims her to be powerful."

"No one is as powerful as you, Lord Voldemort!" The man cried out, looking insulted at the very thought of it.

"That is true," he agreed. "But I shall remain cautious. I've seen... concerning images in Wormtail's mind. She holds a destructive magic, but she is not of importance, not like Harry Potter... An annoyance is what she is. I want you to get rid of her while you're at Hogwarts. Do not bother yourself with including her in our plans, just kill her. Harry Potter is still my number one goal. The girl is worthless."

"Esmerelda Black," the man breathed out, memorizing her name. "As you wish, my Lord. I will kill her, and no one shall find out. And I will finish my mission for Harry Potter."

Harry shot up awake, breathing heavily and feeling cold sweat gather all over his body. Memories of his dream turned hazy, as did all the names and faces he once saw. All he could remember was one thing: Esmerelda was in danger and he needed to warn her.

— author's note —

* I know that technology doesn't work well with magic around, but there's actually been a lot of instances that say otherwise. For example they use radios??? And cars and shit? I think wizards CAN use technology as long as they combine it with some magic like what Mr. Weasley did, otherwise, it would malfunction. Also, I think technology won't work if it's surrounded by TOO MUCH magic. I like to think Remus' house and the Tonks' abode (because of Ted's muggle influence) don't have too much magic in them unlike with the Weasleys where magic is seen everywhere (like the self-sweeping brooms, the magic used to literally keep the house together, etc) so they would be able to have some tech in their houses.

Draco: I'm so confused, are you my cousin or my mum?

Essie: Yes

Regulus, praying: Pls let nothing go wrong in my daughter's fourth year, she deserves a break

The Fates:

Voldemort to Barty Crouch Jr: Kill Esmerelda Black, it shouldn't be too hard

Barty Crouch Jr: Oh yeah, totally!

Barty Crouch Jr in the future chapters:

Also Voldemort and Crouch Jr: