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Barty should have been making his escape with his stolen wand.
Should have
But instead, he followed the boy. The way he sat uneasily amidst the celebrating group he was with, his back to a tree, taking his first taste of alcohol, then only pretending to drink aftr that. The way he kept his own wand close. Not in his hand - no, that would be obvious. But just inside his sleeve, a tip peeking out. He suspected the boy had practiced shaking it out into his hand, to be ready to cast.
He'd expected Lily's boy to be as pampered and coddled as Lily Evans herself had been. But this sharp-eyed child watched the world like he was waiting for a blow. He watched the happy group around him like he wasn't permitted to be part of it. Barty hadn't expected that.
Because Barty knew boys like that. Boys like Regulus Black. Like Severus Snape. Like himself.
Boys like that could be recruited.
And that's why he remained near the tent, even after the Weasley family and their guests went to sleep.
When the screams broke out, Lily's boy was the first one out of the tent, already in shoes. He'd apparently slept in his clothes. There was some chaos as the other children were woken, and convinced to dress enough to go and hide in the woods. One of the adult sons handed out sobriety potions to the younger children. The boy pocketed his. Then the adults sent the underage children to hide without any supervision, because they were going to go and help the Ministry. Four of age men were there, and not one could be spared for the six children? Irresponsible.
Barty tailed them.
Lily's boy wasn't the oldest, but he stepped up as the leader, giving directions, keeping them together, pulling in other students that they found - even ones that weren't from Hogwarts. Finally they found a quiet clearing, and Lily's boy organised them into a circle, with the youngest in the centre, the oldest on the outside standing guard.
It was wise. It was sensible. He even made sure the Weasley boy whose wand he'd stolen had found a branch to use as a potential weapon.
Stars, Barty wanted to recruit this one. If he had these instincts at fourteen... imagine what kind of apprentice he could be. He imagined having the training of the boy. Radicalising him. Converting him to the dark. Then together, setting out with him to find and return the Dark Lord to power.
That's where imagination ended. Because what if his Lord still saw Lily's boy as his enemy and ordered him dead?
Then Barty would kill him, that was all.
But it would be a sad loss.
He decided to give him one last test. What would he do if he saw...
"MORSMORDRE!" he shouted, and sent the Dark Mark into the sky. The boy looked first into the sky, seeing the skull and the snake, the beauty of the symbols, but then he turned directly to where Barty was hiding. Barty knew Lily's boy couldn't see him - Barty was still under the cloak - but it was as if their eyes met. The boy's disarming spell was so fast it caught him off guard, just enough for Winky to finally get the upper hand and get the wand off of him and put Barty to sleep.
He woke up in captivity again, this time without Winky, the prison guard he hated nearly as much as he hated his father. Back under the Imperius, until he felt the Dark Mark under his skin grow darker, and it gave him enough will to chip away again.
Back under the Imperius, until he felt the wards tremble, and then his Lord was there.
What did it matter that he was in such a small and lowly body? Barty worshipped him regardless. Begged to be the one to be permitted to serve him in place of the unworthy Wormtail, a job which he did without complaint or even a tremor of disgust, until he was sent to Hogwarts.
Now he really could take Lily's boy on as his apprentice. The boy was rightfully suspicious of the Defense professor - after Barty learned that three out of three had attacked him, he could understand why - but once the entire school, including his best friend, had deserted him - he was desperate for help. What's more, he responded beautifully to encouragement. They had a signal. He would act out in class and get 'detention' when he needed extra help. That detention would be spent training on duelling, discussing wizarding history, magical theory - it was as close to a real apprenticeship as Barty could offer, knowing that Lily's boy was meant to die at the end of the year.
When Harry found out about the dragons - Barty had encouraged him to pay attention to the grounds as spying and sneaking was completely expected - he came to Barty in a panic. Barty talked him down, and they came up with several plans together. The favourite was to begin carving fireproofing runes onto his broom and use it to get the egg.
Quidditch hadn't been cancelled - far from it. Official Quidditch, sure, but the kids organised their own games, including with the foreign students, and Barty acknowledged that Lily's boy might not be as good as Viktor Krum, but he could be in a few years time.
Except that Lily's boy was going to die this year.
Damn it.
Harry succeeded in getting his egg, of course. Tied for first with Delacoeur, who had literally enchanted a dragon, something that had impressed the hell out of the judges. But outflying a dragon was just as impressive. It had gotten him back in the school's good graces, as well as his best friend's.
Barty tried not to resent that it meant he had less time with Lily's boy himself.
He had a dream. He was at the World Cup again. He was with Lily, Evan, Regulus, and Dorcas. Instead of Ireland playing, it was England vs Bulgaria. Harry Potter vs Viktor Krum. The game was incredible - one of the best he'd ever seen, and they were all shouting themselves hoarse for Lily's boy. Finally Lily's boy and Krum were diving for the Snitch, and Lily's boy caught it just a fingertip's touch ahead of Krum. He held it up triumphantly, and soared around the arena, before landing in front of their group with a big grin on his face. He looked good as a grown man.
Then Dark Mark rose over the arena and screams broke out.
Lily's boy stared up at the Mark, then he looked at the four of them. "Oh. We're dead."
His body shifted, as if he'd taken polyjuice that was just now reverting, sending him back to the shape of a fourteen year old Harry Potter, his eyes went glassy, and he collapsed to the ground.
Could Barty do this? Even for his Lord?
The next time Lily's boy came for training, Barty-as-Moody didn't hold back. He made sure to get him with a cutting spell and then a stupefy.
Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken...
He took a vial full of Potter's blood, put a preservation charm on him, then woke him. Lily's boy never knew what had happened.
Barty never made the Triwizard cup into a portkey. Nor did he influence the maze. He left the champions to work it out, then went to the graveyard to confess his weakness to his Lord, offer Potter's blood and his hand, and then his life. He had no illusions he'd be permitted to live after this.