Barty Crouch Jr., who had disguised himself as Professor Alastor Moody, was making his way across the grounds of Hogwarts; laughing inwardly at his cleverness. A Death Eater was walking proudly across the campus of Hogwarts and no one was the wiser. This put Barty in a good mood. He heard yelling to his right and turned to find Lucius's son, Draco Malfoy, and Harry Potter having a skirmish.

Barty went over to break up the fight, and maybe give the Malfoy kid a detention; he hated Lucius anyway, so what was wrong with a little revenge? But by the time he limped over to where the kids were yelling (how he missed his long, slender legs and powerful strut), Harry was breaking it up and turning to leave. Barty considered doing the same, but then Malfoy drew his wand. Barty was faster and he transfigured Draco into a bleach-white ferret before the kid could even get the spell half-way out of his mouth.

Barty rushed over saying, "Never attack an opponent while their back is turned! It's a cowardly thing to do!" And something Lucius had frequently done to Barty while they'd been in school. Using a simple levitation spell, Barty made the ferret bounce up and down in the air as the kids roared with laughter all around him. It almost made him smile.

"Alastor? What are you doing?" Professor McGonagall ran up next to him.

Barty knew he'd regret this next statement, but he said it anyway, "Teaching."

The kids around him snickered and McGonagall floundered to make sense of what was really going on, "What—Is that a student?"

"Technically," Barty wanted to laugh right along with the other students; he was enjoying himself, "It's a ferret." He felt particularly evil right then, so he dumped the ferret down Crabbe's pants and watched as Goyle tried to retrieve it, but got his finger bit.

The ferret escaped and Barty turned it back into Draco. The boy looked around confused, before spotting Barty and retreating. Barty was going to let him go without a second glance, but then Draco said, "My father will hear about this!"

"Is that a threat?" Barty rushed forward; the last person on this planet that he feared was the pompous brat that was Lucius Malfoy. Barty repeated his phrase a few times as he chased Draco across the courtyard, "I could tell you stories about your father that would curl even your greasy hair!" Barty yelled after the teen as he gave up the chase. If he'd been his normal self, he'd caught the kid and killed him in a heartbeat and without a second thought. But, he was limited to what Alastor Moody's body could do, and that wasn't much.

"Alastor!" McGonagall screeched.

"Busted," Barty mumbled under his breath as he turned around to face the Transfiguration teacher.

"Using transfiguration as a punishment is strictly forbidden! Surely Dumbledore mentioned this." She fixed him with an icy glare that reminded him of the stares his father used to give him when he'd been a kid.

But it wasn't his dad, it was just McGonagall, and he wasn't in THAT much trouble. Maybe. "Yeah, he might've." Barty mumbled, his good mood slowly dissipating.

McGonagall stalked out of the courtyard and left Barty and the students who'd seen the spectacle. "That was brilliant," one student whispered, afraid that McGonagall would somehow hear it.

Barty smiled inwardly, "Well, better get to class," he said and held out his hand for the students to high-five as they passed. He'd never had that much fun before.