Crouch family

"Your Dementor has just destroyed the last remaining member of a pure-blood family as old as any — and see what that man has chose to make of his own life!"

- Albus Dumbledore to Cornelius Fudge about the last Crouch.

Crouch is the surname of a pure-blood wizarding family, and one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. They are related to the Black, Yaxley, Longbottom, Weasley, and other known pure-blooded families.

Overview
"So old Crouch lost it all, just when he thought he had it made. One moment, a hero, poised to become the Minister for Magic... next, his son dead, his wife dead, the family name dishonoured, and [...] a big drop in popularity."

- Sirius Black on what he heard about the Crouch's misfortune.



The Crouches were a family of high status within the wizarding community. Bartemius Crouch Sr. was a high-ranking and influential officer in the Ministry of Magic, and it was widely believed that he would have become Minister for Magic. The family's fortunes however took a turn for the worse when it was discovered that Barty Jr. was a Death Eater. As Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Crouch gave his son a life sentence in Azkaban, but fulfilled his dying wife's last wish which was to switch her with her imprisoned son with the assistance of Polyjuice Potion. Due to such bad publicity, the Crouch family's status plummeted and Crouch Sr. was demoted and shunned aside.

The last two members of the clan was served by a house-elf named Winky, until she was dismissed when her guardianship of Crouch Jr. was deemed unreliable. Bartemius Jr. killed his father in 1995 and received the Dementor's Kiss as a result. After his death, sometime in around 1996, the Crouch family became extinct.

Known Family Members



 * Bartemius Crouch Sr. — a high-ranking Ministry of Magic official.
 * Mrs. Crouch — wife of Barty Crouch Sr. and mother of Barty Crouch Jr.
 * Bartemius Crouch Jr. — son of Barty Crouch Sr. and a Death Eater.
 * Caspar Crouch — husband of Charis Black.
 * Charis Crouch née Black — wife of Caspar Crouch, sister of Callidora Longbottom née Black and Cedrella Weasley née Black.
 * Two unidentified daughters — daughters of Caspar Crouch.
 * An unidentified son of Caspar Crouch.
 * Unidentified grandfather of Bartemius Crouch Sr.

Etymology
Crouch is an English surname as well as a verb, meaning "to bend down; to stoop low" or "to be servilely...to fawn; to cringe", possibly referring to Barty Crouch Jr.'s role as a servant of Lord Voldemort. Furthermore, the River Crouch is a river that flows through the English county of Essex into the North Sea, the location of Azkaban, and Crouch End is an area of London known for having been the home of many writers in the fantasy genre.