V
1976 October 12
Evan
They all were sitting together in the library, books open all over their table and quills scattered around. Too focused to notice anything else. Dorcas again was just joining the rest of them from emotional support, she didn’t have to deal with OWLs anymore, since she was a year older then them.
They had quite a bit of time left until exams but weekly study sessions wouldn’t hurt. This was Pandora’s idea, and then quickly backed up by Regulus. Dorcas was constantly poking fun at them for still having to deal with OWLs.
It wasn’t long enough until the actual meaning of annoying chaos entered the library, the gryfindoors, or as they liked to call themselves, the marauders. It’s so stupid, naming your own friend ground like you’re in a gang, or maybe even a cult, In Evan’s opinion.
Near the end of the library, out of the corner of Evan’s eye, he can see the seventh year boys studying together, Selwyn is sitting with them. Evan can’t understand why he feels so special when Selwyn just as much as smiles at him. He’s being so fucking stupid. He remembers that they both kissed and he also remembers the fact that he actually enjoyed it.
It’s not like Evan was freaking out about kissing Regulus, (they both agreed to never do that again) it’s just stupid Selwyn. He reminds Evan too much of Barty.
Speaking of, Barty’s sitting next to Evan, a book open on his lap and an empty sheet of parchment in front of him, he’s running his fingers through his hair again like somethings just frustrated him. Grumbling something underneath his breath.
Regulus is sitting to Evan’s left, he looks like he got more work done in ten minutes then the rest of them (except Pandora) did in one hour. His neat handwriting slightly smudged on his hands.
Dorcas looks distracted, she’s not even paying attention to what book she had open on her side of the table, she’s just fiddling with a sliver bracelet, with a slight frown.
Pandora too, is writing something down, she had multiple sheets of parchment scattered around her. Evan isn’t quite sure what’s she’s studying, he isn’t even sure if it’s related to their year material. Probably something about her mythical creatures.
Barty slightly nudges Evan to get his attention, “get up rosy, time to go.”
“Oh,” Evan looks at his pocket watch stored in his pocket.
They were walking to the great hall together for dinner, when they ran into Sirius Black and Potter.
“Reggie.” Black taunted him, with a sly smirk. He was casually leaning against a wall.
“What do you want?” Regulus asked him.
“Just wanted to know how my baby brother’s been doing.”
Barty stood next to Regulus, and wrapped his arm around his shoulder, they all knew Regulus wasn’t too fond of physical touch but he could tell that Barty was trying to make sure he wouldn’t get hurt.
“How’ve you been doing Black?” This time, it was Barty taunting him. “Where’s your boyfriend gone? You know, the tall hot one.”
Evan noticed that at the mention of Lupin, all the color seemed to drain out of his face, this time, Potter spoke,
“fuck off Crouch.”
“You started this.” He said.
“Reg, Barty, let’s go.” Pandora said, grabbing both of their hands. Trying to avoid an altercation.
They all listened to her, she was definitely the one with the most sense out of their little group. She was the one that kept their peace.
Regulus and Barty were walking in front of the three of them, Barty still had his arm armed around Regulus’ shoulders. They were muttering something to each other, something Evan couldn’t hear.
At the great hall, they took their regular seats, but Pandora left them to go sit with the ravenclaws. Evan’s been noticing that Pandora who already spent most of her free time with her “friend” had been spending even more time with him.
It wasn’t his business but he did feel some sort of protective instinct around his sister. If she was dating some dude, Evan will take it upon himself to make sure he’d never hurt his sister. Evan’s not a violent person, but if he does, Evan will seriously hurt this dude.
The seventh years were sitting beside them, Evan honestly couldn’t even remember any of their names, but Barty knew them, almost like a second friend group, the three girls and three guys. Evan was pretty sure that they’d all hooked up at one point.
Barty was talking to one of the seventh year girls animatedly, using his hands. Evan doesn’t care enough to listen in, he’s trying to figure out why he feels so possessive over him.
Barty turns back to Evan, “you know what I’m talking about right?”
“Wait what?” Evan clears his throat. “Sorry, wasn’t paying attention.”
“The muggle thing, the big black box.” He said as if it was the most normal thing. Evan still had no idea what he was talking about.
“What?”
Barty rolled his eyes at Evan before turning to Dorcas and explaining what he was trying to say. Somehow, after a lot of back and forth, Dorcas finally realized that he was talking about a tv.
“Genius that one,” he said, going back to talking to the seventh year girl. She was rather pretty if Evan was being honest, she had short blond hair that reached her shoulders, and the ends of it were dyed a light shade of green. It seems like something Barty would do.
——
That night they all met in the boys’ dorm again, it was their hangout spot. They were rarely in the common room, and it made more sense for them to be in the boys’ dorm. Pandora and Dorcas had their own roommates, they probably wouldn’t like the fact that four other people are constantly coming in and out.
Dorcas and Barty were passing a joint back and forth, Pandora was drawing on Evan’s hand with her muggle pen, and Regulus was sitting on the floor, his back against his bed and a cigarette in his hand.
At some point, Regulus stopped caring about the smell of smoke. Maybe it’s because of Pandora’s spells. Evan didn’t even know that Regulus smoked, it’s probably a habit that rubbed off on him through both Barty and Evan.
“You know, muggles have their own sort of divination,” Pandora said, inspecting Evan’s hand. “They use the lines on their hands to find out about their future. It’s called palmistry.”
“Read my future.” Evan told her as he held his hand out for her. He watched as she dug around her back for a book filled with different types of hands.
“Okay Evan…” she trailed off, flipping through pages of the book. “Your love life line’s very faint.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She shrugged her shoulders then went back to flipping through more pages of her book. “Your life line’s pretty faint too.”
“Fuck I can’t die young,” he said with the most dramatics he could. “I’m too beautiful.”
“Evan stop being a drama queen, you know this is all bullshit right?” Dorcas tried to ease his mind. “I mean, no way you’re going to die young because of some stupid line of your hand.”
Now it was Evan’s turn to shrug, he knows Dorcas is right, no way he’s gonna die because his hands have lines on them.
“Oh well, at least you’re going to be rich soon. Really rich.” Pandora told him.
“That’s all I need to know.” He said, pulling his hand back. “Read Reg’s hand, I’m sure that’ll be more interesting.”
“Alright,” Pandora said, taking a seat on the floor, in front of Regulus. “Salazar, your hands are cold.”
“Just tell me my future.”
Pandora muttered something to herself before looking up at Regulus. “You’re life line’s…”
“What am I gonna die soon?” He asked sarcastically.
“No, it’s just.. I don’t understand.” Pandora said, now flipping more aggressively through her book. “You have one relationship line which is also very faint, and your life line’s very faint, almost like it’s not there.”
“Dora, you know I don’t believe in this shit. It’s not true. I’m not going to die soon.” He reassured her.
“I really hope you’re right. Wouldn’t want you to die too young either.”
Barty was tugging on Evan’s sleeve, practically begging for his attention. “Evan look what I learnt the other day.” He said, then took his wand out and was trying to transfigur an old piece of parchment into a live animal. Regulus had to step in to stop him.
Both him and Dorcas burst out into a fit of giggles, cons of being high. “I want chocolate.” Barty stated.
“Well we don’t have any,” Regulus said. “Barty, please sit down, away from the window.” He said when Barty started to lean against the wall with their little window.
“Evan come with me to the kitchens, we’re going to find chocolate.” He said, again tugging on his sleeve.
“Barty, we haven’t even had dinner yet, you are not going to get chocolate.” Evan said.
He crossed his arms over his chest, “you guys no fun.”
Evan stuck his tongue out at him. After all, they were only kids that still needed to be reminded not to have dessert before dinner.
“How are we going to take them down in this state?” Pandora asked.
“We just make sure they keep their mouths shut.” Evan replied.
——
During dinner, Barty was not able to keep his mouth shut. In fact he was talking way more than he usually did. He’d thrown himself over the same sixth year year from the party, Beth, he finally remembered her name.
At least Dorcas was acting normal. She was talking with Regulus, she was going on a rant about her stupid potions partner, who apparently blew up some seeds underneath the full moon. How that was possible, will be a mystery for Evan.
Pandora apparently had made the decision to sit with the Ravenclaws instead of her own housemates. Evan could see her, she looked as if she was in a deep debate with another girl. Beside her, Evan could see a familiar head of hair, it was Arabelle.
Evan and her were still meeting up in the library, now 4 times a week. It’s not like they got much studying done, instead they talked. Obviously Evan didn’t enjoy sharing much about his family, so instead, he let Arabelle talk about her family.
He learnt that both of her parents are muggles, and she’s their only child, but she does have a muggle cousin who she’s close with. From what Evan’s heard, her parents sound nice.
Their meeting in the library tomorrow again, he’s hoping to get some actual studying done, turns out, Arabelle’s amazing at arithmancy. She says that all muggles have to do that in school. So luckily, having her help him with his arithmancy homework gets him a good grade.
After dinner, they were all back to hanging out in the boys’ dorm. Well, everyone but Pandora, who’d gone back to her dorm because she was tired. So it was just the four of them.
Evan wrapped his warm blankets around his shoulders. There was about the slytherin dorms, it was always much colder here than anywhere else in the castle, or maybe it was just the fact that they were underground.
For some reason, Barty was studying, or maybe not studying but he was reading a book, and no one had to force him too. At this point Evan had just assumed that Barty was allergic to books, but today, he was laying on his bed with some book (Evan couldn’t tell what it was) in his hands.
“You think we could smuggle in a tv into our dorm?” Barty asked, sitting up from his bed. “We could steal it and use a shrinking charm.”
Evan tilted his head to the side, looking at Barty, “why do you want a tv?”
“It’s cool, imagine how people would refer to us, the kids that snuck a tv into school.”
“Barty, that wouldn’t even work here,” Regulus said. “People used to try and bring record players here, they didn’t work.”
“People? Reg, who told you that? We’re your only friends.” Dorcas said. “And it’s not like you’re going out of your way to talk to people.”
Regulus scoffed at her, “I can talk to other people.”
“Who?” Barty asked him.
If looks could kill, Barty would be lying dead on their floor. In Regulus’ defence, none of them were really close with other people. Acquaintances at best. Most of their time was spent hanging out with each other ever since they were eleven and twelve. It didn’t give them much time to bond with anyone else.
They heard the door creaking open, it was Pandora, who’d apparently came back to join them. She did in fact look quite tired though, she was wearing a dark blue sweater that looked too big to be hers.
“Pandora, do not lie to me right now,” Dorcas said. “Is that your sweater?”
“No, it’s Xenophillus’.” She said with a bright grin.
Barty stepped closer to Pandora, “are you finally, you know, together?”
She let out a dreamy sigh, before quickly nodding her head, falling onto Barty’s bed.
“When?” Dorcas asked.
“Saturday night, you remember when I left?”
Dorcas hummed, she looked like a proud mother, proud of her child.
“That’s when we talked about being together and how we’d make it work.” She said she was still laying in Barty’s bed. “We’d make it work once he leaves Hogwarts. He is in his sixth year after all.”
“Pandora, when do we get to meet this guy?” Regulus asked. “I need to set a couple things straight with him.”
They’ve all been overprotective of each other, Dorcas once said that they were like wolves, you mess with one and it brings the whole pack, or something like that. It’s not like she was wrong, if anyone were to hurt any of his friends, They would resort to murder.
“One day.” Pandora replied to Regulus.
“Pandora you’re blushing.” Barty teased her.
She threw a pillow at him before asking, “what are you reading?”
“Oh it’s some muggle book Beth gave to me.” Barty said. “It’s a murder mystery. She thinks I’ll like it.”
“Barty, can you read?” Regulus asked him, from across the room.
This time, it was Barty throwing a pillow at Regulus’ head, he had a horrible aim though which made him miss, he was also still high, it probably wasn’t a good idea for either Dorcas or Barty to get high on a school night.
#####
1976 October 13
Barty
He still hadn’t written back to his father, it’s not like he forgot to, it’s just that he had no idea what to write, how the hell was he supposed to reply to the fact that his own mother might be dying soon. It wasn’t specified in his letter.
It was a Wednesday night, he was planning to wait until Sunday night to try and write something to his mother. Maybe bring up her high hopes. Lift her spirits or some shit, Evan told him that it’d be a good idea.
Ever since Barty told Evan about his mother, Evan kept on looking at him weirdly, he’d caught his gaze still lingering on Barty, and he had some pitying look in his eyes. This is why Barty doesn’t tell anyone anything.
He doesn’t want to be pitied by his friends, he hates that with a burning passion. He hates the way everyone expects him to crumble and they have to tiptoe around specific topics in conversation.
Right now, he’s sitting in front of the common room fireplace, hugging his knees close to his chest. It’s one thirty in the morning and Barty knows that he should try and get some sleep but he just can’t, he’s thinking about too many things right now.
The common room after curfew is probably one of his favorite places to be. It’s quiet, no one’s talking, it’s not filled with loose parchments and books, and you can actually hear the lake. Almost like it’s flowing with the wind.
He swiftly turns around when he hears someone coming up to the common room, of course it was Evan. They’re both insomniacs, none of them have ever had proper sleep schedules.
“Can’t sleep?”
“Yeah.”
They sat there for while, in silence, listening to the fire crack, the waves of the water. Evan looked like an angel, with the fire illuminating his face, making his face look softer and his eyes looked more angelic.
“Have you written back to your dad?” Evan asked, finally breaking the silence.
“Not yet.” He said. “I’ll write back sometime this week.”
Evan hummed, they both fell back into their comfortable silence. Barty’s leaning his head on Evan’s shoulder, who doesn’t seem to mind.
“I was thinking-“
“Must be hard for you.” Evan interrupted him.
Barty shoved him to the side, “as I was saying,” he continued. “One day, all of us should just run away, you know.”
“What do you mean?”
“Once we’re all done with Hogwarts we should run away to like America or something.
“America?”
“You name a better country.”
Evan thought about it, “France, I’ve always wanted to go.”
“I’m sure you and Reg would love that,” Barty grinned. “With your little French wine and bread.”
Evan shoved him again, his touch gentle though. Barty had no idea why he wanted to leave, maybe it’s their world of magic that he hates. So full of hate and prejudice. But then again, it wasn’t like muggles were saints.
“Or maybe Greece.”
“You can’t even speak their language.”
“I’ll learn it. One day, we’ll all be old, rich, hot and we’ll be living in Greece. Maybe then we could set you up with a nice girl that I approve of.”
Evan scoffed, “I need your approval to date girls now?”
Barty hummed in response. “Can’t have my future nieces and nephews being assholes.”
“Okay that’s enough.” Evan said, breaking his train of thoughts.
They let the silence consume their conversation. Barty was still resting his head on Evan’s shoulder, the fire was still going, and they both were still sitting close to the fire, knees drawn up.
“You remember that one time,” Evan said, he could hear the drowsiness in his voice. “In second year when Sophie Chambers asked you out for Valentine’s Day and you started crying because you couldn’t say no?”
Barty felt his face heating up. The three of them (Reg, Evan and Barty) had agreed to never bring that up again. Sophie Chambers was his fellow housemate and Pandora’s dorm mate. Now that they were older, both of them laughed at their stupidity.
“Fuck you Evan, I thought you weren’t gonna bring that up.” Barty gently shoved Evan.
“I remember once we’d finally gotten you to stop crying, you asked me for my approval to date her.” Evan said with a light chuckle.
Barty gasped in mock hurt. “I was twelve.”
Evan was now laughing harder at him, Barty could kill him, but he looked so beautiful, so carefree, the light of the fire still illuminating his face, and making it look like he had a halo above his head.
“Evan if you don’t stop laughing I will throw you into the fucking fire.” He threatened.
“Okay okay,” he said, catching his breath, any traces of drowsiness gone. A smile still on his face. “You have to admit, it was kinda funny though.”
“Fuck you Rosier.”
“You love me.” He retorted.
Barty grumbled underneath his breath and rolled his eyes. If he was being completely honest, as many times as Barty may have said that he hates any of his friends, he’d rather die than have to live without them. No way in hell would he survive in a world without them, his family.
He was now sitting in front of Evan, he could see how tired he really was, he also knew that the only reason Evan was up was because of Barty. He was lucky to have a friend like him, someone who’d stay up with him and help fight his demons.
——
Barty woke up in the common room, leaning against a sofa and Evan beside him. His blonde curls messed up. Evan and him really should stop falling asleep together, knowing that Hogwarts was full of gossips (including him and his friends) people would start talking.
It still was quite early in the morning, no one was in the common room, all of them still probably blissfully asleep in their own dorms. He could make out the rays of sun filtering in through the water. The fire had died down and all that remained was the ash and burnt sticks.
“Evan, wake up.” He whispered, trying to not startle him.
His eyes fluttered open, his beautiful blue eyes. They reminded him of the muggle beaches he’s been to with his mother as a kid, the warm sun falling over the ocean and making it sparkle.
“What time is it?” He asked, his voice groggy.
“Somewhere around six thirty, let’s go back to the dorm.” He was still whispering
Evan groaned, rubbing his eyes with his palm. “Why the fuck is it so cold.”
He shrugged his shoulders, “let’s go back to the dorm.”
Evan wordlessly got up and followed him back to their shared dorm, the same one that they’ve had since they were eleven, the same dorm that holds some of Barty’s most cherished memories. Every year, their dorm feels like it’s getting smaller, at eleven, he remembers that he thought it was huge, now at 15, it feels smaller.
The two boys both fell into their own beds, trying to be as quiet as possible, Regulus was a light sleeper, and any sudden movement would wake him up and make him moody for the rest of the day. That was something Barty did not want to deal with.
In an hour they’d all be up, getting their uniforms on, getting ready for the day. In two hours he’d be down in the great hall eating breakfast with his friends. After classes, their all going back to the library, now it just feels like Pandora hates them all and is trying to torture them. Why the fuck were they spending three hours (almost everyday) in the library.
Pandora also had insisted that it was a good idea for Barty since he was aiming for twelve OWLS, she said that now he really needed to get more serious about his school work.
Barty remembers the exact moment he’d decided that he was going to make Hogwarts history, he was going to get twelve OWLS, something no one had achieved. It was during Easter break of his fourth year, his father was going on one of his daily rants about how he wished he had a better son. A smarter son. He’d made multiple quips about how being an average student was never going to get him anywhere in life.
Barty never tried in school, he knew he could do better on all of his assignments and essays if he really wanted to, but he never did, his father wanted a smart son, and Barty being himself, wasn’t going to give him that pleasure.
He never had a good relationship with his father, he never understood why his father hated him, almost like he’d decided to hate Barty because he was born. He heard his mother try to convince him that his father did like him, her excuse was that he was always so caught up in his work that he never had time.
Barty’s father also had ruined his mum’s life, he never asked her about it, but he remembers them fighting, he remembers when his mother yelled about him promising her lies. He remembers being nine, his mum tucked him into his bed while she would fight with his father.
He never slept, he heard every word that was said, he heard the doors slamming and his mum sobbing behind it. He heard his father calling her vile names that no kid should ever hear. He always heard them.
He always wished for his mum to pack her bags, take Barty and leave him. Go anywhere but that house, the house that was killing her. This summer, she told his father that she was getting on a muggle plane and going to Italy to visit her family. She never waited for him to say anything, she announced her leaving and took off. Barty thought that he’d never see his mother again, that was for the best. But during the last week of August, she’d come back.
For the first couple of days, she’d looked happier, much more full of life. But again, every time Barty would go up to his own room, he’d hear her fighting with his father.
His father rarely got physical, but when he did, it was something he wished he could forget, his father never hurt his mother, it was always Barty he struck. He remembers having to hide dark purple bruises underneath his long sleeves in the summer.
He didn’t like to think about his family situation, it was something he shoved in the back of his mind, but this early morning really has him thinking about it. Maybe it’s his lack of sleep.
He honestly had no idea when the hour he had to sleep in his own bed had gone by, he heard both Regulus and Evan walking around their dorm and getting ready. He sat up straight in bed, still leaving his curtains closed, he was trying to convince himself that he wasn’t tired.
——
The great hall was buzzing with chatter and high pitched voices. Regulus and Dorcas were sitting in front of Barty and Evan, they both had a clear view of the Gryffindor table, he could see them coming in from their early morning quidditch practices.
“Why the fuck is he shirtless.” Evan asked, following Barty’s line of sight and pointing to Potter.
Barty shrugged, despite how deep his hatred for Potter ran, he had to admit, he was good looking. Actually, scratch that, his whole friend group was hot. Barty wasn’t gay or anything, he liked girls, but he also knew that the Gryffindors were hot. But he’d rather die than admit that. Regulus would kill him if he ever said something about Black looking hot.
Barty also had a clear view of the Ravenclaw table, he could see Pandora sitting beside Lovegood, (he finally remembered his name) and some other girl, they were all talking about something and laughing.
“I’m going to kill McKinnon.” Dorcas announced.
“Why? What’d she do now?” Evan asked.
Dorcas groaned, running a hand over her face, “I finally found a vial of belladonna, and you know what she did?”
“What?” Barty asked, now intrigued by her story.
“She put it in our cauldron too early.” She said, gripping her mug so tightly that her knuckles were turning white.
“So you guys have to restart now?” Evan asked.
Dorcas hummed, her distress evident in her dark eyes. He had no idea why Slughorn thought it was a good idea to pair students from different houses up, one time he did that to Barty’s class and he was working with some Hufflepuff bitch who only knew how to complain.
“I could ask Slughorn to see if he could spare a vial of belladonna for you.” Regulus said.
“You think he’d give it to you?” She asked.
“I can say that I need it. Slughorn has his favorites.”
Regulus was right, Slughorn did tend to pick favorites, he also never tried to hide it. Regulus was good at playing the role of the teacher's pet. He practically had Slughorn wrapped around his finger.
“Reg if you do,” Dorcas said. “I will literally do anything for you.”
Regulus rolled his eyes at her dramatics, the corners of his mouth turning up. “I’ll see what I can do for you.”
“Reg you are an angel.”
Barty scoffed, “more like a devil in disguise.”
Regulus kicked him underneath the table. Barty innocently grinned at him, choosing to ignore the fact that Regulus assaulted him.
Soon enough they were off, heading to their first class of the day, potions, which was going to be as boring as ever. The whole week they’d been focusing on potions theory, which meant Slughorn would talk, and they’d all take notes.
Their next class was charms, which again, they were focusing on theory. Barty was resting his head on the table, he was sitting next to Regulus, Evan and Pandora in front of them, he fought the urge to fall asleep.
Their last class before lunch was history of magic, which was the worst class to take. If Barty didn’t have anything to prove, he would be taking a minimum amount of classes.
In Binns’ class, Barty was sitting next to Evan in the back. Binns’ was reading something off of a book, most of the students were already falling asleep the moment he started talking.
“We should get a pet.” Barty whispered to Evan, trying to be as quiet as he could.
“Are you serious?”
“Dead,” he said. “A nice little cat.”
Evan looked offended, “if we ever did get a pet, it’d be a nice little dog.”
“Those things make too much noise, I mean try to sleep with that in our dorm.”
“You make too much noise, yet Reg and I still sleep.”
Binns was looking in their direction, his ghostly eyes narrowed at them, “boys, that’s enough.”
They both quieted down for a bit before Barty nudged Evan again and asked, “what do you mean I make noise?”
“You’re always pacing for some reason.”
“Okay that’s not all the time.”
“Most of the- “Crouch, Rosier, I’ve had enough of you two, Crouch get up and you come and sit here,” Binns interrupted, pointing to a desk right in front of him, there wasn’t anyone sitting there.
With a sigh, he picked his textbook up and sat at the desk in front of him. There wasn’t anyone sitting in the front row, he noticed. Maybe they all liked to sit in the back and sleep.
Finally, when Binns dismissed his class, they all went back down to the great hall to meet up with Dorcas and grab some lunch.
The rest of the day continued in a blur, classes went by, their professors tried to prepare them for their upcoming exams, some of them even assigned absurd amounts of homework, all due on Monday. There went his weekend. He bitterly thought to himself.
#####
Regulus
After dinner Regulus went to go find Slughorn and coax a vial of essence of belladonna from him. He was going to say that he needed it for a potion he wanted to try making. He was walking down the stairs to the find Slughorn. He had prefect patrol with Evans again tonight. He was just waiting for this week to be over.
He opened the door to the potions class and instead of Slughorn sitting at his desk, he saw Sirius and Potter in there, cleaning up spills with sponges.
The two Gryffindor boys froze for a second when he noticed Regulus standing there, he met Sirius’ eye, still remembering the last conversation they had on the astronomy tower. Potter’s eyes seemed to linger on Regulus for an uncomfortably long three seconds before he went back to cleaning.
Sirius spoke, “Slughorn’s in his office.”
Regulus nodded, before pushing the door closed with too much force, more then he intended. Luckily Slughorn’s office was right in front of the potions room, he didn’t have to walk across the castle again.
He knocked on the door, not wanting to disturb him. He heard his footsteps inching closer to the door before he swung it up.
“Hello Mr. Black, is there anything you need?” He asked, letting Regulus step into his office, it was quite messy, papers and ink pots scattered across his desk. There were a couple frames hanging from the wall. Some of them were pictures, from his Slugclub meetings. Some of the other frames looked to be letters from his past students.
“Professor, I wanted to try brewing something,” he said carefully, trying to sound earnest. “A pixie potion.”
“I’ve always encouraged students to brew potions on their own time and with your expertise it's going to make an amazing potion.”
This wasn’t his first time brewing stuff out of class so it helped make his lie seem more believable. It also helped that Regulus was one of his favorite students. Once when he was eleven, he’d done something that impressed him and since then, he’d become one of his favorites.
“Thank you,” he said, sounding flattered. “I just wanted to ask if you have a spare vial of belladonna essence?”
“Oh yes, I always keep spare vials in my classroom. Come on, let’s go back to my class and I’ll give you the vial.”
Fuck he had to go in his classroom? That meant having to face Sirius again, he hoped that Sirius and Potter were done cleaning whatever mess he was pretty sure they made.
The door swung open, and again, he was met with stares from Sirius and Potter. They both shared a look between each other before turning back to Slughorn and Potter asked, “Anything wrong?”
“Oh no, just need something from my closet.” Slughorn said. Regulus followed him to the other end of the class, he felt like a little child as he stood there waiting for Slughorn to unlock his closet.
“How many do you need?” He asked once he finally got the closet open.
“Just one.”
He pulled out a box filled with three vials, the liquid was a light purple, exactly what Dorcas needed. He used another spell to open the box and reached in to grab a bottle. He held the vial in his hand, giving it to Regulus.
“Now I must warn you, you must keep this away from your mouth and eyes at all times, it could cause serious problems.”
He could feel Sirius staring at him, burning holes into the back of his head, “of course. Thank you professor.” He muttered before walking out of the classroom.
He had an hour to spare, before he met up with Evans to patrol. He was speed walking through the halls, he assumed that Dorcas was in the Slytherin common room, probably hanging out with the rest of his friends.
But first, he needed to check a couple books out from the library. In the library, at one of the corner tables, he could see Evan and Arabelle Harkin sitting together at a table. Regulus knew it wasn’t his place to go and interrogate him, but he will tonight, after his rounds.
The Hogwarts library didn’t have many muggle books, he’d read all of them when he was eleven since anything muggle was banned in his house. It was his little tradition, every year he reread the muggle books. This week, he was reading The Exorcist. That book scared the shit out of him when he was eleven, but now at fifteen, he can appreciate it, a classical horror book.
Dorcas once asked him why he liked muggle books, she thought that, because of how he was raised, he wouldn’t dare look at anything muggle. He’d simply told her that he liked to read and literature was literature. No matter the author.
He was again speed walking through the halls to get to the dungeons, it sucked that all the common rooms were all on the corners of Hogwarts, all of them so far away from anything else.
Once he finally made it to his dorm, he saw Dorcas and Barty leaning against their bedposts, passing a joint back and forth. Of course they were getting high.
“Hey Cas I got the belladonna,” he said, setting his bag on the ground, and taking his robe off.
“Oh Reg you are a darling.” Dorcas said, she looked like she was struggling to keep her laugh in.
“I’m gonna leave it in your bag.”
“Alright.” She said before her and Barty broke out into hysterics. Regulus rolled his eyes at them.
“Reggie, where you going?” Barty drawled.
“Patrolling.”
“No, don't leave.” Barty said, who was now sitting cross legged on the floor.
“I’ll be back soon,” and with that, he left his dorm, going to the fourth floor where he and Evans had been meeting up. Honestly patrolling with Evans isn’t too bad, sure there are people he would rather be with, but she isn’t too bad.
“Black,” Evans says.
“Evans.” He replies.
They fall into step with each other, walking silently through the halls, making sure no one’s out past curfew. Regulus hopes that they don’t catch anyone out past curfew, it’s getting annoying having to break up different fights every night.
Last night, they found two seventh years fighting over a girl. There were many curses and hexes thrown out, the two boys needed to be taken to the infirmary. One of them looked unrecognizable, his face was so swollen. The other boy had both of his arms double in size, it was gross.
They were walking down a corridor when they heard sounds coming from the broom closet. Evans and him shared a look, they’d also had to catch many couples making out, it wasn’t something Regulus wanted to see.
Evans swung the door open, and inside was a couple, a blonde girl and a dark haired boy. Oh fuck it was just Regulus’ luck this week, he’d ran into his older brother more times then he needed too, this was probably the worst, the girl’s shirt was unbuttoned, her hair was messy and her cheeks flushed. Sirius was standing there looking dumbfounded.
“What the fuck,” Regulus muttered to himself.
“Black, Collins, ten points off of Gryffindor for sneaking out.” Evans scolded. “And make yourselves decent. Put a shirt on Black.
Sirius rolled his eyes at her before turning to his girlfriend (?) Regulus was pretty sure that he and Lupin had something going on, guess not anymore. That explains why he looked like Barty struck him when he mentioned Lupin.
Regulus was pointedly staring at the ground, the sight in front of him made him want to gauge his eyes out with a knife. He’d rather be anywhere else, but here he is, walking around the corridors with Evans.
Evans and Regulus watched as the two Gryffindors turned the corner and started walking back to their tower. Regulus and Evans soon turned around to resume their laps.
“I really hate him.” Evans declared, almost out of nowhere.
That surprised Regulus, he knew that Evans wasn’t a fan of their group but he’d thought that they might at least tolerate each other since they were in the same house and year.
“Yeah me too.”
“I mean who does he think he is,” she said, sounding infuriated. “He just prances around the castle like he owns the place.”
“Finally someone who isn’t completely blind.”
“I don’t understand why people like them, I mean try having them in your classes.”
“Them?”
“The whole lot of them, except for Remus.”
“I thought you’d enjoy having Potter being obsessed with you.” He said. He then watched as she stopped walking and crossed her arms over her chest.
“You think,” she started, Regulus knew it was wrong to bring up Potter around her. “That I like having someone constantly embarrass himself when I just as much as walk into the same room as him?”
“I really used to think you liked him.” He simply said.
“I’d rather die. I mean seriously, I doubt he even knows how to read.”
“You deserve better Evans.”
She glanced over at him, like she was trying to figure out the hidden meaning of what he meant by that. Truth be told, there was no hidden meaning behind his words. He just thought Evans should gain some self respect and punch Potter in the face. She really did deserve better.
“Thanks,” she said as they finished their rounds. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”
And with that, Regulus was walking back down the corridor, not to go to his dorm though, he was going to go to the astronomy tower again, finish the book Dorcas lent him.
He sped up the narrow staircase and opened the door, beside the door, sitting by themselves, he saw none other then James Potter. He was sitting there with his knees drawn up to his chest, his eyes red rimmed. He wanted to ask what was wrong but they weren’t friends. Regulus hated him.
“Fucking hell are all of you guys just sneaking out tonight?” He asked, not really expecting an answer.
He hummed. “You find Sirius doing something stupid?“
How ironic is it that he runs into the one and only James Potter right after talking to Evan’s about him, now he might as well just become their couple therapist. Actually screw that, if he has to listen to Potter bitch about how a girl doesn’t like him, he will jump off this tower.
“Yes, I want to take my own eyes out now.”
He chuckled, all the sadness leaving him, he had no idea why someone like him had anything to be sad about, he had the perfect friends that were always there for him, his parents loved him and he could have anyone in this castle, girl or boy.
“What are you reading?” He asked, like he was talking to an old friend.
“Jane Eyre. I don’t think you’ll know it, it’s a muggle book.”
“You? Reading a muggle book?”
He let out a sigh, what is with these people disturbing him whenever he just wants to be alone. “Literature is literature, I don’t really care, if it’s good I’ll read it.”
“So you’re not a bigoted asshole?”
“Fucks sake Potter.”
“Have you ever realized that you mumble too much? I can’t hear you.”
He remembers when he was nine years old, when his father yelled at him for mumbling, and said that he needed to open his mouth up and speak. He always tried to be louder but he just couldn’t. His mother once sent him to some speech therapist but he still never dropped the habit.
“Fuck you.” He said, louder.
“When?” He smirked, Regulus wanted nothing more than to wipe that disgustingly smug smirk off of his face.
“Don’t you have someone else to bother?” He snapped.
“Nope.”
Regulus tried ignoring him after that, he opened his book and tried to read, but couldn’t process anything. All he could think about was the fact that James Potter was sitting right beside him. His eleven year old self probably would have killed him, yet now, Regulus feels intrigued by him, he wants to know more about him. It’s not like he’s going to ask him or anything.
“What star is that?” He asked, pointing to something in the sky.
Regulus closed his book, he looked up to where Potter was pointing. “That’s a constellation, Cetus.”
“Cetus? That’s a stupid name.”
“It’s Greek, Cetus was a sea monster.”
“Then why’s it up there?”
Regulus rolled his eyes, “The Greek gods, Perseus and Heracles had to defeat the sea monster.”
“Is that true?”
“No, those are just legends.”
“Where’d you learn these legends from.”
“My cousin,” he said simply. “She was interested in Greek mythology.”
Before Hogwarts, before Andromeda ran away, she used to recite Greek stories to Sirius and him, every time they’d meet up, she’d show them the constellations, sometimes she’d quiz them. By that rate, Regulus had most of the constellations memorized by heart. It gave him a nice advantage in astronomy.
“My mum likes Greek mythology,” he said. “She used to tell me stories of some warriors and shit. I never really paid attention.”
“You should have, it’s interesting.”
He shrugged, “I was five. You think a five year old cares about some dude who fell in love with her own reflection?”
“Narcissus.” He said quietly.
“What?”
“That’s the guy that fell in love with his own reflection.”
“Interesting.” Potter muttered.
Regulus abruptly got up, “I’m going back to my dorm. You should too before I take off more points from Gryffindor.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Five.”
“Alright alright, I’m going.” Him and Regulus walked down to cascading stairs, before they turned their own separate ways, Potter turned around and said, “Night Black.”