Flower of Love

Word spread quickly about the cure. Barty received minimal praise for finding it because students immediately started calling it their own until it seemed like everyone had their own tale of discovery. This ticked Evan off even more so than Barty. 

“That is so not fair.” Evan was pouting on his bed. Him and Barty had just escaped the common room after they had been bombarded by Mulcibur who was raving about how brilliant he was.“The next student who comes at me saying that they found the solution is getting hexed.”

The bed shook from Barty’s laugh. He was laying at the foot of Evan’s bed, his head hanging off one side. “It wasn’t the hardest to figure out. Maybe some of them really did crack it before they got told. But if I hear Greengrass claim it I’ll join you.”

It had taken every ounce of their cunning to convince Edward not to rat on Sirius and instead let whatever Barty’s master plan was handle him. By the time they had swayed him enough to leave them alone, it was too close to their lessons and Barty said he would show them during lunch. 

Regulus walked into the room and stared at the two boys. “You said you left to get dressed.” He was staring pointedly at Barty who was still in his night clothes.

Barty shrugged and sat up. “I will eventually, I never said I would do it right away.”

Regulus rolled his eyes and made to leave again. “Let’s go Evan, maybe if we leave him alone he’ll get bored enough to follow us.” 

Evan hopped off his bed and followed Regulus, barely dodging a pillow Barty had thrown at them. They made their way up to the great hall for breakfast. Although the spell stopped the itching, it did little to ease the redness and swelling, so many Slytherins kept their collars pulled up to their chins, attempting to hide the unsightly scratches that crept over their bodies. 

Evan looked over at the Gryffindor table and found Sirius and his friends trying to hold in their laughter as they saw how disheveled the Slytherin students were. He caught Regulus staring at them as well, but his gaze held just the smallest bit of longing. He often felt the same way, looking too long at where the Ravenclaws sat. Wondering how it would be if either him or Pandora were in the other’s house. Of course his and Regulus’ situations were gravely different. He and Pandora were still very much on speaking terms. They talked everyday and Evan always looked forward to the classes they shared. He had introduced her to his friends and she rather immediately took a liking to Regulus. Hogwarts had created the furthest separation between them that they had ever felt and Evan was still getting used to not always having his sister by his side. But at least they were not at odds.

They ate breakfast and were soon joined by Barty. He never made too much of an effort to look nice. His under shirt was often untucked or his tie too loose and Evan was sure he didn’t even bother with his hair. This had gotten him in trouble with Carrow on several occasions. He had already received one detention for ‘unacceptable appearance.’ 

Charms class felt unusually long that day. Evan accidentally used a little too much force and sent the quill he summoned zooming past his head where it planted itself firmly into the wall. 

By the time he walked into potions the adrenaline of the early morning had worn off and Evan slumped into his chair beside Pandora. 

“What happened to you?” She asked with a laugh. 

“Itching powder. Too early. Flying quills.” He managed to mumble out.

“ Pauvre chéri. ” she smiled and combed a hand through his hair. “Mamon won’t be fond of how long this has gotten.”

Evan just grunted in return. 

“He’s just being dramatic.” Barty hopped onto the desk in front of them, almost knocking over their cauldron. 

Pandora just smiled, “He often is. What did I hear about itching powder? The school has been buzzing with rumors.”

“Oh yeah! So last night Sirius-”

“Someone,” Regulus cut in, shushing Barty. “Snuck in and laced all the beds with itching powder.”

“How did Sir-someone get in?” Pandora asked.

“We think he used an invis-” Regulus smacked Barty with Pandora’s potion book that lay open on the desk. 

“Could you be any louder?” Regulus reprimanded.

“Reg!” Pandora swatted at him with her hand. “We don’t hit people.”

“You hypocrite.” He glared at her, massaging where her hand had landed on his arm.

She just made a face at him in return and spoke again to Barty. “If you know who did it, are you going to tell Dumbledore?”

“Nah, being a snitch is too boring, I’ve got a better plan.” He winked at her.

Pandora’s eyes shone with interest. “What kind of plan?”

“Why don’t you come with us during lunch when I show Evan and Reggie.”

“Reggie agreed to this?” She faked a face of dramatic surprise. “I thought he was the sensible one.”

“I could say the same about you, Dora.” Regulus said. “But I guess we don’t always live up to our expectations.”

Pandora and Regulus continued to talk but Evan couldn’t pay attention to what they were saying because Barty had apparently gotten bored of the conversation and started messing with him. He swung his feet and kicked at the legs of Evan’s stool. 

“Would you stop that?” Evan said, rather annoyed. 

“Stop what?” Barty teased. 

Evan rolled his eyes. “You can be such a menace when you’re bored.”

“So, entertain me then.” Barty’s eyes flashed with mischief. 

Evan took a minute to study his face. Barty had drawn rather close and it was only then that Evan noticed how their knees knocked together. He wasn’t sure why, but his face flushed. “Tosser.” He lightly shoved Barty.

 Whether he was faking it or truly caught off guard, Evan couldn’t tell but Barty tumbled off of the table and landed sprawled onto the ground. Several of the glass vials on the desk fell with him and shattered on the ground beside him. Gasps came from nearby desks.

“Sorry ladies, didn’t see you there.” He winked up at Sybil and Emmaline. Emmaline looked down at her feet where the boy had just landed. She gave a unexpecting snort and then both her and Sybil burst into giggles. 

It was at that moment that Professor Slughorn walked into the classroom. “My goodness, what happened here?” 

“Oh nothing, Professor. I just took a bit of a spill is all.” Barty sat up brushing shards of broken vile from his robes.

Professor Slughorn was not a harsh teacher. He just shook his head, laughing. “ Reparo”     he flicked his wand and the shard formed back into bottles. “If you boys have had enough excitement for now, may I start my lesson?” 

“Of course, sir.” Barty found his place back beside Evan. 

“You are such a dramatic git.” Evan whispered through his teeth. 

“Oh, my dear Rosier, you would be so bored without me.” 

After Potions, Barty led them past the great hall and up to the third floor. Eventually, he stopped in front of a rather ugly tapestry of trolls and turned around to face the blank wall across the hall. He walked up, placing a hand on the empty stone and started to mumble. 

“That’s it, he’s lost it.” Regulus started to leave. 

“Oh c’mon Reg, that isn’t very nice.” Pandora stopped him. 

After a minute or more of Barty’s mumbling, Evan was just as ready to leave. Slowly, the carved outline of a door started to form around Barty’s hand. 

Once the door was fully formed, Barty gave it a shove and it opened to reveal a large room. 

“What was that?”

“How did you do that?” Evan, Regulus and Pandora’s words jumbled over themselves.

Barty only shrugged. “Found it.” He walked into the room and the others rushed to follow him. 

The room was so large that Evan could not see the far wall. But even with its great size, the mounds of clutter caused the space to feel shrunken. A towering pile of chairs creaked and moaned, threatening to topple over onto them. Barty waved them on and he ventured into the maze of junk. They followed after him through cobwebs and stepped over long forgotten trunks. The room was not quiet, although Evan suspected they were alone. The sound of the settling piles and even what Evan assumed to be creatures kept them vigilant. His suspicions were confirmed when Regulus accidentally elbowed a bird cage and a number of pixies tried to grab at him from within. He jumped away, startled, but Pandora walked up to it, watching the small, feisty creatures in awe. Eventually, Barty led them to a large wardrobe. He grinned and pulled out his wand. 

“You might wanna watch out.” He said. He flicked his wand at the wardrobe and the doors flung open. With a quick swirl of what looked like smoke a large mirror stood in front of Barty. At first Evan didn’t understand what was happening. Barty’s face had paled but he glared at the mirror. As Evan stepped closer he saw what was reflected in the mirror. Instead of seeing Barty, a man with a sour face stood peering down at Barty with disdain. The man looked like an older version of Barty. They had the same curve of the nose and the same dark eyes. But the man’s eyes lacked a certain warmth that Evan had grown accustomed to and his hair was much shorter, cropped and slicked to perfection, contrasting Barty’s own unruly mess. 

Barty started to raise his wand again but a voice stopped him. 

“See, we’re not as different as you say. You push me away but we both know who you truly are.” The voice from the mirror was thick and oily.

“Y-you’re wrong.” Barty protested. 

“Am I? Then tell me, why do we share a name? You fail to even separate yourself from me at school. We are one in the same.” 

“Shut up, y-you aren’t real.” There was less conviction in his voice this time. 

“As much as you try to deny me, I am your future. You follow in my footsteps whether intended or not. And when you are old and grey no one will even remember that you existed apart from me.” The reflection hissed. 

  Evan couldn’t stand to hear any more of what the mirror had to say. He stepped in front of Barty, ready to confront the reflection. But before Evan could speak. The mirror swirled back into smoke and seemed to crumple on the floor. He almost laughed that the thing didn’t dare to face him, but the noise was stolen from his throat as he saw what remained in its place. The mangled body of his sister lay discarded on the floor. 

The rest of the room seemed to vanish as Evan immediately fell to his knees and pulled the corpse onto his lap. Her long hair was rugged and full of knots. Her once delicate face was hollow and too pale. 

“Pan.” He choked on her name. He felt a hand on his shoulder but he pushed it away. “No! No, no, no, no. Please don’t take her from me.” He sobbed into her hair. It was brittle and smelled of smoke. 

“Evan, mon fére . That is not me, ne t'inquiète pas .” He looked up and saw Pandora standing over him. 

“But you-” He looked down at the body. “What is that?”

“A boggart.” Barty grimaced from Regulus’s side. He still seemed a little shook up from his encounter with the mirror. “They transform into whatever you fear most. I thought we could sneak it into Sirius’ trunk and give him a bit of a fright.”

“A bit?” Regulus looked at him, aghast. “You couldn’t even handle that thing.” He frowned down at the remaining corpse. “I’m not letting you put that thing anywhere near my bro- near Sirius.”

“Aw c’mon Reg, It’s just for a laugh.”

“No.” This time it was Pandora who spoke. “No one deserves that. Tell me how to get rid of it.”

Barty rolled his eyes. “You lot are no fun.” He complained. 

“Barty, tell me how to get rid of it or I swear to Merlin I will lock you in the cupboard with it.” Pandora glared at him. 

“Alright, alright, the spell is Riddikulus. But it can only be cast by whoever the boggart is currently haunting.”

Pandora gently guided Evan away from the boggart which started to rapidly change forms. She stepped in front of it and a large desk appeared. The desk appeared as though it might once have been elegant, but now it was covered with sickening gouges. Evan studied it with an odd familiarity before it suddenly burst into flames. Pandora startled back but quickly refound her balance. 

“ Riddikulus.” She pointed her wand at the burning desk and it turned into a peaceful campfire. “Now what?” she asked, keeping her wand trained on it. 

“Send it back into the wardrobe.” Barty said. 

“ Depulso.” Pandora sent the campfire, flames and all back into the wardrobe and locked it inside. “What on earth were you thinking?” She turned on Barty, her wand still raised. 

“You have to admit that would be funny?” Barty laughed. 

“No! Why would you even think that? Do you see the state that Evan is in?” 

“I-i didn’t mean to hurt Ev, I would never-” Barty’s face dropped. Evan was still pale and shook slightly. 

“Well, you did.” Pandora looked ready to curse him, but Evan’s voice cut through the tension.

“It’s fine, Pan. I shouldn’t have gotten in the way without knowing what it was. But, Bat, there is absolutely no way we are doing that.”

Barty nodded defeatedly. “We can’t do nothing, though.” 

The group thought about it for a moment before Regulus spoke. “We’ll think of something. Let's just get out of here for now.”

The rest agreed and started back the way they came. As they passed through the clutter once again, the pixies in the birdcage seemed to remember them and lept to action hissing and grabbing for them as they passed. The group all paused and shared a look. The idea didn’t even need to be voiced aloud. Barty pulled out his wand and shrunk down the cage, pixies and all. The end result fit on his palm which he held out to Evan. He took the small cage which shook slightly as the pixies continued to rampage inside it, and pocketed it. They made their way out of the room and bid goodbye to Pandora before heading to their common room. 

They sat on the floor of the common room in a tight circle, analyzing the miniature cage in front of them. 

“Maybe one of us could hide in the room and resize it from there?” Evan suggested.

Barty looked at Evan with disappointment. “Do you really think they wouldn’t see you hiding in the corner?”

“Whatever, it was just an idea. It's not like you geniuses have had any ground breaking ideas, otherwise we wouldn’t still be sitting here!” They had been trying to figure out the logistics of the plan since dinner. Pandora had sat with them and offered ideas but nothing stuck and they eventually had to head to their respective dormitories. It was late and Evan’s back ached from sitting on the floor. 

“Even if we resized it from in the room, you would still have to deal with opening the cage.” Regulus was jotting something down on parchment. 

“What if they were already out of the cage?” Barty said. 

“I thought we wanted it to wake them up. It would be less effective if they could just take care of them when they walk in.” Evan responded. 

“But,” Barty pulled out his wand. “If we froze them, that would give us a few hours before they would start to wreak havoc. We could stupefy them and then open the cage and leave them under Sirius’ bed. By the time the spell wears off we’d be long gone and they’d be asleep.”

Regulus looked up from his writing. “That just might work.”

“Barty, you genius!” Evan grinned at him.

“Now there’s just the problem of getting in.” Regulus said. “We don’t have the luxury of an invisibility cloak.”

“That’s easy.” Barty shrugged. “We’ll just guess the password like they did.”
Someone let out a short laugh from the couch behind them. Evan hadn’t even realized there was anything around. They had been using the common room because they didn’t trust Edward enough to make plans around him and everyone else around had filtered off to bed, or so they thought. But when they turned around they saw a girl lounging on the couch, only half paying attention to the book she was reading. Once she noticed that she had gained their attention, she looked up. 

“Do you really think you’ll be able to just stroll into the Gryffindor Dormitory?” She had sharp eyes and dark, braided hair. Evan had seen her around a few times. She was one of the second year girls. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but you lot are quite bad at whispering.”

“Yes?” Barty said, analyzing her. 

She rolled her eyes and made her way onto the floor to join them. “Getting the password shouldn’t be too difficult if you play your cards right. But no Slytherin students are going to make it five steps through the common room.” 

“So what are you suggesting?” Regulus asked. 

“Transfigure your robes and go undercover. It should be simple enough. You lot are first years so I doubt anyone would recognize you.”

Barty took a moment to consider but then he smiled. “You’ve got some good ideas…uh.” He searched for a name. 

“Dorcas. Dorcas Meadows.” She smiled at him. It was a pretty smile, one that you would see on the covers of magazines. 

“Well, Meadows, welcome to the team.” Barty returned her smile.

“What?” Evan looked between the two. “She’s in, just like that?” 

“We can’t use her idea and not let her in on the plan.” Barty said. He paused and looked back at her. “You do want to be in on the plan, I assume?”

“Absolutely, I want to make those idiots pay.” 

“So does all of Slytherin.” Evan huffed. “What makes you special?” 

“That itching powder got me detention. My roommate, Loretta Vane, is a jealous bitch and banned the other girls from telling me how to stop it. So I got detention for ‘disrupting class’ when I couldn’t sit still.” 

“It sounds like you’ve got a bigger bone to pick with that Vane girl.” Evan said.

Dorcas shrugged. “Maybe, but it drives her insane when I ignore her. Retaliating would give her too much satisfaction.”

“Alright,” Barty cut in. “Meadows is in. Case closed”

Evan rolled his eyes. He wasn’t sure why she annoyed him. She seemed nice enough, but this was supposed to be just them. Barty shouldn’t be going around inviting every pretty girl with a half-decent idea to join.

Having everything settled, they headed to their dorm to sleep. Once the lights were out and Evan was comfortable in bed, he heard the soft sound of footsteps. The curtain on his bed opened slightly and Barty slipped onto the foot of his bed.

“What’s wrong, Bat?” Evan sat up to meet him. 

“I-i just wanted to say sorry.”

“For what.” Evan tried to make out his facial expression through the darkness.

“Earlier, with the boggart. I really didn’t mean for you to see it like that. I thought I would be able to handle it, but-”

“Was that your dad?” Evan’s eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness and he could just see Barty nod.

“Yeah. I know it's stupid to be scared of.” He sounded ashamed.

“I don’t think it’s stupid. And for the record, I also don’t think you’re anything like him. I might not know the bloke personally, but I doubt he is cool enough to plan a revenge prank like you did.”

Before Evan knew what was happening, Barty was hugging him. “Thanks, Ev.” He whispered into his shoulder. 

Evan slowly moved his arms to hold him back. Barty was warm and smelled faintly of mint from the toothpaste he had used a few minutes ago. He could still feel where Barty’s fingers had pressed into his shoulders after he let go. Barty made to leave, but Evan had one last question.

“Hey, Bat, how did you find that place anyway?”

Even through the darkness he could see his grin. “D’you remember when I stormed off that first day?”

Evan nodded. He had asked a few times but Barty had liked to keep the mystery.

“Well, I was looking for something to get back at Greengrass with, and those doors just appeared for me. It took a bit of wandering but eventually I found the boggart.”

“You were going to set it on him?”

“Yeah, I’ll admit it wasn’t my brightest idea.’ Barty laughed. He paused and smiled at Evan for a moment. “Goodnight, Rosier.”

Evan liked how the r’s rolled off his tongue. The name felt mellower that way. 

“Goodnight, Bat.” 

The next morning at breakfast, the boys and Dorcas filled Pandora in on what they had come up with. 

“That’s brilliant! But, Evan, Isn’t Marlene a Gryffindor? You can just ask her for the password.”

Evan hadn’t considered that. The boys had started a list of possible passwords to start guessing with but even still, actually accessing the common room was their biggest variable. 

“I could ask.” Evan considered it. “Even if she refused to tell me, I don’t think she would snitch.”

“McKinnon?” Dorcas asked.

“Yeah, do you know her?” Evan responded. 

“Not really, but we have a few classes together and she seems nice enough. She should be a good sport.”

Evan nodded. “I’ll find a time to ask her today then, if we’re all agreed?”

Regulus and Barty didn’t protest and the plan was set. 

Luckily, Evan was able to corner her a little after lunch. She agreed easily.

“I would love someone to finally take Potter and his gang down a few pegs. As long as you promise you'll contain it to their room.”

Evan promised, and the password was theirs. 

That night after dinner, all five of them sat together in the library to put the final touches on their plan. It was risky and left a lot up to fate but the adrenaline building in Evan was well worth it. Pandora would transfigure the robes and Dorcas would help to add disguise charms because Regulus was too likely to be recognised. Barty, Evan and Regulus would then sneak into the dormitory to set up the pixies. Dorcas had advised them that if they all stunned the cage at once, the spell would last longer. 

Around ten o'clock the boys snuck out from their common room and made their way up to the Gryffindors. They wanted to do it late enough that the spell would not wear off too early but also before curfew so that entering the common room would not be unusual.  Dorcas’ disguises were brilliant. Barty had lost his freckles and his eyes were pale, Evan had grown several inches and his hair was cropped short. The best of all was Regulus. His dark curls were now a soft gold and he had made his dislike for it well known. 

“Cheer up Reg, you look pretty!” Barty had mocked him. He and Evan could barely stand straight from their laughter when he had shown them. 

But now, they stood in front of a portrait of a rather large woman. She asked them for the password which Evan obliged and they were in. All three of them breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Sirius and his friends lounging around a nearby fireplace. They had no plan but to abort the mission if they had been in their room. 

Nobody stopped them as they walked through the common room and up the stairs. They found the room labeled for the second year boys. All four beds were in various states of disarray. The one right of the door was by far the neatest. The blankets were tucked under the bed and it even seemed to have silk pillowcases. The bed next to it looked as though little to no effort was made. Regulus walked over to it and brushed a hand over the record player on the nightstand. 

“This one’s his.” Regulus said, not taking his eyes from the machine. Evan looked over to see what had intrigued him. The record player was nothing special but there were initials engraved on the side. 

“A.P.B.” Evan read aloud. “Do you know him?”

Regulus nodded. “Alphard Pollux Black. My uncle. He was never disowned, but my family doesn’t care to talk about him much.” 

Evan understood that was all that Regulus would say on the topic and he returned to Barty who had resized the cage. 

“Are you two ready?” Barty asked. The cage was shaking with the pixies trying to break free. 

The other boys joined him and pulled out their wands. 

“On three.” Regulus lead. “One…Two…Three.”

“Stupify!” They all cast the spell in unison. The cage was blasted back from the force of the spell and it scraped along the floor. Once it came to a stop, the boys worked quickly. The commotion had made quite a bit of noise and they were worried that it would draw attention.
Barty opened the cage door and shoved it unceremoniously under Sirius’ bed. There was the sound of shattering glass and Barty cursed. He pulled his hand out and blood dripped down his forearm from a small cut. 

“I think there was a picture frame or something under there.” His eyes sparkled with mischief. “Maybe it’s his secret girlfriend.” He twisted the words in a mocking tone and Regulus made a face of disgust. Barty reached his unharmed hand under the bed and pulled out a photograph. When he saw it his face fell into something Evan couldn’t read. “Hey Reg, you might wanna see this.” Barty walked over to the other boys and showed them the picture. 

A much younger Sirius was making faces at the boy next to him. Regulus, who couldn’t be much older than a toddler at the time, would burst into uncontrollable giggles with each of Sirius’ faces. Regulus looked longingly at the picture. 

“I remember that day.” Regulus said, mostly to himself. “Our parents kept yelling at him to sit still and behave, but like always, he didn’t care. He used to do anything to make me smile. But now, all he cares about is them.” Evan knew he was referring to his brother’s friends. After a minute, Regulus tore his eyes from the picture.  “We should get back before one of them comes up.” 

It was good timing too, no sooner were they heading down to the common room when they ran into one of the boys. He was the tallest of them and his face was covered with freckles. The boy gave them a sideways glance but did not seem to mind them. 

By the time they re-entered the Slytherin common room it had been well under an hour. Dorcas was waiting for them at their usual couches. 

“So?” She jumped on them as soon as they were in her line of sight. “Did it work?”

“It went perfectly!” Evan told her excitedly. “We were in and out and no one suspected anything.”

“Brilliant!” She grinned at them. “Now all we have to do is wait.”