Reunions
The rest of the holiday passed quickly, but Evan still had nightmares of Bellatrix rummaging through his mind. He would wake up in the middle of the night, begging her to stop. It got so bad that Pandora started sleeping in the armchair next to his bed. By the time they had to head back to school Evan was nervous that he would wake up the other boys with his fits, but nothing could quell the excitement of seeing his friends again. At last they set off for King’s Cross Station.
The platform was just as it had been before, noisy and bustling. Evan couldn’t help himself from craning his neck to look through the crowd for his friends. Further down the platform, was slouching against a pillar next to a woman whom Evan assumed was his mother. She was a thin, mousy haired witch who was attempting to smooth down one of her son’s eyebrows. Evan caught his eye and his face brightened. Barty bid a quick goodbye to his mother before racing to his friend. He ran into Evan, embracing him in a hug.
“I swear that was the longest Christmas of my life. I hated every minute of it.” Barty started to ramble on, but out of the corner of his eye, Evan saw his mother give a look of distaste.
“Qui est-ce?” She asked, her eyes scanning the boy. Evan could tell that she already disapproved of his friend before she knew his name.
Evan instinctively backed away from Barty, not wanting his mother to be upset with his choice of company. “This is Bartimus Crouch jr. He is just one of my roommates in Slytherin.” Evan kept his head down, not daring to look Barty in the eye.
His mother continued to scan over Barty. “Your father has made monstrous accusations against my husband.” She spoke directly to the boy. “Don’t even think of laying a hand on my son again. You are not his friend. Come now, Evan.” Without a glance back she walked to the other end of the platform.
Evan could feel Barty’s eyes drilling into him. “Ev…”
Before he could finish his thought, Evan chased quickly after his mother. He wanted to apologize and tell him it would be fine once they reached the castle, but he could not risk it.
Once he caught up to her, his mother turned around to face him. “It is time for you to be leaving, but Evan you are not to be consorting with that boy. I do not care that you have to share a room, you may not address him. You know as well as I do what his family has done to ours. If I catch word that your friendship continues…” She grabbed his wrist that still throbbed. “There will be consequences.” She let go, taking a breath before she bent down to kiss his head. “ Aut vincere aut mori. ” She did the same to Pandora before ushering them onto the train.
As soon as they were out of her sight, Evan let out an exasperated sigh. “I can’t just ignore him, it's Barty. I couldn’t get rid of him even if I wanted to. Please, just don’t tell them.”
Pandora looked at him, puzzled. “When have I ever told on you? I’m almost offended that you think I might. C’mon, let’s go find the others.” She dragged him down the corridor, pausing to look in the carriages for their friends.
Eventually they found the right one. They were the last of the group to arrive. Dorcas was lounging on one side, discussing extra credit they had been given over holiday with Regulus who sat across from her and only half paying attention. Next to him, Barty sat, pouting out the window.
When they walked in, Dorcas grinned at them and patted the space next to her. “I was wondering if you two had abandoned me with these tossers. They’ve both been ignoring me.”
Regulus rolled his eyes, but closed the notebook he had been writing in. “I’m not ignoring you. It’s called multitasking.”
“Call it what you want, it's still rude.” She brushed him off. “Now that we’re all here, how was everyone’s holiday?” Doracas asked expectantly.
Evan and Pandora shared a look, not knowing what they should share.
“It was…eventful to say the least” Pandora managed a small laugh.
Regulus nodded along with them. “I think I have an idea of what you mean.”
“What happened?” Dorcas leaned in, looking intrigued.
“It’s just a small family affair.” Evan said, but Regulus shrugged, not looking so certain.
“Of course it is.” Barty’s voice was bitter. “Not that you’d tell us what happened. Maintaining your family’s image is all that matters to you, right?”
“That’s not fair, Bat.” Evan felt himself getting defensive at his tone.
“But you aren’t saying I’m wrong.”
“Would I be sitting here if I thought it mattered?”
Barty just rolled his eyes, dropping the subject. He returned to looking out the window, not engaging in the conversation. Evan followed suit, slouching back in his own seat.
Evan could see Dorcas’ eyes drift between the pair. He didn’t care what she or Regulus were thinking. If Barty wasn’t going to care to listen to reason, so be it. Evan wasn’t going to beg for forgiveness when he hadn’t said anything wrong. Barty should have known firsthand that parents can’t always speak for their child.
“So…” Dorcas broke the silence. “What happened?”
Evan usually would keep family matters to himself, but he wanted to prove Barty wrong. “Our cousin got engaged to a muggle born and then ran away so she could marry him.”
Dorcas’ jaw dropped. “This all happened on holiday?”
Regulus nodded. “On Christmas day too,” he confirmed.
“I thought we were told not to talk about what happened with Andy?” Pandora couldn’t help but smirk at the rebellion.
“I can’t imagine we could have kept it a secret from Dorcas for long, She’d find out anyway.” Regulus stated.
He wasn’t wrong. They had quickly learned that Dorcas had a knack for finding out secrets and catching gossip from all over the school. She would often tell them all about people they couldn’t even place faces to. Nothing was safe from her. A little after the itching powder incident, she had ‘accidentally’ let a deep secret about her roommate, Loretta Vane, circulate through the school and Loretta quickly became the laughing stalk of Hogwarts.
“You know it.” She winked at Regulus. Dorcas took pride in her skill.
They continued to talk and share about their holidays. Dorcas showed them the muggle camera she had received from her grandmother. Evan wasn’t sure of how they were different from magical ones, but the large roll of film that was stuffed inside seemed too impractical to be a wizard’s invention. Dorcas said they would take loads of photos over the school year and she would send them home to be developed. She explained the process several times but none of them could fully understand it.
While she was trying to get them all to huddle together so could take a picture, the compartment door slid open and Marlene stuck her head in.
“Oh sorry, I lost track of Mary.” She noticed the camera Dorcas was holding. “Hey Meadows, I can take that for you.” She offered a hand.
“Huh? Oh, yeah, sure, thanks.” She seemed to be pulled from a trance but she handed over the camera and Marlene took the seat next to her.
“Well?” Marlene was looking at her expectantly.
“Hmm?” Dorcas looked just as confused.
“You gotta be on the other side if you wanna be in the picture.” Marlene laughed.
“Y-yeah of course.” Doracas moved awkwardly next to Evan.
“Oi, Crouch, smile.” Marlene called, positioning the camera.
Barty didn’t listen, but Pandora jerked him into the frame. The camera clicked, but the sudden movement had disrupted the rest of the group and Evan was sure that it had caught them all in states of disarray.
“Merlin, that might not be that pretty, should I take another one?”
Dorcas shook her head laughing. “I don’t think we can get more perfect than that. Thanks, McKinnon.” She smiled up at Marlene who was already making to leave.
“Anytime, Meadows.” Marlene winked back before walking out of the compartment.
Evan couldn’t help but notice how Dorcas’ eyes followed her out.
The rest of the train ride passed quickly, but Evan’s gaze kept drifting to the boy looking out the window. He wished Barty would just yell at him. He couldn’t stand being ignored.
The train stalled and Barty immediately rushed off. The others followed after him, but he was already out of sight.
Once they were in a carriage Regulus asked what everyone had been wondering. “What happened between you two?”
“Why do you assume it was something I did? He was sulking before I even got on the train.” Evan got defensive.
Regulus gave him a look. “It was obviously you. The only thing he said was a pointed jab at you. So, what happened?”
“I didn’t even do anything! He’s just overreacting about something my mother said.” Evan didn’t understand why Barty cared so much. Of course Evan wasn’t going to listen to her. Barty knew that.
“Ev, what Maman said was rather harsh.” Pandora reasoned.
“But he had to know it didn’t matter to me. I’m still going to be friends with him. I was breaking her rules just by sitting in the same compartment as him, and he just sulked.” Evan was done talking about Barty. If he was ready to give up on their friendship, it would make Evan’s life easier. Maybe he didn’t have to disobey.
The trip up to the castle was silent after that.
They were surprised to find Barty already at the Slytherin table, sitting with Mulcibur and Avery. Evan made a point to sit as far from them as he could but it didn’t matter. Barty never even looked his way.
Even that night when Evan and Regulus were getting ready for bed, Barty sauntered into their room and headed straight for his bed; not paying attention to the eyes that followed.
The silent war had gone on for almost a week when Regulus finally had enough.
‘Can't you just apologize to him?” Regulus interrupted Evan who was in the middle of going on a rant about how childish Barty was being.
“Why would I apologize? He’s the one who’s being-” Evan was taken aback.
“I get it. You’ve said it a million times.” Regulus sounded exasperated.
“No you don’t. I am risking everything by continuing to be his friend. He’s taking that for granted.”
“But you aren’t.”
“What? Do you not realize what might happen if my parents found out? I could be disowned for disobeying direct orders.”
“You won’t get disowned because you aren’t disobeying anything.”
“But my mo-”
“Just let me speak, Evan. Merlin, you are just as impossible as he is.” Regulus shushed him. “It doesn’t matter what your mother said. Nothing will happen because right now, you aren’t his friend. You are risking nothing. You have completely shut him off and listened exactly to what your mother said to do. You have made no effort to try to prove that you still want to be friends and yet you have the audacity to wonder why he’s upset?”
“Oh…” Evan hadn’t thought of it that way.
Regulus hung his head. “Oh? I say all that and your only response is: oh?”
“I need to talk to him.” Evan pushed through students in the hallway. He had no clue where Barty was. He had been skipping classes and Evan hardly saw him in their room anymore. Just as he was running out of places to look, he remembered where Barty had run off to that first day.
He paced up and down the corridor, willing the door to appear. After several disappointing minutes, he gave up and sat on the ground leaning his head against the stone wall.
“I just need to apologize to my best friend, is that too much to ask?” He hissed to no one in particular.
Before he knew what was happening, he felt the wall shifting behind his head and he fell backwards through it. His head landed with a hard thunk and he sat back up rubbing it.
The room looked nothing like it had before. It looked almost like a smaller version of the Slytherin common room, except the arching windows looked out over the forest rather than the black lake.
Barty was slouched on a couch and looked asleep. Evan wasn’t sure how to proceed, so he walked over and peered down at the other boy. For the first time since the station, Barty looked calm. Not bored and indifferent like he acted whenever he had to share a room with Evan, calm. It seemed like a shame to wake him so Evan decided to wait. He picked a comfy looking armchair and pulled out his herbology textbook.
Before he knew it Barty was shaking him awake. “How did you get in here?” He looked angry.
“The wall just let me in. I wanted to talk to you but you were asleep so I waited, but I guess I did a poor job of it.” Evan hadn’t realized he’d nodded off. The sky outside was a deep shade of pink.
“You should have just left.”
“I couldn’t, I need to talk to you. We can’t keep doing this, Bat, you’re my best friend.”
“You’re best friend?” Barty laughed. “I thought I was just one of your roommates or does our friendship depend on if your mummy is nearby.”
“Bat-” Evan had forgotten that he had said that.
“Don’t. You made yourself clear enough.”
“No, I haven't. I’ve just made a whole mess of things. That was just…I was just scared. I hadn’t told her we were friends and I was worried she would do something to you.”
“At least you have parents who care who you hang around. I I don’t think my old man would even notice if I was friends with bloody Grindelwald. Not until it got him odd stares at work at least.”
“You think that’s caring? I wish I had half the freedom you have.”
That was obviously the wrong thing to say. Barty’s face contorted with anger. “You want to know the price I pay for my ‘freedom?’ My father didn’t even realize I was home for almost a week. And when he did, it’s not like he cared. Christmas morning, I came downstairs just in time to see him step into the floo. No ‘Merry Christmas’ not even a ‘goodbye.’ He didn’t acknowledge that I existed until I tore up his office. Even then, he told my mother to deal with me.” Barty was breathing hard, tears threatened to spill from his eyes.
Evan knew he had to choose his next words wisely, Barty looked ready to combust. So he didn’t say anything at all.
Barty tensed momentarily at Evan’s touch but quickly melted into his embrace. His fingers gripped into Evan’s shoulders so hard that Evan was sure it would leave a mark but he didn’t care. He could feel hot tears pelting against his back.
“I hate him.” Barty’s words were muffled into Evan’s robes but they lacked conviction.
“I know.”