Moving up to Take a Place
The Hogwarts Express flew across Britain, from London to Scotland, leaving behind thick plumes of smoke in its wake. Regulus sat by the window, and stared out at the rolling green landscape.
“You look shit,” said Barty, tactless as usual.
Regulus looked over at him, his expression thoroughly unimpressed, and shot him a withering look.
“Leave the poor bugger alone,” Evan told Barty, “You know how he is when he’s moping.”
“I’m not moping,” he snapped. Evan only laughed at him. Regulus returned moodily to the window. Pandora, Evan’s cousin and Regulus’ favourite of their little group, was nowhere to be found. This was not unusual, she had a habit of coming and going as she pleased. Dorcas had left too by now, presumably to go and sit with Marlene. Dorcas wasn’t always with them anyway, she was a year older, and seemed to be friends with all the decent people at Hogwarts.
“Bad summer?” prompted Barty. Regulus grunted. “Yeah, me too,” he sighed, uncharacteristically serious. Regulus glanced over at him, trying to gauge just how bad Barty’s summer had been, but he quickly switched his tone. “Still,” Barty grinned, “Good to be back, eh?”
“Sure, Jr,” agreed Evan.
“Bet you two missed me loads.”
“Of course,” said Evan sarcastically. But he wasn’t being sarcastic, not really. Evan Rosier was crazy for Barty, everyone knew it.
At the moment, Barty was draped across half the compartment, his long, gangly, legs over Evan’s lap. His hair stuck up everywhere, the edge of his fringe bleached yellowy-white and his dark brown eyes gleaming. He’d gotten a tongue piercing over the summer, which he’d somehow managed to hide from his father, and kept sticking it out to show it off. He was wearing a frayed black t-shirt that he’d trimmed to be shorter, and a pair of battered old muggle jeans. This shocking ensemble had been hidden under a travel cloak, so that Barty Crouch Sr wouldn’t catch sight of it.
Evan was already in his uniform, neat and pristine. His blond hair was in dreadlocks, falling to his jaw and contrasting harshly with his dark skin. Barty was taller than him, but Evan was stronger (and he wasn’t a beanpole).
Regulus watched from the corner of his eye as his two friends fell into a teasing argument, pretty regular behaviour from them. He turned back to the window and watched the scenery flash by.
For the rest of the summer, ever since that night, Regulus had found himself waiting for a letter from Sirius. And when it hadn’t come, he’d only felt even more stupid. He’d known, even as Sirius promised to write, that it would amount to nothing, but he’d hoped nonetheless.
Kreacher had been asked to clean out Sirius’ room. He’d warned Regulus beforehand, in the subtle, covert way that house elves did, and Regulus had salvaged a few books, an old ring and a few quills. It felt even more stupid, holding on to those things. Sirius had left them behind because they were useless, unimportant. Sirius had left them behind because they didn’t matter; he could live without these small tokens. But Regulus had also been left behind, and so he held onto all the other things Sirius had forgotten.
He’d spent the whole summer thinking about his stupid brother, and now they couldn’t be more than a few metres apart, Sirius down in his usual compartment with his friends. With James Potter.
It made Regulus’ jaw tense just thinking about it. He frowned darkly at the cold pane of glass in front of him.
Before long he was seated in the Great Hall, finally reunited with Pandora. The first years were getting sorted, but people talked quietly over it. It took forever for all those students to be put into their houses, especially with hat stalls. Regulus thought it better to give the children some privacy anyway.
Instead of facing the front of the Hall, where the ceremony was taking place, he scanned over the rest of the vast room. And of course, he landed on the Gryffindor table.
Sirius caught his eye for a moment. Regulus could tell he’d been trying to for a while. Staring at him.
He looked quickly away, trying not to scowl. He glanced up again, more discreetly this time. Sirius was still staring. James looked over too, and Regulus glared right at him.
“What’s going on?” asked Barty bluntly.
“What?” asked Regulus, tearing his eyes back to the Slytherin table. Barty raised an impervious eyebrow, looking pointedly between Sirius and him with glinting dark eyes.
“Between you and brother dearest?” he clarified. Regulus pursed his lips.
“Sirius ran away,” Pandora chimed in. Regulus hadn’t told her that, but Pandora always seemed to know things before everyone else. She turned her large, mismatched eyes on Barty. One pupil was bigger than the other, giving the impression that each eye was a different colour. She’d had an accident as a child that none of the Rosiers could make heads or tails of. “Reg doesn’t want to see him.” she continued, “He never even wrote.” Her voice was light and crystal clear, but she shook her head morosely as she spoke, her many white-blonde braids swaying back and forth.
Barty let out a low whistle.
“Never a dull moment with you too, is there?”
“Yes, well,” said Regulus awkwardly, hoping they could move on. He glanced at James Potter again.
“Can we beat him up?” wondered Evan.
“No,” Regulus gritted out.
“Give him a scare?” offered Barty.
“No.”
“Curse him bald?” The suggestion managed to pull a smile from Regulus.
“No,” he told them fondly, looking between the two of them. Barty grinned while Evan remained impassive. It was hard to tell if he was joking or not, sometimes.
“Please don’t ruin our relationship with the Gryffindors any more than you already have,” sighed Dorcas.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” mocked Barty, “Wouldn’t want to come between you and your girlfriend.”
“No, we wouldn’t,” agreed Pandora seriously.
“She’s not my–
“Yes she is,” they all said at once. Dorcas looked away, suddenly becoming very invested in her plate of food.
“I suppose keeping the peace is impossible for you and your boyfriend,” she muttered back with a sidelong glance at Crouch and Rosier.
But Barty wasn’t ruffled by the accusation.
“Completely impossible, yes,” he shot back, sliding further into Evan’s lap. Regulus and Dorcas shared a look. They had a bet going about those two. Most of the school did.
“Oh, Reg,” cooed Pandora, “You’re the only one left out. We’ve got to find you someone now.”
Regulus paled. He couldn’t think of a much worse fate (except perhaps his parents trying to find him someone).
“Hang on a second,” interjected her cousin, “Who are you going out with?”
Pandora blinked.
“Xeno, of course.”
Evan’s expression soured.
“Merlin, not that prat–
“He’s a very nice boy–
“Very old one, too,” he sneered. Regulus thought this was unfair, Xenophilius Lovegood was only three years older.
“He’s a gardener,” supplied Pandora unhelpfully.
“He’s a creep.”
“Can’t he be both?” offered Barty in a bored voice.
“No,” they said at the same time. Barty rolled his eyes.
“Pandora can think for herself,” argued Dorcas. Pandora nodded her agreement knowingly.
“Yeah, and who knows what’s going on in there,” he countered.
“Promise you’ll be nice to him,” threatened Pandora. Evan did not look impressed.
“Why don’t you just marry Reg here?”
“Promise, Evan.”
She held out her arm, and eventually Evan reached out and took it. Pandora began to swirl her wand above their joined hands.
“Are you making an unbreakable vow?” asked Barty incredulously. Pandora looked blithely up at him, as if to say ‘what do you think?’ before returning to her spell work.
“You two are a different breed,” he muttered. Regulus watched her wand movements with curiosity. It was no ordinary unbreakable vow. No spell of Pandora’s was ever ordinary.
“I’m going to marry him,” she said once she was done.
“Dora, what the fuck?” seethed Evan.
“I hope you’re talking about Reg,” added Barty.
“I’ll kill him,” said Evan darkly. Regulus hoped that this statement was not about him.
“Can’t now,” she smiled. This did nothing to calm Evan. They continued to squabble in earnest, fading into the background.
Regulus picked at his food. It struck him even more now. Now that he and Sirius were at opposite corners of the Great Hall. Regulus really was the heir of the Noble and most Ancient House of Black.