Chapter 2
Dinner went as smoothly as Barty could've hoped. His father only managed to make a handful of offensive comments and Barty managed to (mostly) control his responses.
There were too many fake smiles plastered on the faces of those around him, well rather the adults around him. James’ smile, as always, could never feel as cold as the others he had seen.
Honestly, James’ smile was most likely the largest factor that kept him sitting at the table for so long. He could sit there and stare over in the direction of James, watching the way his face changed depending on whatever it was he was talking about. He realized then that, even though he would never admit it after that summer, that he had missed seeing James like this. He missed the warmth of his presence, the melodic sound of his voice, hell he had just missed him.
But perhaps it had just been too hot in there. Yeah Barty had thought it's just the heat.
Because of this, as soon as the dinner plates started to get cleaned up, he slipped away from the table. Someone might've called after him but he wasn't necessarily listening.
Barty had found pretty quickly that he still knew his way around the building and used this advantage to slip out the backdoor. There was a lake on the property he had known and he was lucky enough to remember the way.
So he walked.
It was peaceful. Watching the light start to dwindle as he walked along the path. It was still early summer meaning that the evening air was cold enough to send a chill down his spine. But aside from that, Barty was happy to be alone for what seemed like the first time in years.
It's not like Barty didn't enjoy people, no, he loved them! But this, this felt wrong, like he was intruding. He was back to walking a path of life that had been abandoned years ago. The way everyone had slipped back into comfort with one another as if the past few years hadn't happened just felt so wrong to him.
He found himself sitting at the edge the lake, drawing his fingers through the sand and for the first time in his life, he let himself think. As a child, he would long for his visits to the Potter’s and after they had stopped, he had wishes for them back. After a month or so of this, he had come to the realization that wondering and dreaming would only cause him more pain as, in reality, the likelihood of him going back was so low.
But now he wished to be anywhere else. Anywhere to get away from this dream that he had had since he was a kid. This wasn't going to last Barty knew. Just as soon as he would put down roots, his father would tear them out of the ground again. So what was the point?
He glanced back the way he had come, only to see a figure walking towards him. From the distance he wasn't able to tell if it was his father or James and to be completely honest, he wasn't sure which one he preferred.
If it was his father he would most likely end up getting his ear talked off about everything he was doing wrong and how he should be acting. He had been getting the same speech since his summer vacation had started.
And if it was James…well he wasn't sure what it was that he was going to say. Honestly, that just made it all the more terrifying.
And as he watched the figure, the more apparent it came to him that it was in fact James.
Great.
“Whatcha doing out here?” James called, running the last few steps. Barty cringed slightly at the informal language, hating how naturally he managed to sound despite their years apart.
“Change of scenery,” Barty shrugged, deciding it was the best excuse he could come up with. It was exactly an excuse but it still felt as though he was lying when he had said it.
“Oh…” he paused, “mind if i join you?”
Barty simply hummed in response, unsure of what to say. Half of him wanted James to fuck of back to his house, wanted him to pretend that Barty didn't even exist, that they had never met before.
And the other part craved James’ presence and Barty wasn't quite sure what he thought about it yet.
“When did you dye your hair?” James asked after sitting down, leaning forward with his chin resting in his hand. His eyes were sparkling, filled with a type of wonder that made every wall Barty had built go crumbling down.
He reached up to touch the ends of his hair, feeling the damage that the bleach had done.
“Early April, just before Easter,” he replied, thinking back to what had led up to him dying the tips of his hair bright green. He had wanted to mess with his father. As of late, Barty Crouch Sr. had been completing very few of his fatherly duties, which had pissed his son off a bit.
So he needed something to disappoint him and his first thought had been to do something drastic with his hair. Green suited him anyway.
“Really? I must have been to focused on exams to notice,”
Barty Crouch Jr did not forget how to breathe properly after hearing those words. Barty Crouch Jr did not care that James Potter had just admitted to having been paying attention to him, even when their parents had been at odds.
“Why?” James pondered, chewing on his lip in a way that Barty found way too endearing.
“To piss off good old Barty Crouch Sr. of course,” He laughed and he meant it, despite the sour subject.
“I bet he’s been a peach the last few years,”
“that’s one way to put it,”
“Well don’t worry, i’m sure there will be plenty of opportunities to toy with him this summer,”
“there better be”
They sat there in silence for a few minutes, just enjoying one another’s company. Barty let his eyes drift, tracking his way across the stars. James could name them all he knew, he had taught Barty at one point. All of that seemed so far and yet so close at the same time.
“Well, we better be getting back,” James decided, pulling himself to his feet and holding out his hand towards Barty, “Mum made pecan pie and I would hate for you to miss it.”
“James?”
“Yeah?”
“Race you?”