Chapter 2
2nd of September 2022
Evan wasn’t a hateful person, he disliked many things but hated just a few.
He dislikes libraries, the color orange, suits, and stray cats.
Not because the stray cats were dirty or they didn't belong. But because they were always lurking around the corner, hoping to be pet and taken care of. But when you get too close they run away.
He hated his siblings, most of the time.
He also hated stargazing.
“Evan, could you stop by the grocery store after school to get us food for the weekend? I have work till 9 and won’t have any energy that late.” His mother says, giving him a smile over her shoulder.
“Uh, I’m going to James’ after, can’t Elise or Cam go?” Evan says, looking back down to his breakfast.
“Elise is out and Camille has work, when are you going to James’?” She asks, moving the eggs to three plates.
“If Elise is going out too what makes you think I would have time either?” He asks, a bit bitterly maybe. Or maybe it was the normal when being in this house.
Evan doesn’t hate his mother, he has no reason to. She might be a little annoying sometimes, wanting things that Evan couldn’t give her, expecting a bit too much from her only son. But Evan had no reason to hate her. She wasn’t abusive or anything.
His mother turns to him with a tired look. “Evan- look Elise has her bo-”
“Don’t use that against me, it wouldn't change anything even if I had a girlfriend.” His mother opens her mouth again to say something else but Evan is already up. He takes his plate and drops it to the sink, exiting the kitchen and taking his skateboard on the way out of the house.
Evan wouldn’t say that he hated his family, disliked yes, but people had it worse than he does. So even though everything is unfair and people expect everything they can think of, Evan isn’t ungrateful of the place he may call home.
-
They were spending their lunch break outside, it was warm enough and the sun didn't hide behind the clouds. It wasn't anyone's idea, Remus and Lily wanted to spend time outside and study, so James and Sirius followed. By all that means, mostly the rest of their friend group followed, including Peter and Evan even when they weren’t in the team.
“Yeah we got the drinks, but y’all can bring your own if you want to.”
“Have you already bought them?”
“No, but after school we will.”
“I can bring some, uncle got lots of everything.”
“Thanks, mate, that'd be cool.”
Evan lies on the ground next to the others, he's not really listening. He's more focused on the branches of the tree and the still green leaves that'll fall to the ground in no time with the autumn coming.
“Who’s invited?”
“Everyone that is not an asshole or a cunt.”
“I've always wanted to go to Moscow.”
A chuckle, “What would you do in Moscow?”
“Go to some rooftop, lie down, and stargaze.”
Evan watches as a leaf falls from the tree, floating in the air for a second with the help of the wind.
“So no Mulciber and his pack of dogs?”
“Definitely not.”
“Why Moscow?”
Barty was silent, looking at the stars above them.
“She always talked about it.”
It feels like a secret, the way Barty says it. Maybe it is. He doesn’t talk much about deeper things. Likes to avoid them, leave them in the past, and let them drown. It’s better to drown the memories rather than let them drown you.
It’s a shell that Barty has built around himself. But sometimes, Evan gets it to crack a little. Spare some of the unspoken things left in the past.
The bell rings, which means their last lessons of the day start. Everyone else gets up but Evan.
“Hey, Rosier time to get up.” Someone says, Danny maybe?
Evan blinks, looking up to see Danny, and blinks again before getting up without a word. Danny gives him a look before sharing one with Benjy, which both Evan ignores.
“You okay there Evan?” Danny asks, which sounds odd coming from him.
“Sure, just in my thoughts.” It´s not a lie.
The others can think whatever they want but they seem to drop it for now, continuing their discussion of the party on the way to class.
“Even the newbies are coming?”
“They're invited, yes.”
And that doesn’t mean anything, it’s not unusual that almost everyone is invited, they like it big and loud.
-
By the time Evan gets home, he has had enough of weird looks for a lifetime in one day. He has been disappearing into his bubble of thoughts a lot, too much compared to normal. It’s unusual.
He knows he can blame Barty, for showing up once and disappearing again. Even though Evan knows that he's in the same building, they just don't have the same classes at least yet.
Even though Evan kinda deserves it.
Elise has to be home when Evan gets there to make his day even better. It's no secret with bass howling through the walls into the streets.
Evan makes his way to the front door, testing the door handle and digging up his keys from his pocket to open it. He steps into the house, kicking his shoes off, and leaving the skateboard to the entrance when his phone buzzes with a new message. Evan doesn't have to check it to know that it's Ashley. The girl has been texting him non-stop since maths this morning and it's basically unbearable at this point.
First, it was “Hello, sry couldn´t answer yesterday” because Evan had just texted her “hi this is evan”. Then it continued with “when are we meeting before the party?” “what r u gonna wear to the party?” “cafeteria food must be poisoned” “cant wait 4 evening”, and more.
Evan was losing his mind.
He made his way upstairs, on the way to his room banging on Elise’s before opening it with a “turn it down!” Because he can’t hear his own thoughts, neither can the neighbors. Before he can get shouted at he closes the door, continuing his way through the hallway to his room. He drops his backpack to his bed, falling into his beanbag and sinking into it. His phone buzzes with a new message but he can just check it later, now that he has a bit of time before having to get ready he’d rather spend it to just being.
-
“What are you wearing?” Elise's voice says from behind Evan, she sounds disgusted which isn’t new. Evan finishes putting his worn-out Vans on before turning to her and grabbing his hoodie.
“Clothes,” he gestures to the band t-shirt and jeans, “is your life based on hating me?”
“Yes. I thought you were going to a party.”
“So did I,” he gestures to her black hoodie and her dyed black hair in a bun.
“I’ll get ready at Ems. She has better clothes anyway.” Evan doesn’t really care, he stopped caring years ago what his family does.
“Cool, don’t overdose.” He grabs his phone from the floor, turning and leaving the house. He doesn’t take his skateboard with him. The walk to James’ isn’t too long and he promised to meet Ashley on the way to the house anyway.
Evan doesn’t know what to think about this “date” thing. He shouldn’t have agreed at all to it but maybe it won’t be that bad. At least if she isn’t that annoying face to face than in texts. He doubts that it will be much of a date overall.
And Ashley is pretty, he could imagine that many are attracted to her. She has those blue eyes and long blond hair, she's good at school and overall nice to others. So Evan assumes she can’t be that bad.
Almost at James’ Evan sees a bit shorter figure of a girl and she waves at him almost immediately. When Evan gets closer he can see Ashley’s clothes better. She’s wearing a black crop top with a grey oversized hoodie and a short black skirt. Her hair is braided and there are light blue extensions added to her blond locks, which makes her eyes look brighter. Evan doesn’t really get why all this is necessary but he doesn't comment on it.
“You look good, Rosier.” She says with a smile.
It takes a minute for Evan to try to remember her surname, he doesn’t accomplish. “Likewise. You ready to go?”
“Yep,” she pops the p, taking his hand and starting to lead them to James’.
Even if you didn’t know where you’d have to go, the house is impossible to miss with the people outside, huge flag on the roof that read “back to school!” and the party lights flashing to the street through the curtains. Evan would’ve guessed that the flag would’ve had more, impressive text that would certainly make the teachers furious. It’s a pity that it’s so boring. They made their way inside and were immediately welcomed by an over-excited Sirius or just already drunk Sirius.
“Oi, Rosier where did you get a girlfriend?” Sirius asks, smiling at Evan and at Ashley. He´s wearing his leather jacket with a cropped band T and black skinny jeans with his Doc Martens.
“She´s not my- girlfriend,” Evan says with a slight pause.
Ashley isn’t offended by that but chuckles. “I’m Ashley, we're in the same geography class with Evan and both of us were coming anyway. So why not come here together.”
After that and a bit more questioning Sirius leaves them alone. And after a few drinks and perhaps an hour or so, Ashley goes off to meet her mates, Evan goes to the kitchen in the hope that it will be silent there, but it isn't.
Or it is, but not exactly peaceful because Barty Crouch Jr is there.
Evan stops in his tracks, staring at the brunette while Barty pours himself a shot and downs it. “I thought you didn’t party,” Evan says, he shouldn’t, he knows better but he still says it. He can’t really stop himself.
Barty lowers the glass down, stopping for a second before pouring another shot and downing it. “That's how you used to know me.” The other boy turns to Evan, not sparing him another glance before walking out of the kitchen.
Evan didn’t see Barty again after that, not when people took body shots or played spin the bottle. Not that Evan expected that the other would stick around for a long time. The fact that Barty overall came was a bit of a surprise, or maybe not. As he said, they don’t know each other anymore. At some point through the night, Ashley found him again, they chatted for a bit, drank together, but Ashley spent more time pressed against Evan and talking to others than talking to him. Not that Evan minded it. Ashley had gotten a phone call when they played spin the bottle and had to leave to go home, it was already late enough so Evan offered to walk her to the intersection where they had met earlier tonight. He’s sober enough to walk the way back home. So he did.
The nights were already cooler now that September had started, not cold enough for a jacket but cool enough for hoodies. It was nice. Summer was nice too, of course, but autumn was nice, not too cold or too hot, no mosquitos or other insects.
When they got to the intersection Ashley turned to him.
“This was nice, sorry that I had to leave already.”
Evan would’ve left soon anyway. “It’s fine, I need to get home anyway.”
She smiled at him, “Maybe we can go for a real date at some point soon?”
“Yeah, maybe,” he says, even though he’d rather not. Maybe.
“I’ll text you, okay?”
“Yeah, sure, see ya,” He says, he wishes that she’d leave him alone. But before she or Evan gets to leave Ashley grabs Evan’s arm and kisses his cheek, smiles at him, and leaves. Evan stands there for a good minute because he doesn’t know what to do, how to react or should he react.
Probably he shouldn’t, as Ashley had already left.
He gets out of it, as it doesn’t matter, not a big deal, it just caught him off guard. Evan, of course, has been kissed before. He’s not a virgin on that or something but he’d rather not dwell on it. He doesn’t get the chance to because his phone buzzes with a message.
It could be his mother or James texting that he forgot something, Ashley sending something irrelevant, or someone else. What Evan didn’t expect was a message from a number he should’ve deleted a long time ago.
B
A.E.H XXXI
Evan knows what it is. Or he doesn’t but he knows that it’s a reference or an abbreviation of something. Barty wouldn’t spend his time on useless messages.