Chapter 1
evan rosier had lived about 504,907,776 seconds and counting of the average 80 year life expectancy for a human residing in britain.
in pandora terms, he and his sister are both 16, if you didn't count the two minutes she was born before him. he thinks it's quite idiotic when people behave as though being born first gives you some automatic high authority over your sibling.
pandora had always been kind to him when they were children, never complained when he wanted to sneak out at night to collect bugs to do various juvenile “experiments” on.
unlike barty during their first year, who dragged his feet in the dirt and complained about being cold as though evan was forcing him to come.
over the years barty was the only one of his friends he kept steady communication with over their school breaks.
his other friends (regulus) said it, “was politely a waste of time”, to write to evan as instead of sending letters back, he would scribble in his doctor's handwriting questions and want for further explanation on certain parts.
barty never minded though, even coaxed evan to start drawing smiling and sad faces next to parts he wanted to acknowledge without feedback.
as much as it pained evan to admit, he didn't necessarily find barty's letters to be a nuisance. he read them before bed, giving him time to sleep on what he would underline once the sun came up.
though many times in a drunken haze barty would call the landline at all hours of the night from various muggle clubs he had snuck out of the house to get to.
one summer barty had tried to drag him to one, and even though they could technically both apparete, evan had declined the offer vigorously after learning about the amount of glitter that flooded those kinds of places.
barty had shown him a muggle polaroid some girl had taken of him at one of these clubs, and in the picture you can clearly see barty in a loose t-shirt with designs like smiley faces and stars drawn all over his face in shimmer and an unlit cigarette tucked in his ear.
evan was even more reluctant to go after remembering barty told him the best method to get it off was with tape. evan was still unsure why barty wouldn't just use his wand, but it was probably some bigger scheme against his wretched father.
evan's grandparents probably wouldn't have cared if he went, but after seeing the photograph of barty he didn't quite fancy a visit. it was a miracle evan and pandora's parents weren't around, as he was sure if they were the twins would have had more surveillance growing up.
not that evan didn't appreciate his grandparents, they helped with his advancement into his various studies with their various forms of neglect if you wanted to get technical.
it wasn't like they starved them and locked them in closets like regulus’ parents did to him or never talked to them like barty's father, they rather didn't have any set rules for them, which evan and pandora flourished under.
chores were usually done by pandora, as she liked to tinker with already existing spells and charms to do slightly altered things from their intended purpose, or create entirely different things altogether.
once their set requirements were finished they were free to do whatever they wanted for the day.
the woods surrounding their home were expansive, and evan and pandora spent a majority of their mornings there, collecting various bugs and creatures for evan's experiments.
evan had always been the surgeon, and pandora had always been the healer, and that's simply how it would be.
pandora liked to heal and revive the insects and bugs evan had done tests on, so no real harm was done to the insects after evan had concluded whatever question he had had about a specific type of caterpillar or ant.
however, if the animal had been dead for too long when they found them and pandora said she couldn't bring it back, evan refused to even leave a scratch on the carcass, his explanation being that it was simply out of routine and evan didn't like to break routine.
however, routine would resume in about 3 minutes, once the twin's grandparents had left the station and they boarded the train.
it was september and the humidity was doing horrendous things to evan and pandora's hair.
when they were 9, she had convinced him to let her charm it the blonde color it was after somehow getting a hold on a muggle beauty magazine, the girl on the cover having the same color hair they now have had for the past 7 years.
he doesn't know how long the charm is for, but he recons once it wears off she'll probably re-do it.
as they haul their trunks to the entrance of the train, their grandmother turns to them.
“evan, pandora, remember to focus on your studies and don't involve yourselves with those who will bring you down.”
“yes aljada, we'll write soon”, pandora soothes.
she kisses them both on the cheek before the twins turn to get on the train, their grandfather taps on both their backs. they turn in sync and he puts money in their hands.
“thank you aljadu”, evan responds before entering the train.
he reels at the smell of the artificially flavored candy on the trolley and deliberately chooses not to make eye contact with the lady pushing it.
he and pandora reach their unofficial-official compartment which barty and regulus are already inside.
“rosie!”, barty exclaims and runs over to take evan and pandora's trunks and puts them above on the metal rack with ease.
“hello barty”, pandora says before planting a kiss on his cheek, the one with the birthmark.
“barty”, evan deadpans and observes his friend. he's now got two metal balls on the top and bottom of his right eyebrow and a tanned face.
“hiya rosie, i've missed my two russian nesting dolls over the treacherous summer.”
“we're not russian”, evan mumbles before sliding into his unofficial-official seat next to the window on barty's right.
regulus is asleep across from him, nose flaring and book left in front of him, cheeks scattered with his short-lived summer freckles.
evan always enjoyed watching regulus sleep, in unconsciousness he always reverts back to a child-like calmness, no sharp edges in his stare or snarl on his mouth.
evan had seemingly spaced out in thought for a bit, as when he returned to present time pandora was already telling barty about the new kind of butterfly the twins had found in the woods over the summer.
“hear you've got a bee suit evan? where did thou acquire such a thing?”
“basement.”
“have I ever told you about that time I slept with a girl who wanted me to buzz while I-”
evan spaces out after this, not caring for whatever sexual pleasures barty had encountered in his experiences.
“evieeee, come back, I haven't finished pestering you.”
“barty I need a tooth from you later, can I pull one tonight?”
barty considered it for a second, throwing his head to the side and looking at pandora who simply shrugged her shoulders.
“sure rosie, only cause I love ya.”
“you're disgusting.”
“and you're deranged.”
barty attempts to lay his head on evan's shoulder and gets his head smacked before reverting back to conversation with pandora.
____________
after the feast, barty is still upset at pandora for guessing more first-years houses right than him.
regulus always falls asleep quicker than usual their first days back, evan figures he stays up till his parents go to bed or when their abundance of lavish parties are done during the summer.
he's back to the childlike softness, tonight's a rare instance where his face isn't to the wall.
there's a new scar on his jaw, evan recons he'll probably have a nightmare tonight. he usually always does the first time he's seen sirius for two months.
barty is sitting in evan's desk chair, staring at the pliers lined up on his desk.
“how bad is this gonna hurt, rosie?”
“you pierce your body with needles voluntarily, you'll be fine.”
evan picks up a pair of pliers and wenches barty's mouth open.
“ready?”
“yeah rosie, just give me a countdown.”
“1”, evan lines up the pliers with barty's tooth, “2”, he pulls the tooth out quickly and barty winces.
“what the hell evan?! you said you'd give me a countdown!”
“didn't say i'd count to three.”
barty begins rubbing his jaw and evan transfigures some ice cubes in a rag covered in barty's blood for him.
“so sweet.”
“i’ll take another in your sleep.”
“I'll dream of it. night evan.”
barty walks to his bed and crawls under the covers, leaving evan to pick out a jar to put barty's tooth in.
___________
breakfast that monday is accompanied by an abundance of letters from parents. the only slytherins who get letters are first years whose parents are no doubt asking if their place in the sacred 28 is still solidified with the promise of the new generation being sorted into salazar’s house.
the only non-first year who gets a letter happens to be regulus, who is sitting to barty's right and pandora's left.
the people surrounding them look at regulus with curiosity etched onto their faces, leaning ever so slightly in to try and get a peek at the contents of regulus' letter.
he leans back and scowls, leaving everyone to look away and try to start up conversation again, waiting to theorize about who sent regulus the letter on the way to their first class of the year.
“so regulus, who's the lucky girl?”
they all know regulus is a homosexual, but it's not like barty can spew such head-turning information at 8:00 in the morning.
regulus scowls once again before carefully tucking the letter into his pocket and going back to eating.
pandora yawns and rests her head on evan's shoulder. evan suspects she's tired because he stayed up relatively late the previous night. barty glances over and furrows his eyebrows in something evan thinks is an attempt to appear annoyed.
“so you'll let her do it?”
evan rolls his eyes and goes back to reading the book resting in his lap.
“she's my sister.”
“i'm your best friend!”
“I fail to see your point.”
___________
evan barty and regulus walk back from class together that afternoon, barty is rambling about his partner in potions and evan and barty stay quiet on either sides of him.
“god I know she's gonna be so prissy about everything!”
“barty, everyone you work with is “prissy about everything.”
“she's gonna be the prissiest, im telling you regulus. i'll give you ten galleons if I don't blow my brains out before the semester ends.”
barty happened the be talking about lily evans, who had been competing with regulus for best in their class their entire time at hogwarts. in their previous years she had been trailed by james potter constantly, but mid last year he seemed to have stopped.
barty and regulus were mad about this, as the little game they had made of guessing how far behind potter was from evans had been put to an end.
“whatcha scheming about, evs?”
“the day you use proper grammar is the day world hunger gets solved.”
barty knocks into evan's shoulder before pulling him up to where he and regulus are walking.
“i've gotta go i'll be back in a bit.”
“what reg? got yourself a hot date or something? too cool for us now?”
regulus rolls his eyes and strides down the corridor.
“what do you think regulus’ letter said this morning?”
barty leans down closer to evan and looks around quickly.
“k evs you can't tell anyone I told you, but, sirius sent reg a letter.”
evan turns his head to the side and narrows his eyes.
“how would you know that?”
“that's what you care about right now?”
evan nods solemnly and barty rolls his eyes before leaning back down.
“it was under his pillow and I just waited for him to fall asleep. anyway, sirius basically said he misses regulus and regrets not knocking him unconscious and hauling him to potter's with him. also he wanted to meet up this afternoon.”
“regulus wouldn't leave walburga.”
“who knows? maybe he’s sick of her shit, if I were him I would've jumped off the astronomy tower by now.”
“there's an invisible protective barrier on it, you can't fall off it.”
barty eyes evan from the side but continues walking.
“and how would you know that?”
“experiment with pandora.”
___________
evan had been taking a fragment of barty's tooth apart when he heard barty and regulus yelling. he hadn't realized regulus had come back and turned around to listen.
“regulus you should leave! eventually your parents will just marry you off to some girl to not deal with you anymore, I don't see the point of staying with her when you have a way out.”
“it's more than that barty I know you're smart enough to understand that” regulus hisses from the entrance to their bathroom.
“yes regulus, we all know you've got mommy issues out the wazoo, but what do you have to stay for? because last time I checked sirius got out and you chose to not go with him.”
“what do I have to leave for! this is all i’ve ever been and ever will be, barty. we can check in in 3 years when you and evan are at my wedding. not all of us can just say “fuck you dad!” and leave as soon as we graduate. just cause your dad doesn't care enough about you to stop you from leaving doesn't mean all of us have that fucking luxery!”
“regulus what your parents are doing is illegal, you get enough authority involved if they go after you, if you end up leaving you'll be fine in the end.”
“whose part of that authority barty? your dad. and last time I checked, he kept you under a cloak and fucking unforgivable so he wouldn't have to see you your entire childhood.”
evan's eyes widen ever slightly at regulus' words. barty had only told them his dad had kept him under imperius and an invisibility cloak when we was a child under the goad of firewhiskey.
they knew better than to mention it, as the only time barty had gotten mad at evan ever, was when he bought it up days later.
barty throws the first punch, and regulus slaps his face in retaliation seconds after. evan runs up to seperate them but they're already wrestling on the floor.
barty is on top of regulus with one leg on each side of his chest beating on his chest and hitting his face with reckless abandon.
evan pulls his head back by his scalp and sees a trickle of blood running from his nose.
“barty enough. get off him.”
barty tries to shake evan loose but evan buries his fingers in barty's hair and pulls.
“fuck evan, okay, fucking fine!”
barty gets off regulus before storming out of their room, slamming the door so hard regulus’ coat falls off the back of it.
“really regulus?”
“he had no right.”
regulus scowls before going into the bathroom. evan hears the click of the lock followed by water running.
if regulus is crying, evan doesn't hear it.
_________
barty comes back hours later surprisingly not reeking of alcohol.
regulus had already gone to bed, but evan waited up for barty. he wanted to do a test before cleaning him up.
“barty.”
evan hopes his words convey what he's trying to say.
“evan.”
barty gingerly walks over to evan and sighs. evan tries to flatten barty's messed up hair before he rests his forehead on evan's shoulder. evan is insanely uncomfortable, but he'll let barty have this.
“I want to kill him.”
“which one?”
“you know which one. maybe I can give you a couple things for your collection.”
evan smiles awkwardly before barty moves his head off him. he eyes evan's nightstand before grinning and sitting on the bed.
“c'mon, get your test over with.”
evan simply picks up the bundle of herbs off his nightstand and holds it up to barty's nose. he and pandora had picked some over the summer and he had reason to believe it could cause blood flow and open almost healing wounds.
barty’s eyes flutter and shut and his eyebrows furrow at the feel of new blood tricking down his nose.
evan scribbles quickly in his notebook before grabbing a cloth and dipping it in a glass of water. barty's face relax as the blood is wiped from his nose. evan applies a bit of ointment to his reddened cheek were regulus hit him.
“where'd you go?”
“no where rosie, don't worry your pretty little head about it.”
barty grins like an idiot and evan rolls his eyes.
“am I allowed to ask why what regulus said made you upset? or will you hit me?”
“never hit ya rosie.”
“will you answer me?”
“just bad memories. gonna go to sleep, thanks for the nosebleed.”
evan nods and goes to throw out the rag he used on barty's face.
__________
pandora is in his room helping him look more into the herbs he had tested on barty the night
before. evan is making some tiny incisions on her fingers with a scalpel to draw blood.
“what the hell are you two doing?”
“hi regulus. we're doing some more conclusive experimentation on some herbs. do you have a name to suggest for them?”
“i’ll think of it.”
“heard of your little fight with barty.”
regulus expression is pointed. he sets his book down carefully and looks at her.
“i've apologized. we've had a resolution.”
regulus only bothers taking of part of uniform off before getting into his unmade bed. evan looks back as he falls into sleep rather quickly. pandora waits about 2 minutes before saying anything.
“why has he been sleeping so much?”
“sirius. wants him back with him.”
“so not barty?”
“regulus isn't that docile.”
__________