Roommates
Generally, Hogwarts is a peculiar place, with pictures on the walls that could speak, ghosts flying around, all such things that were rather abnormal. Even his roommates were rather... peculiar. Three boys, one stranger than the other, Daniel, Samuel, and Mattheo. Daniel, or Dan for short, was a very extroverted boy, with reddish-brown hair and bright green eyes. Samuel was more the opposite, quiet with blonde hair, gray eyes, and rather dim-witted, unable to read properly and such. Mattheo, or Matt, was the most normal of the three. He had black curly hair and blue eyes with a yellow ring around the pupil. Overall, he couldn't stand Daniel and Samuel, Matt was okay.
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Monday, November 12, 1973
After classes, he walked through the corridors with Daniel and Mattheo. Samuel was in detention, he had threatened a Muggle-born girl.
"But she's also to blame, let's be honest. I mean, she was an easy target," explained Daniel, tossing back his reddish-brown hair. Barty wasn't for Muggle-borns at Hogwarts but also had nothing against them. He wouldn't mess with one unless one messes with him.
"Yeah, yeah, you're right," agreed Mattheo. Daniel turned down another part of the castle, he had to go somewhere, Barty hadn't listened to where.
"He's totally nuts, who threatens Muggle-borns, especially in times like these? The war is getting closer, they'll all hate us because we're Slytherins," said Matt, somewhat frustrated and agitated. Barty found it fascinating how his personality immediately changed once Daniel was gone.
"But we can't help it, the war."
"Yeah, but it's always said that all the bad guys were in Slytherin, at least the part that was at Hogwarts. It's all because of the Dark Lord, they say he was at Hogwarts."
"Really? Him? At Hogwarts?" asked Barty, surprised. Matt simply nodded.
Barty was overwhelmed with the information, he had never heard anything like that before. Maybe it's because he usually doesn't listen when someone talks, only when it really interests him. Frankly, he couldn't imagine that Lord Voldemort had been at Hogwarts. And, of course, the theory was raised that he must have been in Slytherin. But seriously, not all bad people were surely in Slytherin, the others simply weren't counted. There are at least twenty families of people he could name who could have something to do with it (and probably do), and not all of them are Slytherins.
Speak of the devil, Sirius Black. Barty had heard of his family. He's the only one from his family in Gryffindor. Rumor has it he was disowned by his family, others claim he'll be disinherited. And there he was now, kissing a Muggle-born girl while his three friends stood right next to him. How pathetic can a life be.
Well, he didn't want to judge prematurely before he knew him, just that he wasn't interested in getting to know him. Matt stared at the girl Sirius was kissing.
"Wow," murmured Matt to himself, while Barty's reaction was different. "Ew," which earned him a sidelong glance from Mattheo.
"What 'Ew'? Wait until you have a girlfriend."
"Oh, that'll take time-"
"Ha! Yeah, but have you ever thought about who you find pretty? You have so much choice, every girl would want to be with you."
"No, thanks, no."
"Katie likes you, you know..she-"
"Yes, no, thanks, no."
"But-" Matt started, but Barty punched him in the side, shutting him up. He didn't want to talk about that, he didn't need that. He wanted to focus on school, at least at first, the first impression with the professors counts the most anyway.
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Wednesday, November 14, 1973
Today his father was at the school, he came during dinner time to speak with Professor Dumbledore. He didn't even glance at Barty, probably not wanting to be seen with his Slytherin son, if he even knew which house he was in.
What his father could do, he could do too; he completely ignored his presence, although he was weirdly stared at by Samuel, who literally 'worshipped' his father. But it's also easier when you don't know him. He would like to talk to him, but he looked very busy talking to Dumbledore. Probably Ministry affairs that hardly anyone knew about.
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Saturday, November 24, 1973
"Ouch! Watch it."
"Sorry."
"I'm fine, I just-"
"Ouch! That was my foot."
"Sorry."
A voice came from outside the broom cupboard. "Who's there?" followed by a "Shit" from Matt.
"What do we do now?" Mattheo whispered to him. Barty shrugged, which Matt didn't see as it was dark.
"This is your fault."
"Hey, you're the smart one among us." Barty then nudged him in the side to stop the nonsense, he and smart? The others are just incredibly dumb, which makes him look smart.
They had no idea how they got into this situation. It was dark, past curfew, and they were locked in a damn broom cupboard. Suddenly the door was flung open, and light flooded in. Barty breathed a sigh of relief as he could finally see something again; he hated darkness, one could even say he was afraid, but that would be exaggerated. He had kept his eyes tightly shut the whole time, not wanting to see anything he didn't want to see.
"Mr. Crouch... Mr. Brown? What are you doing in here?" asked Professor Flitwick, somewhat perplexed. Mattheo was apparently very nervous and stuttered.
"Uh, w-we c-c-can explain-"
"We were locked in by Severus Snape," Barty finished the sentence so that Matt didn't have to struggle anymore.
Professor Flitwick was no longer so surprised, but not pleased either, but he let them go.
They quickly walked back to their room and closed the door behind them. Samuel and Daniel were apparently already asleep; the lights were off, the curtains drawn, and everything was quiet. They got ready for bed and went to sleep.
Barty couldn't sleep; he thought about the day, how they were locked in by that third-year. They hadn't done anything, Matt might have said a few things... that Severus didn't like, and as a result, they were locked in and not let out for hours. Severus would surely have left them there until the next morning and then forgotten until someone else found them. Luckily, Professor Flitwick had been faster.
He tried to sleep, and when he finally almost succeeded... he felt someone crawling onto his bed and sitting next to him. "Hey, are you asleep already?" Matt asked softly. Barty sat up a bit. "No," he grumbled, adding, "What's up?"
"I can't sleep, Samuel's making weird noises, and Dan breathes so loudly." Matt was the kind of person who was afraid of every little detail that wasn't normal, just like Barty.
"Do you want to sleep in my bed?" Barty asked, lying back down but moving aside slightly so Matt had space. The other boy didn't need to be asked twice and lay down next to him. Barty felt his breath on his face, although he couldn't see him in the darkness. It gave him a strange feeling; no one had ever slept in his bed before.
It was so strange that it was almost comforting again. He pressed his head more into the pillow and closed his eyes. After a while, he finally fell asleep.
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Tuesday, December 11, 1973
It wasn't hard to see that Severus hated kids, especially Barty and Mattheo. They were almost the only ones who never ranted about Muggle-borns because they saw no reason to. They never started the subject, and if someone else did, they usually just agreed to end the conversation.
It also became more and more common for Muggle-borns to be attacked or threatened, mostly by Slytherins. They had just been given a lecture by their Potion Professor on how irresponsible it was and how it brought a bad reputation to him as the Head of House, as well as to them.
"Really irresponsible, especially you first years should take a step back, it's bad enough that the older students do that. If you don't straighten up soon, there will be serious consequences, and it won't just be detention," Slughorn concluded his sermon.
In the evening, Barty went to the infirmary, he had a headache and felt dizzy. When he marched into the infirmary, his vision was already somewhat blurred, he almost ran into another boy who was also coming in. He felt hands on his shoulders, holding him up.
"Whoa, be careful, wait... Sit down..." he heard a voice and felt someone gently pushing him onto a hospital bed, so he sat down. He couldn't make out who it was; he could barely see anything. The boy who now let go of his shoulders called over to another bed where the curtains were drawn.
"James, come over here!"
A boy squeezed past the curtain and stood next to the other boy. "Yes?"
"How long until Madame Pomfrey comes back?"
"No idea... She wanted to speak with Professor Dumbledore, maybe ten to twenty minutes?"
"Twenty minutes??" he heard the concerned voice of the boy who now bent down a bit towards him. "Are you okay? Or... what's wrong with you?" Barty tried to look up, but he was so dizzy that the slightest movement made him fall back.
"I-I feel dizzy.." he muttered, tilting slightly to the side; the other boy, James, held him a bit.
"Sirius, what do we do now?" asked the boy his friend, who just shook his head. He called behind the curtain, where James had just come out a few seconds before. "Pete, can you get Madame Pomfrey?"
A few moments after 'Pete' was told what was going on, he immediately ran off to find the healer.
Barty closed his eyes; everything hurt, and he didn't even know why. It felt like hours until the witch came back, although it certainly wasn't that long. He received some potions that tasted awful, but they helped. Barty could see again without everything being blurry, and his headache was gone. The witch still insisted on keeping him here overnight. Now he could look at the boys who had helped him, three Gryffindors. He had seen them a few times before. Two had black hair, the other blonde. He saw them disappear behind the curtain again, except the one with the glasses. He stepped over to Madame Pomfrey. "Can Remus come back?" he asked calmly, hope barely hidden in his voice.
The older witch nodded and replied with a slight smile. "Yes, just take him with you, he's been here long enough, but he should lie down immediately and rest, okay?" James nodded and went back behind the curtain.