Velvet Bond

September 1972

Bartemius felt a little indisposed when he watched those two snob walk into his common room and then started watching him like he did something wrong to their honor.
He didn't even know them. They were probably Slytherin and he certainly didn't talk to any of them.

"What?" He said when he was absolutely sure that they were both glaring at him and only at him and he was not imagining things like he always did. But he saw the look that the tallest guy was giving him and the boy seemed ready to throw punches at him.
It was funny, because he was in this school for less than a week and he had been able to attract problems -like always-, without even knowing what he did so wrong.
If his father was going to know that he started a fight out of nowhere he probably would be very mad at him.
He smirked slightly at that. He loved to rile his father up, because it was the only time Crouch Sr. looked right at him, yes- well- his father looked at him like Bartemius was his worst mistake- so it was not very nice- but he finally looked at him.
So better that than nothing right?

He watched the two guys again and he was starting to understand, his mind racing and putting all the pieces of the puzzle together.
'Tall guy' was similar to a certain blonde girl who was Ravenclaw as him, Pandora was it, right? Rosier- right. So he must be a Rosier like her. A twin maybe? They seemed old like him.

"You-" the 'Tall guy' -Rosier- said. "You- insulted my sister, you shouldn't have- we-" tall guy pointed at short guy who shrugged at him, "we are here to- to-" they weren't very good at this, tall guy was mumbling and blabbing something about honor and short guy didn't say anything at all since they arrived, probably he didn't even wanted to be here, he seemed more like the quiet guy one could find in a library, but at the same time his eyes gave away something else. Weird. Interesting.

Barty didn't quite understand that duo.
They were- un logical- and he find them pretty amusing, everything that caught his attention was amusing.

But something about the blabbing of tall guy stuck in his mind, Barty didn't want to offend anyone, he didn't understand what they were talking about- he talked to that Pandora only once and- well he found her pretty amusing among all those kids so he simply told her that- so Barty really didn't understand what went wrong-

"I didn't insult her, I only said that she wasn't normal like all of them" he pointed with his finger at the people who shared the space with him, none of them particularly interesting a part from Pandora.
She was different.
Not boring.
Not homologated.
Just- different. He didn't know how, he still had to know her better.

"She's normal! We are normal! Don't dare to say anything like this to her! You- you have no shame! We- Panda-stop it!" The Tall guy said again, his fists glued to his sides and- well- maybe he did something wrong.
Maybe he said the wrong thing again, like always- but he didn't understand- why?
Why they were mad for that?
They- it was good to be- to be different- he was different, his father always said to him that he wasn't normal like the other kids and his mother said to him that it was okay to not be normal, that normal people were boring and he was not.
So why they were insulted by that?
Should he be insulted by that?
Maybe?

"I don't understand" Barty shrugged his shoulders, biting his lips. "You want to be normal? Normality is boring."
He didn't really know how to interact with people, he had always been very lonely, a part from his mother and sometimes his father he didn't see anyone growing up.
He was homeschooled and he didn't need to interact with other boys or girls his age, so he didn't know how to share a space with them or how to talk at all.

So when he told them that they weren't normal it was not- a bad quality, Barty thought, but sometime it was difficult to explain those things so he decided to keep this to himself.
It meant that they were better.
Different.
Particular.
Interesting.
Right- interesting was the right word.

"Reg!" Tall guys said to short guy who was only watching their conversation, without doing nothing.
Reg?
Regular? Not quite-
Reginald? Ow-
Regolo? Uh- ew

He watched short guy - Reg- and he saw that he was glaring at him with his big gray eyes, his eyebrows a little bit arched, his mind rolling around, trying to understand him and Barty finally smiled.
For the first time someone was watching him, listening to him, his father always treated him like he didn't even exist, like he was a no one.
But right now someone was seeing him.
Reg- Reginald- Regis- Regino- was watching him, his head a bit crooked to his left.

"I think that I understand what are you trying to say-" the boy said and Barty light up with joy. "Normality is boring and Pandora is not boring. She's special." he continued and Barty slightly nodded at him.
It must not be that difficult if short guy understood it, right?
"But you made her cry, so I must take action for it, hope you understand that." And Barty almost laughed at that.
Who was this guy? The prince? Take action for it? Hope you understand that?
Who talked like that?
Now he would call him 'posh guy'.

But at the end he agreed with him.

He made the girl cry so he'll see what posh guy was going to do.
And well- he really tried to punch him, he must compliment him for the effort, because he really tried.
But- well- posh guy didn't know how to land a good punch.
He fell nonetheless.
Barty didn't want to offend posh guy after he said that he was right.

"Uh- ouch- mmh-" he said, on the ground, massaging his cheek and posh guy rolled his eyes.

"I surely didn't punch you so hard. Shut up." he said and Barty grinned for the first time, they were a bunch of weird people but he liked them.
School was fun.

"Bartemius" he extended his hand and posh guy took it, while helping him get up.

"Regulus" he said after a while and tall guy reached them. Barty snorted. Regulus. He didn't know if it was better Reginald or Regulus or Regulo.

"Talk for yourself Bartemius" Posh guy- Regulus- said.

"Evan" said tall guy, still mumbling a bit, avoiding his gaze. He wasn't very happy that he and Regulus became immediately friends but barty would make him change his mind.

"I didn't mean to offend your sister, I'm sorry. I meant well. She's special."

"Tell this to her, she's the one who took offense. We did our job" Evan mumbled and okay. He could do this. He could make her feel better.
"That punch wasn't even that good" Evan said again and Regulus rolled his eyes while Barty smiled.

"Did you want to do it? I'm sure Bartemius here wouldn't mind."
They were weird.
But they were going to be his friends.

Later that night Barty would crawl near the fireplace, where Pandora was reading a book, her gaze assorted, her long blond air that were falling constantly in the middle between her eyes and the book, the finger who were caressing the pages.
She only gave him a little glance and then she returned to her book, he was both worthy of her attention. And he hated it.

It was like getting home again.

It was like being with his father again.

A mere presence, for Crouch. Senior who didn't want him.
Who didn't even know he had a child until the next day when he finally gave himself some time to return and didn't found his mother at home.

Barty knew that she had really been offended from before, and even though Regulus and her brother forgave him, Barty was going to make her feel better.

He didn't want to argue with her, not when he didn't mean anything bad.
He didn't want to be treated like when he was with him. Not here.

"Never believe that you are anything other than what might seem to others that what you were or could have been was nothing but what you were that would have seemed to them to be something else.” Barty said, and Pandora started giggling at the middle.

"What?"

"It's from a book, my mom's favorite." He said and the he continued "I like you as you are, even though everyone seems to be a dick about it, I like it." Barty finished, a whisper in the air, thinking of his mum made him always pretty sad, she was so sick that she would not be here for long. "I didn't meant to offend you earlier, in fact it was a compliment. You are welcomed in our mad group"

And well- the sad gaze returned on her face and his heart cracked a bit, he hated that they made her feel like that.
"But I don't want to go among mad people" she whispered and he almost laughed.

"Oh well- you can't help that, we are all mad here, Alice" she watched him with a skeptical gaze, a little quirk at the end of her lips and he grinned with her too.
"And normality is overrated, dear Alice. You'll soon understand that. Your brother and posh guy are in this group too."

She thought about it for a some time, the silence was among them but it was nothing bad, just some air suspended between them, nothing too much or too heavy.
The clock was ticking as the time passes by between them.
They interlocked their gaze and Pandora's one was cleared, happier, her white teeth were almost showing themself in a huge smile.

"Posh guy?" She brought a hand to her mouth and Barty smiled with her.

"Shit- don't say to him that I called him that"

"I'll absolutely will- tomorrow morning is the first thing I'm going to say to him!"

"Do I have to expect another punch from him?"

"Please- we are talking about Regulus, posh guy as you call him"

"You are right" Barty smiled and Pandora laughed near him. She had a nice laugh and he loved to make her laugh. She had a beautiful smile, similar to Evan one.

"So talk to me about this book"
And well that was the start of their friendship.

------------------

Barty cursed his friend's name under his breath.
Why was he always putting himself in these situations for him?
Why could he not have a normal best friend? One that liked to listen to music, go to theatre and go for walks, instead of searching fucking Horcruxes?
Well- he would be a lot more boring without him, so he usually didn't complain but this- this was the worst thing possible.

He hated Regulus' family.
And they hated him too.
Sr. Crouch's son, a disgrace for them, they tolerated him just because he swore his loyalty to the Dark Lord.

But here he was, trying to small talk with Narcissa and the other crazy cousin Bellatrix while they were both trying to sneak something inside Lucius' office without being noticed, but unfortunately for them he was Sr. Crouch son, so nosy, an ex Ravenclaw, so more intelligent than the average person and more importantly he was bored, extremely bored, so inclined to troubles.
And if someone counted that Evan wasn't even there, well- it was the start of some catastrophe.

"Where is my cousin?" Narcissa said to him, cold and serious while gazing his figure like assessing something, probably she was asking herself what did Regulus find in him that made him worth of being his best friend and he grimaced rolling his eyes.

"He is out and about." Barty said coldly and evasive, not sparing her a second glance, she wasn't the only one who could play that game, he was very good too.

Narcissa wasn't obviously happy with his response, she shrugged her eyebrows while watching in the room. "He's not here? It's not good for the Lord to go away without greeting the guest" she crunched her nose in distaste.

Barty rolled his eyes. He hated them, the purebloods, so put on with a stick in their ass. Fuck Regulus had just lost someone and they cared about etiquette and all that shit. It didn't matter that Regulus didn't care about Orion, but fucking hell that was a nightmare.
"Merlin Narcissa, let the boy live, he's probably outside taking some air" he muttered under his breath while smiling at the same time.

"He could not. He has a duty now."

"He always had, don't joke about that. Since he was fourteen and Sirius escaped he started running this-" he pointed at the room with his hands. "Regulus had never found an ounce of peace since Sirius went away and we all know that, and most importantly he's not a fool, stop treating him like one."

"I know he's not a fool, he has never been. Quite the opposite. That doesn't mean that he isn't still my little cousin."

"He stopped being little a long time ago." Barty shrugged, it was sad but it didn't make it less real. Regulus had never had the pleasure of being little.
Like most of them.

She must really think about that because she froze, like she had been slapped in the face and Barty is not sorry about it, he hat5ed that they were being secretive with Regulus, he hated that they watched him endure all that alone without doing nothing, he hated that they always had made him feel less and lesser even though he's one of the most intelligent person he had ever knew.
Regulus was his best friend, almost a brother, and he hated how he always felt to be not enough to all of them, how he'll always search for some recognition from them that he'll never be able to obtain, because for them he'll never be enough.
And Barty hated how Regulus was fixed with them just because they were family.

"You're right" she mumbled and Barty could take this as a victory but at what price? He shrugged his shoulders, Narcissa didn't need an answer and he was done small talking to her. But surprisingly she's the first one to interrupt their silence.

"Please, stay near him, keep him safe" she started to say. "If he starts to avoid you, or well closing off- It’s not you. There’s a lot of pressure on him at the moment, and I think that it's not only because he just became Lord but because he's trying to do something dangerous.”
Narcissa patted his arm once before drawing away. Her fingers moved to his bow tie, leaning a little so their dialogue would not be eavesdropped. She deftly began to untangle the material before continuing to speak.

"I'll do my best, the same as I'm doing now. You don't even know what we went through." and she really didn't. He was there when Regulus broke down that one time, he was there when Regulus cried his eyes out when he thought that he was worthless, when the people who should have loved him weren't there, when his brother left him, when James left him. He was there. He watched his best friend's light went out, extinguish day after day. And He had been there to put the pieces back.

“Bartemius, I don't like you very much, but Regulus is very fond of you, so I'll follow his judgment and I'll accept you here, in this family." She interlocked eyes with him and Barty felt a light shiver along his back so he started smiling like crazy.

He liked how dangerous she was to him right now.
He knew that Narcissa could kill him in the spot if she found out what he and Regulus were doing at the moment but he found it amusing.

"I don’t suppose I have to tell you that Regulus finds it very difficult to make friends, so perhaps you can already understand that he doesn’t always react in the right way. I really shouldn’t be telling you this at all, but I’m sure you would never use anything I am about to say to you against my cousin.”

“And how do you know that?” He whispered, a little danger in his voice, a little challenge, even though he was loyal to Regulus to the bone, right now he could ruin Regulus live with a snap of fingers but she couldn't know that and he wouldn't do that. It was just thrilling to think of it.

“I don’t know, and I hate it.” her fingers stilled their ministrations for a moment. “But I just feel like I can trust you with Regulus. And it's strange. But I think that-" she paused like thinking at something. "You can be each other's strength in the long run. Not ruin this. Not ruin my cousin. Or you'll see what I'm capable of. I'm still a Black."

"Oh, you must be intelligent enough to catch me if that happens" Barty smiled at her and he saw her rage in her eyes, he woke up the dragon who was sleeping.
"But there'll be no need for that, I'm loyal to him. Only him. And Evan. We came together. So you can sleep your night peacefully about that" he crossed his fingers to his heart and grinned. Narcissa rolled her eyes in a movement too similar to watch Regulus did when he was upset and that made Barty laugh more.

“Remember Bartemius, Regulus will one day be a great lord, right now he still needs a little of time to adjust himself, but he'll arrive there, at the top" Narcissa couldn’t keep the hint of pride from her voice, “But sometimes even he needs someone, not a guide, because he doesn't want to follow orders, but a friend.” And with that Bellatrix arrived, a weird scent around her, she was keeping something to her side, but obviously she used some sort of charm to not make the object visible.

The sisters nodded at each others and Lucius went near them, as quickly as he could while being tampered by guests.
They started whispering something hurriedly and Bellatrix moved his hands, how could they be so obvious in a room full of people Barty couldn't know, but that was better for him, they just made his job easier.
The thing that Bellatrix had in her hands must be one of those horrible things that Regulus what talking about.

An Horcrux.

He could feel the dark magic coming from her and it was like that a part of his being were sucked out of him, as if the soul that was trapped in there was still trying to get out, still trying to fight a destiny that they didn't choose.
He felt the air darkening and the room freezing.

Interesting. He should tell this to Regulus.

They started going up at the stairs and Barty cursed.
Regulus was still there and they could not find him in whatever he was doing that neither he knew.
He followed them quickly, he would think later at what to say to them.

"Why are we doing this again? In my opinion we're attracting more attention like this than leaving the cup at your house" Barty heard Narcissa say and he agreed mentally with her, he was breathing slowly, trying to not make any sound, right now he could understand more about their plan than actually going to ask.

"Because I said so." Bellatrix said and Barty course them from where he was at the top of the stairs but he could swear that Narcissa just rolled her eyes. "Mostly it's the fact that Our Dark Lord is recovering at my house and I don't want to waste my energies in two places, we'll put the cup here with the other one, if one is safe the other one will be as well" and fuckfucfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.

Regulus was getting the other horcrux right now.
Regulus was going to be discovered in Lucius' study poking his nose around without permission with a dark item in his hands.
Bellatrix would kill him on the spot.
He had to stop them at all costs.

“Follow me please. I’ll take this into the study” Lucius said and Barty popped out with his most innocent face, like he was just getting out of the bathroom and he casually found himself there.

“What is happening lads?“ It was Barty’s voice. "Is it everything okay?" And the glare that Lucius gave him that night he will remember it forever. It made him grin even more.

"Crouch" Bellatrix said and he saw a weird glint into her eyes, oh- she was going to kill him probably.
But Narcissa stepped in.

"Not now Bella, we still have guests downstairs" she mumbled but not low enough for him to not ear those words. He grinned maniacally. Those things were all boring but the Blacks sure knew how to entertain someone.
"What are you doing here?" Her voice dangerously low.

“Sorry" he held up both his arms. "I didn't meant to prod, I just heard a lot of magic coming from here, I thought it could be dangerous. You know- Order's attacks and everything- we're not really safe.”

"Bullshit" Bellatrix said smiling viciously "we should kill him, he knows too much. Can I kill him? Let me do it please?"

"Know-" Barty tried to make his most innocent face, like her treats meant nothing to him, which it was, because he was not scared of her. "What exactly should I know-? I just thought that something was off- but- if it's all okay-" he shrugged his shoulders.

“Go to Regulus, Bartemius, there is nothing to worry for you here and he surely needs you.” Narcissa said and he could hear the cold in her voice.

"Narcissa" Lucius said. "I don't know-" well- they surely were the most subtle person in this world. Even if he was dumber he woudl have understood that there was something off there.
Idiot.

"He's Regulus best friend, let him go. He knows nothing. He's just a child" Narcissa cut in and Lucius seemed to think at something.

"You're right, Regulus will not be pleased if his best friend disappears suddenly." Lucius said again after some moment and Barty sighed, passing a hand into his hair.
He was alive but Regulus was still in danger, because now Lucius was going directly in to his study without no one to stop him.

He moved, make them believe that he was going downstairs but he stopped right at the middle of the stairs.
Fuck- he failed Regulus.
But not everything was lost- if he moved fast enough he could create a diversion-

He could cause an explosion down there to make Lucius stop?
Or maybe- he could kidnap Draco?
Fuck- yes- that was it- where did they keep him? Where was the nanny?

He was almost going in to Draco's room when he heard quickly steps that were returning and he almost fell on the stairs in trying to get down as soon as possible, he came in to the living room and half of the room turned to watch him.
Fuck- he didn't felt this scrutiny from someone since he went to Hogwarts and they did something awful to Slughorn, who obviously knew that it was their fault but he couldn't prove that to Dumbledore. That man was fucking hilarious.

He coughed a bit and moved his hands to make them turn again to whatever they were doing before and in that moment the three decided to return at the celebration.
For someone who was very adamant of etiquette they left everything without a second thought, even though they probably thought that Regulus was the one entertaining them.

Unfortunately for them he was not.
And Barty was getting anxious.
Maybe- he was dead? Maybe they killed him? Oh fuck- he was the one that caused his best friend's death.
Oh fuck- they killed him- oh Jesus Christ- oh God- but they really had killed him and returned down like that? Oh God-

"Where is my cousin again?" Narcissa said to him and he almost jumped. "I think he played too much"

"Fucking hell Narcissa, please make your presence known to our mere mortals. You almost gave me an heart attack" but she just glared at him with an arched eyebrows and he rolled his eyes "I'm not his guard dog, I don't know where he went, maybe he's getting laid, it's good for health you know?" He looked up and down at her, if she was asking about Regulus he must be still alive.
"But I gotta say that with Lucius as husband I can't be so sure." He pocked at her and he saw her eye twitch a bit and he congratulated himself mentally.

"Oh- you're not his lap dog? My conception must have wronged me. Weird huh?"

"Sometimes it happens" he mocked her.

"Do you two perhaps think that I'm stupid?"

"I don't know if you want the honest answer or the poetic one"

"You can't be poetic even if that depends on your life."

"Oh that you are right"
And then he heard something, his magic was fizzling around, a little bit unsteady, attracted to the new source of energy and Barty knew that something had happened with Regulus. He was the only one crazy enough to use an amount of magic that could cause an explosion with some guests downstairs.
Point one, this meant that he was still alive, so he didn't cause his premature death.
Point two, probably Narcissa and the other thirty people in there felt that too.

She turned and he almost banged his head on the wall but for some good grace Snape and Rabastan made their way to them, along with Lucius who was talking to them about something.
He had never been that happy to see Snape in all of his life, and that meant a lot of things. He despised Snape.

"My condolences Mrs. Malfoy." They both said almost in unison "Where is Regulus? I want to greet him as well" Snape asked right away and Barty took back what he said earlier.
He hated Snape.
He always had to put his fucking nose in their business.

"I was asking myself the same thing" Narcissa said watching him carefully and he hated how she knew that was going on something with then, he still cursed Regulus name while he was thinking of saying that he had to flew away fast for something like diarrhea, not so elegant but affective.

But thanks to Merlin and all the deity he saw Regulus coming down from the stairs with a smudge look on his face. He started grinning already knowing that regulus had been able to complete the mission and for a moment he forgot the horrible half an hour that he just passed.

"Here he comes" he said shrugging his eyebrows, fainting innocence. "Hey dude where did you go? I couldn't find you anywhere" Barty gave him a quickly look and fuck- it seemed that Regulus had fought again a hundred of lions, his hair were ruffled, his eyes blown and he had some drop of blood along his sleeve, he must have injured himself in whatever he did up there.
Lucius watched him throughly and Barty gulped, did he see him up there? Did he know what they were trying to do? But then Regulus watching him in the yes before speaking up.

"Just in Draco's room, I missed my nephew" Lucius watched away and Barty didn't know the dialogue that passed between them in that moment. He only thought that it was the lamest excuse he could think off but who fucking cared right now, they did it and they wouldn't know.

"So caring" Snape interrupted them with his usual cadence and Barty felt the need to punch him right there in his nose. "didn't know that it was in you"

"You don't know a lot of things about me" Regulus smiled dangerously and he felt a shiver along his back, he liked this version of him, wild and free.
"Don't I, now?" Snape said and Barty asked to himself if he was trying to make a point, but he was failing so much, or if he was just dumb. Everyone knew to not rile up Regulus.

"Right- like I could believe you, you pathological liar" Narcissa mumbled under her breath, watching them with an arched eyebrow and Regulus grinned.

"What? Did you miss me so much? Jeez sorry, I'll leave a note next time or I don't know keep your hand" Regulus rolled his eyes and Barty coughed laughing.
"Are we done here?"

"Regulus" Narcissa said dangerously and he waved her off with one hand.

"I had been here all day and I'm quite tired, sorry cousin, I'll greet the guest and go" Regulus fucked yawned and Barty nodded with him.

"You're the lord now"

"Exactly. And as I said I'll greet the guest and go" Regulus watched him and he quickly followed behind him, he didn't care if he looked like he was his guard dog following him around, he just wanted for it to finish, stop, end everything and his life with him.

"You owe me a huge favor Regulus, you don't even want to know the shit I did."

"I know Barty, I know, but when you'll see what I got I swear that everything you did was worthy" and Barty grinned because things were finally moving on, because they finally were getting somewhere and it was fucking awesome.