Starry nights (Barty)
Barty had been at hogwarts for a couple of weeks now, he was laying in his bed listening to the sound of scribbling on paper coming from regulus. Honestly that boy studied more than anyone else, if you didn’t find him with a book in his hand he always had a quill.
Bored out of his mind barty sat up and walked over to the boy.
“We’re going to do something fun c’mon.” He ignored how regulus rolled his eyes and started putting shoes on as well as a jacket.
“What are we Doing.” Regulus asked staring at barty.
Sometimes barty thought he was staring into his soul.
“On a walk” he responded, he hadn’t really thought of what they were going to do exactly but he knew he couldn’t just sit in the dorm doing nothing anymore.
He and regulus were about the same height while evan and pandora was a couple of inches shorter. Dorcas was taller than all of them which barty assumed was because she was a year older.
They walked through the old castle with no destination really in mind until barty had an idea and practically dragged the dark haired boy with him.
Once they finished walking up the stairs they had made it to the astronomy tower. He watched as regulus looked around before they both sat at the edge of the tower looking up at the stars.
“Which ones yours?” Barty whispered as he looked up at the sky, the stars were so much more apparent here than they had been outside of his house.
Regulus scorched closer so he could show him better before grabbing his wrist which caused bartys cheeks to redden.
He suddenly realized he should point so he could actually see the star.
A few seconds later regulus had position his hand towards the star.
“Aren’t there like stories and stuff about them?”
Regulus huffed before mumbling something that barty couldn’t hear.
He gave him a pointed look which in return made regulus roll his eyes.
“It’s the heart of the lion.” He finally managed to say.
It took barty three seconds before he burst out laughing after a few moments he looked back at regulus and saw that he was smiling, not very big but still it felt like a huge accomplishment to barty.
“That’s the first time I’ve seen you smile.” Barty grinned as the smile was quickly wiped off of regulus’ face.
“I’m so bragging about this for the rest of my life”
“Shut up”
“Seriously why did the name you the heart of the lion though isn’t your family like obsessed with Slytherin and everything?” He questioned looking at regulus with a curious look in his eye.
Regulus turned to stare at him before speaking again, “everyone in my family is named after stars, I’m not even the first regulus”
Barty was very close to laughing again, “so you’re telling me there could be another regulus who didn’t smile and was half a centimeter shorter than me?”
Regulus glared at him again causing barty to start laughing again.
Then quietly regulus looked at him and spoke “are you still bored?”
Barty grinned lazily, “no I told you your family was the most interesting one.”
Barty thought back to that day on the train, barty never spoke to people just because they seemed nice, he looked for the ones that looked like they were interesting. Dorcas and regulus fit that category he just wished they would talk more, but he already knew that that was unlikely. People barty didn’t find interesting would normally have opened up a lot faster than regulus and Dorcas were.
He looked back to regulus who seemed deep in thought, and for once he enjoyed the silence.
Barty woke up gasping for air. He blinked rapidly trying to ignore his fathers face that only seemed to appear when he closed his eyes. It took him a few minutes to calm down, he opened his curtains quietly and saw that it was just after five. He crept out of the dorm not wanting to wake anyone up.
It was a few days after him and regulus had looked at the stars.
He roamed the halls for a while staring at the decorations and paintings that littered the walls. He tried to be as quiet as possible not wanting the paintings to start talking.
He had been walking for a while when he heard voices. He walked slowly over to where they were coming from and saw Sirius and one of his friends talking, he realized he had walked in almost a full circle meaning he would have to pass them to get back to his dorm.
He sucked in a deep breath before staring to walk in their direction.
Once he looked over Sirius was staring at him. Then he was saying something to his friend before he started walking towards him.
“You’re friends with regulus right?”
Barty looked up at him blankly, he was only an inch or two taller than him but in This Moment it was pissing him off.
“Yeah?”
Sirius looked around quickly.
“And let’s say I asked you to do something for me would you tell any of the little spies in Slytherin?”
“Huh?”
Sirius rolled his eyes looking annoyed, “narcissa, Lucius, probably mulciber and Avery too.”
“I’m not a snitch” he said watching as Sirius seemed to go over it in his head.
“Okay tell regulus to meet me at the astronomy tower at midnight today.”
Barty nodded before letting his curiosity get the better of him, “why are you out here so early?”
Sirius stared at him with a small smirk on his face, “you’ll find out tomorrow. Don’t let regulus drink the pumpkin juice, bye”
Barty watched as he rushed off back to his friend before he could ask any more questions.
Soon enough he made it back to his dorm he looked around and saw that regulus’ curtains were open, then he heard the shower.
A few moments later barty was dressed for the day and was making sure he had everything for classes. He finished an essay that was due at the end of the week. Regulus typically spent a lot of time in the bathroom which annoyed barty simply because he was bored.
He sighed before laying down on his bed and staring at the ceiling. Then the door opened, barty stood up so fast he felt dizzy for a few seconds.
Regulus was always so clean, perfect curls, smooth face, not a single wrinkle on his clothes.
Barty looked over at the other bed to make sure Evan was asleep before turning to regulus who seemed to be staring blankly around as he put on a few rings.
“Your brother asked me to tell you to meet him at the astronomy tower at midnight.” He said in a whisper.
Regulus seemed to snap out of it and looked up at him. “When did you see Sirius?”
“I woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep so I was walking around and ran into him.”
Regulus nodded slowly as he finished putting on his last ring. It looked ancient, but clean. It was a snake, the lower half of the snake wrapping around his finger and the head being the center, its mouth was wide open showing off its fangs.
“Why do you have to meet him there?”
Regulus looked at barty as though he was confused if he should say it or not. He looked a lot like how Sirius had before,
“We don’t want our parents to find out I’m still talking to him, since he’s in gryffindor.”
Barty looked dumbfounded. Sure he knew that the blacks had an obsession with Slytherin but he couldn’t see why it would be such a big deal for one member of the family to be in a different house.
Barty looked back over at regulus who was leaning against the desk with his hands placed behind him.
“That’s stupid.”
Regulus shrugged looking so nonchalant it gave Barty a weird feeling.
“Just how it is.”
Barty sat at the Slytherin table next to regulus. Surprise he was bored again.
“Can we Play a Game?” He asked looking around at the others.
Regulus was reading— again, pandora and Dorcas seemed to be talking about hair? And Evan was eating his breakfast like he was scared it would disappear- which barty guessed wasnt an entirely unrational fear at hogwarts.
Dorcas looked towards him first and the others followed shortly- regulus was still reading but barty knew he was listening.
“What game would we even play?” Dorcas asked.
Pandora hummed, “I played would you rather with a couple of girls in my common room a couple of weeks ago.”
Evan turned his gaze over to pandora,”what’s that?”
To bartys surprise regulus spoke.
“You just say would you rather, and then come up with two things and then everyone has to choose one.”
Pandora looked at him suspiciously, “how’d you know that, it’s a muggle game?”
“Sirius.”
“Okay we’re playing it, would you rather have really long toes or really short fingers.”
Okay so it wasn’t the best question, whatever.
“What the bloody hell is your mind like?” Evan asked bewildered.
“Just say you want little nubs for fingers Evan, this is a safe space.”
Regulus grimaced, “no it isn’t, someone ask a different question.”
“Well If you don’t like it you ask one.” Barty said.
“Would you rather live with your mother or your father?” He said the question bluntly before returning back to his book.
“Mum”barty said looking at everyone else so they would answer.
Pandora and Evan said the same.
“Dad, I don’t know my mom she was really sick when I was a baby and died.”
All of sudden everyone was looking at regulus who seemed to have forgotten he was supposed to answer as well.
“Father.”
“Yeah your mum is pretty scary”
Barty looked at regulus curiously for a moment but when it was apparent he wasn’t going to react he sighed and they continued playing the game.
The questions were things like ‘would you rather kiss the giant squid or Snape’ (very obvious answer) or ‘would you rather be in a cult run by Bigfoot or one run by David Bowie’
They played until Dorcas had her first class, at this point barty ate some food quickly before dragging regulus up to their first class.
Barty was shocked when he first realized how insane regulus was about potions, now it seemed kind of normal. If you ignored how he only trusted barty to do simple things, like cutting shit, even then he would give explicit instructions.
Barty didn’t really mind though, less work for him and probably better grades since he hasn’t learned anything about potions before— regulus obviously had. It was quite easy to tell, he didn’t even really need the instructions, barty assumed it was some pureblood upbringing shit but pandora and Evan had said they didn’t learn much about potions before hogwarts. Must be a black thing.
Sometimes when barty looked at regulus all he could feel was jealousy, Regulus Black was a name people would recognize. He came from one of the noble 28 families, his posture was perfect, he looked perfect every single second.
As far as barty knew regulus had everything handed to him on a silver platter, but what he did know was that Regulus Black was perfect from his shiny curls right down to his polished shoes.
“Okay cut this diagonally from the top right corner to bottom left- and then once I stir the potion three times counterclockwise you can add it in.”
That was new, “you trust me enough to add something into your precious potion.”
He was of course met with a glare.
Once barty finished he looked over to watch regulus stir the potion. Once regulus was done he looked at barty before tilting his head to the potion.
Barty poured whatever regulus had him cut up into the potion watching as the potion started to bubble.
“Stir it once clockwise.”
Barty nodded unable to help himself from grinning as he stirred the potion, he watched as it turned from a dirt brown color to bright purple.
Regulus leaned down which barty took as a sign that they were done.
“Why’d you let me stir it and everything?” Barty asked looking at regulus who seemed to tense up a little.
“I mean you get bored easily and I might have some control issues or something so I’ve been trying to let you stir it for like a week now, couldnt bring myself to do it until now.” Regulus said as he fixed his posture.
Barty nodded, “you have more than ‘some control issues’ but that was nice of you.”
Regulus looked at him bewildered for a few seconds before turning back to look at the potion. “I’m not nice.”
“You are sometimes” barty shot back.
Regulus’ posture became stiff before he raised his hand. Slughorn hobbled over towards them.
“First one’s done like always” he said with a low grin.
He looked over the potion for a few seconds before turning to them,
“This is Perfect, good job gentleman.”
“Thankyou Professor could i go to the bathroom?” Regulus asked.
Barty watched as slughorn nodded his head and regulus walked off.
Barty sighed, after considering just following after regulus he decided it would be best to let him cool off first.
Was regulus genuinely offended to be called nice?
A few hours later everyone was at his dorm. He liked it better to be with people, even if it was quiet. He looked at Dorcas who had her braids into two pigtails, tied together with ribbon. He looked at pandora next who had her long curly white hair up in a ponytail.
He jumped up from his bed before moving over to pandora.
“Do you know any other games?” Barty asked watching as the girls brown fingers stopped writing whatever assignment she was working on.
Pandoras big eyes looked up at him and she looked deep in thought.
“Truth or dare, you ask anyone truth or dare and if they choose truth they have to answer a question you ask honestly and dare they have to do whatever you dare them to do.”
Barty grinned, “we’re playing truth or dare everyone sit down.”
He watched as regulus rolled his eyes before sitting down on the other side of pandora. Barty moved closer to Evan.
Regulus and barty hadn’t really spoke since that morning.
“Pandora you can go first since it was your idea.”
Pandora looked around before looking at Evan with a sly grin on her face she opened her mouth.
“Truth or dare?” She asked
“Truth?” Evan said unsurely,
“If you could have any animal what would it be?”
Evan blew out a small breath of relief before answering, “a dolphin”
Everyone but regulus started laughing.
Evan looked around before deciding on Dorcas.
“Dare.”
Evan shrugged before answering, “make regulus laugh.”
Regulus immediately looked over at barty looking at him as if to communicate ‘don’t you dare’ but barty ignored him, “I made regulus laugh”
“Is that why he’s mad at you?” Pandora asked lightly.
“What? No- this was like a week ago or something.”
Dorcas looked betrayed, “and you didn’t tell me? How dare you.”
She looked over at regulus afterwards, “you have to at least smile regulus, look at all the pain and agony you’re causing me.”
Regulus who had been glaring at barty until then turned over to look at her, “I suddenly feel very tired, I’ll see everyone in the morning” but as barty watched him climb into his bed he saw the tiniest smile on his face.
After a while the girls had gone back to their dorms and Evan had passed out, barty laid awake waiting for regulus to get up.
When barty finally heard something he thought it was his mind playing tricks on him. It was the quietest noise he had ever heard, it sounds like a soft footstep on a pile of clouds.
Barty crawled out of bed to see regulus about to close the door, he hopped out of bed and grabbed his shoes.
Regulus turned around quickly he whispered so quietly barty barley heard it. “What are You Doing?”
“Ill watch for you make sure nobody comes up there.”
Regulus’ brow furrowed. “Why?”
“You were nice so I’ll be nice as well.”
Regulus sighed and punched the bridge of his nose.
“Okay just be quiet.” Regulus said before turning around and slipping out the door.
They walked for a while and when they were almost there barty spoke.
“Sorry for telling everyone I made you laugh, I did want the bragging rights though.”
Regulus rolled his eyes, “I don’t really care I’d laugh more if people were constantly trying to make me.”
Barty nodded, “yeah that makes sense just smile a little bit more and maybe they’ll think you’ve finally warmed up to them.”
“I’m not a very warm person.”
“Sometimes you are-“
“No I mean literally” he said and placed his hand on top of bartys.
“See ice cold.” He Said before removing his hand.
Barty didn’t want to know why regulus made him so happy, he was afraid if he knew he would ruin it.
They got to the stairs below the tower, James? Potter was standing next to the stairs and he nodded at regulus who started walking up the stairs.
Barty leaned against the other side of the tower looking at james.
“Are you a guard dog?”
“Could ask you the same thing.” He replied.
Barty sighed, they waited in silence for a while until barty heard something.
“YOU DONT HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING THEY SAY REGULUS.” James winced and looked over at barty who shrugged having no idea what they were talking about.
“MAYBE I HAVE SOME FUCKING SELF PRESERVATION SKILLS UNLIKE YOU” regulus’ voice was quieter but just as angry.
They quieted down after a few more minutes- barty couldnt make out anything they said no matter how hard he tried.
Soon enough he heard footsteps coming down, Sirius came out first. He looked at barty before walking off with James.
Then finally regulus came down. His eyes were tinted red and his pale cheeks were flushed. His face looked angry- it was the most emotion he had seen on his face before. Something about it scared him.
Regulus ignored barty and started walking off- perfect posture and all.
Barty sighed before walking after him.