Back again (Barty)
Barty sat hunched over the breakfast table barley eating the food. His father sat at the head of the table reading some newspaper. Barty didn’t care what. His mother was sitting across from barty eating her food carefully like she was afraid it would bite her.
He was going back to hogwarts today, he couldn’t wait. Still his excitement was dimmed as he sat at the table avoiding his fathers gaze.
He had hit barty a few times, not enough for barty to think he would everyday, he just learned not to provoke him.
He made rules in his head, don’t talk too much, don’t laugh too hard, don’t yell, dont talk back, don’t seem to have too much energy.
All the things he loved doing pretty much.
His father folded his Paper and called winky, their house elf.
“Take barty to hogwarts for me I have to go back to work.” He said before apparating. Barty let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.
“Mum it’s okay if you’re tired you can go back to sleep.”
His mother nodded slowly, he helped her walk to bed hugging her and kissing her forehead before leaving.
His mother had been sick, not that bad but bad enough that she was tired a lot more than normal.
They exchanged goodbyes and barty grabbed his trunk.
Finally barty was here. He stood on the platform and looked around for his friends. He thought of pandoras soft smile, Evan’s grin, Dorcas’ brave eyes and-
Regulus.
Regulus whose mother had her fingers gripping his shoulder tightly. Regulus who had cried before he went home, regulus who had barley shown any emotion before.
Regulus whose grey eyes were staring at bartys brown ones. Regulus whose face was stone cold as he turned to his mother barley sparing him a glance.
Regulus.
Barty looked away quickly before getting on the train. He found pandora, Evan and Dorcas in a compartment. It was a bigger one and barty let his face melt into a genuine smile for the first time since he left.
“Wow no heart felt speeches anyone wants to give, I mean it must’ve been hard not seeing my lovely face for so long.” He said as he slid into the empty seat.
Pandora smiled sweetly at him, “can’t say I missed it much, you Evan?”
Evan mimicked her face in a way that made them look so painfully similar, “oh you know I missed it.”
Dorcas burst out laughing, “oh my god you are exhausting all of you. Where’s regulus he’s the only one I can actually stand.”
“You can’t stand me?” Pandora asked with mock offense on her face.
“Regulus is quieter sorry panda.”
Barty raised his eyebrows, “I saw him outside with mother dearest.”
Everyone in the compartment seamed to dim down a little.
“Does he talk about his parents?” Dorcas asked looking at barty.
Barty shrugged, “no but neither do I, can’t judge.”
Pandora hummed, “yeah none of us really do.”
Barty paused looking at the window. Did he trust them? And as regulus slid in next to him glaring at all of them barty smiled his previous worries vanishing.
“Well my dads a piece of shit, my mums quite lovely though.”
Regulus turned to him confused for a second, his eyebrows drawn together slightly, “you have a with of words.”
Barty hummed casually, “okay someone needs to talk about their break I’m dying from enthusiasm.” Barty ignored how regulus stiffened the best he could on focused on Dorcas who was talking in a bored tone. He couldn’t hear a word she said when he looked over to regulus. Regulus who was looking at her with a weird expression on his face.
Barty briefly wondered if regulus’ parents were good people or not. He ignored the thoughts swimming in his head as Evan and pandora started talking.
Later that day he ignored how regulus flinched when he dropped a book. He ignored how regulus barley talked. And he ignored how regulus seemed to shut everyone out.
“Stop acting like a child” regulus huffed out.
It was a month after their return to hogwarts and he and regulus had fallen into old habits. Barty was bored and regulus- was just sitting quietly at his desk staring at nothing.
So barty had decided he should start to annoy him. He was getting pretty good at it at least he thought as regulus sent a stinging hex over to him- a mild one at that barty knew regulus had better control over the strength of curses.
“Well im sorry That I don’t act like an old man. We’re eleven, do something fun for once.”
Regulus stood up hastily and dragged barty out the door with him. Barty paused looking at the boy who was just pulling him somewhere.
They walked through the old halls, paintings were chattering among themselves not sparing them a second glance. But when regulus pulled barty into the library barty started to feel a bit wary.
If regulus’ idea of fun was the library then barty really needed to sit him down and explain the definition better.
Barty didn’t say a word as they walked through old bookshelves, countless until they ended up to the very back.
Regulus whispered something with the tip of his wand in front of the wall. Barty stared blankly as the wall started to open. Regulus rushed inside not waiting for barty who hurriedly Followed him.
“What the fuck?” Barty asked.
Wherever they were it was dark. Barty could hear regulus breathing heavily beside him and all of a sudden with a whisper the room was lit.
It was magnificent, old bookshelves lined the room. There were chairs and a big couch board games were spilling out from an underneath a table.
“What is this place?”
Regulus shrugged, “an old black family secret room if you will. Maman didn’t even tell Sirius about it.”
Barty nodded off fucking course the blacks had a secret room. Then he paused, ‘maman’?”
“Can you speak French?”
Regulus smiled,”oui, the blacks are originated from France. Did you not know that?”
Barty grinned and sprawled out on the couch, “say something. Please.”
“tu es stupide, tu viens d'une famille effrayée et tu ne connais pas les origines ? des gens tout simplement stupides utiliseront ça contre toi.”
The boy said as he sat down next to him, the words were so enchanting that barty almost didnt notice-
“Did you call me stupid? What did you say stupid.”
“You should learn the origins of the sacred twenty eight not knowing is dangerous.” The pale boy spoke.
“Huh?”
“Your father? Did he not teach you?”
“No why would he? Did yours?”
“No my maman when I was like five did yours seriously not?”
“FIVE?” Barty shouted. Okay what the actual fuck. He teaches children anything other than basic colors at five?
“Yeah? It’s normal in the black family at least.” He said lazily as he took his shoes off.
“That’s crazy. I mean I can’t even remember being five tell me more.”
“Well Sirius hated learning things so, him being him he through a vase at my mother.” Regulus said his face wearing that strange expression again.
“That didn’t end well, anyways we knew every constellation and star by the time we were seven, well Sirius was eight.”
Barty froze for a moment.
That didn’t end well.
That didn’t end well.
That didn’t end well.
That didn’t end well.
“What’s your mother like?”
Regulus froze for a second before turning to stare at him. “Normal.”
Normal? Barty thought, ‘that didn’t end well’ rattled in his brain, it was normal to get in trouble for throwing something especially at someone. But the way regulus spoke about it-
“Alright, you can talk to me if you need to though okay?”
Regulus nodded stiffly. Barty turned over to lookthrough the board games before finding one that looked interesting, for the rest of the day barty tried not to get angry.
Then a random kid insulted him causing barty to do a very reasonable action- punching him, and he landed a detention. Great.
He got the detention on a Sunday but something to do with teachers having meetings caused the detention being pushed forward two weeks, and by then he landed another detention. Luckily they both only lasted for an hour and barty was given the option to do both in one night.
It was Friday now and he was sitting in detention with McGonagall, since slughorn had to restock potions the same night.
She was having him do extra work in her office because she didn’t want to sit in a classroom.
He finished half of the papers she had given him before he started getting bored, he looked up at her.
“How long have you been a teacher?”
She moved her eyes from the stack of papers on her desk and onto him.
“16 years. Why?” She asked before turning back to the papers, he assumed she was grading something.
“I’m so bored.” He said with a shrug as he turned back to his work.
“Your grades are good do You not have to study for them?”
“Yeah but I just studied for them at the beginning of the year, then I studied over
break. I already know everything here I don’t see the point of this.” He said as he turned another paper over to the ‘finished’ pile.
“Alright help me grade then.”
“What if I just failed everyone?”
“I’m not blind mr.crouch come here.”
And that was how he spent the next hour, he did end up bothering her with a few questions which she answered. And by the end of the detention they were in a heated discussion over the ‘marauders’.
“See if I was pulling pranks I wouldn’t get caught- like why would they make it so obvious it was them?”
“They want the credit.” She said shrugging.
“That’s stupid if I was them I would secretly do all of the pranks and sign it off with a random signature then during the end of my last year I’d do a whole reveal and everything.”
She groaned before rubbing her temples, “please don’t, you have no idea how aggravating it is to fix all of those pranks.”
Barty burst out laughing before putting the last paper in a pile,”see you next time madam.” He said bowing before rushing out of the room.
Barty hated the woods. When he was eight he and his mother had gone on a walk, his father had been in a bad mood and his mother wanted to cheer him up.
They walked for a couple of minutes before he had heard a noise, it sounded like an animal. They had found it together, it was a small black cat, a kitten really. One of its ears had been cut, he wasn’t sure from what, the kitten was also bleeding lightly from its back.
Barty had begged his mother to let him take it home. “Just until she’s better, she looks so sad.” He had said, his mother let him.
His father was at work so barty didn’t think he would notice, as long as he kept it in his room.
The next day he woke up to his father screaming, he hurried out of his bed when he saw that his door was wide open and the kitten was missing.
He raced to the front door where his father was holding the tiny kitten, he was yelling at bartys mother. He didn’t know what, too focused on the kitten.
He had cried when his father threw the kitten out, he sobbed for hours that night his mother stayed as long as she could, telling him the kitten would be okay.
The next day he woke up at barley sunrise and jumped out of bed. He was going to look for the kitten. To make sure she was okay.
When he opened the front door he saw the kitten, he laughed at her. But when he pet her she felt cold, she didn’t move.
Now barty was in the woods with his friends, the forbidden forest. The main reason he came was because it was forbidden. Pandora had insisted, saying when else would they get the chance. It was the last week before spring break now, pretty much everyone in their friend group was in a bad mood. Regulus had began reading and studying twice as much, Evan was getting distracted easier, pandora hanging out with her ravenclaw friends more, Dorcas seemed okay. Barty was Talking more and more knowing that he wouldn’t be able to for two whole weeks.
Pandora and regulus were walking arm in arm, muttering between eachother. Evan barty and Dorcas were keeping a low chatter between eachother not really having much to talk about.
Eventually they ended up walking in silence when all of a sudden regulus and pandora broke out in a run.
“WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU TWO GOING?” Evan had screamed as the three of them raced to catch up.
Pandora had laughed running a little bit behind regulus, they were a few feet in front of the rest of them.
All of a sudden they stopped.
“Why the bloody hell did you feel the need to run for that long? Im dying- oh”
In front of them was a cave, in the ground? There was a hole going straight down, barty could see something glowing inside but barley had time to inspect it before pandora had jumped inside regulus following after her.
There were crystals, glowing they were purple. Barty stared in awe. The light gleamed softly throughout the whole cave. When barty turned his head he saw a small pool? Not an actual pool but a body of water that was too small to be anything else. The water was clear, crystals littered the sides. Barty was standing just above it before suddenly he was falling. With a loud splash and cool water covering him he was inside.
Opening his eyes it looked magically, seaweed covered the crystals, smooth rocks were on the floor, the pool was pretty deep.
With a gasp barty emerged roughly pushing his hair out of his eyes.
“My wand was in my pocket asshole.”
Dorcas who was covering her mouth with her hand started to laugh hysterically. She held a hand out for him pulling him out with a low smile on his face.
Barty laid on the cool ground ignoring the others laughter.
“He looks like a wet rat.” Regulus said in between laughs.
“If I had enough energy you would all be in there, fucking idiots”