Chapter 8
"Barty, you are going to get yourself into some major trouble if you keep instigating Sirius!" Regulus hissed under his breath. Barty shoved Regulus up against a wall, cradling in him, neither of them noticing the piercing eyes of one Remus Lupin. "I-I know you are angry with him, please, I understand. I find myself upset with him often, but I do not want you to get hurt because you pressed the wrong buttons. I have always told you to avoid him as much as possible considering how volatile he can be."
"I think you should be more worried for yourself, sweetheart." Regulus ignored the butterflies that took off in his heart and stomach with the nickname. Barty always tried to waylay any conversation Regulus had about avoiding Sirius, partly because they both knew that he would never agree to it, and neither of them lied to each other-though they may lie to everyone else about everything. It was the one thing that Regulus could always count on.
"Mother and Father clearly are attempting to keep up appearances...which means I am in no immediate danger..." Regulus began but Barty growled, hitting the wall besides Regulus with his fist, his eyes darkening with frustration.
"Don't pretend to stand there and not understand what I am talking about!" Regulus flinched slightly at the venom in his words.
"S-Sirius has his friends around...he won't try anything with me while trying to keep up friendships with that Lupin...goodness knows how the hell the two can even stand each other."
"His friends did not stop him from isolating you and keeping you from being able to leave. Remind me again which friend it was that held you down whilst you tried to get back to Grimuald." Regulus murmurred under his breath, but Barty was having none of his demuring. "Louder, Regulus."
"Lupin, but Barty I do not think you understand, Lupin...he is not truly as..."
"Do not...even...begin with that bullshit Regulus." Barty glared, shutting Regulus down once again as he tried to come to his brother's defence. Regulus seemed to collapse back into the wall. "What the fuck happened this summer? Why are you trying so hard to defend Black's rather appalling actions? What did your parents do to you guys?"
"It was not much, at least, not as much as usual."
"That doesn't exactly inspire hope, Reg." Regulus just shrugged. "Okay, I get it, not a conversation for the hallway. You are probably worried Sirius will follow us and try and listen in. We will go back to your guest room. And we will have this conversation...whether you like it or not."
The threatening viciousness in Barty's voice made the hidden Lupin shudder. He was not sure what he expected. That because Crouch was a Ravenclaw he was not going to be so hostile? He wasn't sure. House prejudice on his part. Still, he could not help but be a bit worried about Regulus. While he was understanding that Sirius had not been nearly as honest about his brother-or homelife-as they had been led to believe, he was also now worried about what in the world it was that Regulus had going on with Crouch. It was obvious to him, at least, that the two were a bit more then friends, but maybe not necessarily lovers-at least yet. Crouch was obviously incredibly protective of Regulus, and it was nice to see someone that was, but Barty it would also seem, had a tendancy to-lash out...and Lupin was beginning to worry that the nature of the two's relationship was just as toxic as Sirius and Regulus'.
He just had to talk to James, and to get his opinion on things. He doubted bringing it up to Sirius was a good idea. Sirius was already so angry with Barty that if Lupin hinted towards what he thought was going on it had the possibility of going awfully, or the possibility of going great. Either way, he did not want to risk it. James it was.
-
Trying to rip James away from Sirius was difficult at best-but now that Lupin and Sirius were kind of fighting, Sirius just allowed James to go with Lupin without much fuss or fight. It was mostly because he wanted to get back into the Werewolf's good graces, and they all knew it. Peter offered to stay with Sirius and play a couple of rounds of chess. Sirius rolled his eyes-never did have the patience for chess-but agreed because he knew the look that he would be given if he did not.
Taking the chance while he had it, Remus yanked James outside, leaving James to yelp a bit, surprised both by the request in the first place, and the sudden urgency that seemed to bleed from Remus as they were out of eye or ear shot of Sirius.
"Remus what the fuck?" James groaned, rubbing his arm.
"I...Well...I have some concerns."
"About?"
"Regulus, if you must say. And that...Crouch Jr."
"Ah, Remus..." James felt a bit unsure at this. "I don't really think we should fuck around with Regulus' relationships. He seems to not particularly like any of us,"
"Well, I know, it is just, I was in the hallway coming down to hang out with you guys and I happened to overhear a conversation."
"Oh?" James could never really stop his love for gossip, something Remus was definitely taking advantage of right now.
"I suspect, let me be clear, that the two are romantically invovled...or at the very least their relationship is not merely platonic friends." James just shrugged.
"Sorta figured with the whole darling thing when he snatched the wand from Sirius' room." Lupin should have figured that James would have heard that, Barty had not really been all that subtle when he said it and they had been passing him at the time too.
"Yes, well, in the hallway, Crouch had said that Regulus needed to stop defending his brother, and seemed to think that something had happened over the summer." James' face twisted in a grimace, he did not need reminding that everything was not as innocent as Sirius had claimed.
Sirius had told them that this home life wasn't really great but it wasn't too awful. It was obvious through just being around the other, though, that this was not the case. He seemed shocked at mundane things, annoyed at others, and refused to talk about his parents, though went on and on about Regulus. At least, until second year.
Regulus had been spiteful the moment they met him, but it was mostly directed towards James. Thinking back on it now, now that he had been second guessing his best friend and brother's entire relationship and words, he noticed a few odd things. About how Regulus was certain to be a gryffindor, despite everything else that Sirius told about his brother being against it. Sirius said that Regulus loved to learn, loved to read, was quiet, gentle, soft spoken, and great at twisting crowds when they were forced to attend balls, though he did not have many opportunities to do it. He also had mentioned many times at how Regulus' deciet had gotten them out of trouble on several occasions.
Which would line up with him being a Ravenclaw, or maybe Slytherin like the rest of his family, but when Regulus got sorted, suddenly the narritve had changed. Regulus was evil, was conniving, hated muggleborns, couldn't stand anything, and was exactly like his parents. He had not really questioned it at the time. After all, he was not the one who knew Regulus.
The fights between Black brothers were almost clandestine. The school would bet on who would start it (almost always Sirius) and who would throw the first spell (again usually Sirius) and who would win (Usually Regulus). One thing Sirius did say after second year was true, Regulus was amazing at defense and dark spells. Sirius himself used plenty of dark curses and spells when fighting Regulus. It was frightening how changed that Sirius would become when it happened.
Then Sirius had brought Regulus here. He had brought Regulus here and James had thought that they were on the road to recovery...
But Regulus refused to come out of his room unless ordered.
Regulus only ate when Sirius told him to.
Regulus never said anything unless Sirius asked him, told him, or someone else directly spoke to him.
Regulus never was anything other than perfectly polite to the point of painful.
He avoided Sirius.
He definitely avoided Sirius alone.
He did not look at Sirius more than necessary.
He had been caught sneaking into Sirius' rooms more than once.
Sirius had been caught harboring Regulus wand.
Sirius had ordered the Floo powder to be hidden.
Sirius had dragged Regulus down stairs with his nails digging into his arms enough to leave marks later.
In fact the only time James had really heard Regulus speak is when Sirius spoke to him and wanted him to answer and even then you had to strain for it because he was so quiet. More often than not he did not say anything. Regulus had spoken more the last day than he had...well ever. And it was to Barty. 'Barty please', 'stop', 'enough'...needling the room to a less tense atmosphere slowly calming Crouch down from an incandescent rage.
He shook his head.
"Look, Remus, I know you're worried about him, but Regulus seems to like Barty, and certainly seems to want him to stay with us." Remus looked like he was going to argue so James rushed the rest of his sentences out. " But, If you would like we will all keep a close eye on him, well, Sirius will anyways, but I will tell Peter to keep a close eye on the two for any odd behavior and we can let you know.