Before.
Barty was used to wearing shoes inside the house. It had become common practice to the point where going without them was weird, uncomfortable even.
Of course, there were reasons. His father didn't appreciate his son walking around the house with socks on, or, God forbid, completely barefoot. It was improper, as he had said countless times. Dirty. Even then, regardless of his father opinions, it would be in Barty's best interest to keep his shoes on. Countless times has a piece of glass wedged in between floorboards made its way into the heel of his foot, no doubt the remains of the countless smashed bottles left behind by Crouch Sr. when he was upset. He never ordered it to be cleaned, no doubt solely to keep Barty's shoes on.
Nonetheless, Barty would walk around the house without his shoes on from time to time. There was no real purpose behind it except to watch as his father's face turn redder and redder the more he screamed at him. Barty was numb to his words at this point, instead focusing on the amusement that his anger brought. Sure, he may have gained a few cuts on his feet, but it was always worth it. What else was he supposed to do when then summers in between school stretched on for what seemed like years? It's not like he could visit his friends, his father would never allow it.
His mother was quite lovely. She was his favorite person growing up, the only real peace he could find in his house. It was peaceful when he was alone, but being alone with her was just... better.
He didn't want to think about next summer, or the summer after that, or the summer after that. He was content with thinking about leaving in a few weeks for school, and with it the pure bliss that was not having to see his father's face for nine months. It was his sixth year, and, in his opinion, the best one.
Last year was O.W.L.s. After his father made a comment about how he doubted Barty's ability to pass even one, he went out of his way to complete twelve. Regulus called him insane, followed by Evan laughing about the pure mania he went through the month before in his attempts to study for it all. He returned home with a triumphant grin, and although his father didn't say a word, Barty knew that he had won. His father was wrong.
And so, it went. Barty boarded the train on September 1, 1977, and began his sixth year at Hogwarts. He had found Evan first, almost magnetically pulling Barty towards him. Less than a minute later, Regulus sat down next to him with a scowl. Barty had laughed and flung an arm around Regulus' shoulders. "What's got you looking all pissy?"
Regulus threw Barty's arm off. "Fuck off Crouch." Barty didn't miss how Regulus relaxed, nor how the lines on his face seemed to smooth over slightly. He didn't mention the change; he had learned that the hard way when Regulus had stormed out on the two of them three years back when Barty had asked.
It took half a minute before Dorcas found their way into the compartment, grinning as they sat next to Evan, kicking their feet up so they were resting in Barty's lap. "Have a good summer?"
Barty laughed, he knows he laughed, then said something along the lines of "It was wonderful." Regulus had responded with a roll of his eyes.
Pandora joined them soon after, stepping over Dorcas' legs and wasting no time sitting down next to Regulus. Barty watched as she waited for him to lean towards her first before she hugged him, squeezing him so tight Barty was scared he was about to explode. Regulus hugged back, as he always did with Pandora.
The conversation didn't stay on summer, as it never did. They always quickly switched towards topic relating to the upcoming year, unanimously deciding to forgo all further talk of summer. None of them ever enjoyed it anyways. The only real interesting thing that happened was that Dorcas gained a cousin, someone on her mother's side giving birth to another Zabini.
"How many of them are there at this point?"
Dorcas has shrugged. "Probably like three. There's a new one every other summer."
Evan had cut in. "Dora, did you finish that work that Binns assigned us?"
Pandora groaned and pulled out her bag. She unzipped it and took out a bag, clicking the button open and shuffling through the pieces of parchment, eventually finding what she was looking for and taking it out. She handed it to Evan with a grimace. "You owe me." She didn't bother closing the bag again as she'd only have to repeat the process once Evan was done, instead simply dropping the folder of parchment on the floor with a thud.
"Yes, yes, love you, thank you, thank you." Evan took out his own paper and his eyes began flickering between the two pages. "Dora, I can't read half of this."
She laughed. "That's the beauty of having horrid handwriting. Good luck, Ev!"
Barty had grinned and laughed again, watching as Evan groaned and continued attempting to read Pandora's scrawl. "You would think that twins would be able to read each other's handwriting better but no, I can't understand whether that's supposed to be an a, u, or d." He squints closer. "You'd think that context clues would-
"-at's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Dorcas laughed so hard they doubled over. "Please do not tell me you actually believed that."
Barty doesn't remember how the conversation started.
Regulus' face was bright pink. "It's not my fault! No one ever told me!"
Pandora snorted. "So, you're telling me you went your entire childhood thinking that the leaves that grew in spring were the same ones that fell in fall, and you didn't think that was weird at all? And that they-what? Just floated back up?"
Regulus groaned. "I was literally like five."
Barty grinned. "I thought that everybody was born with pierced ears until I heard some first-year mention that she wanted to get her's done."
"Seriously?" Pandora laughed so hard she started laughing. Regulus patted her on the back.
"I thought that you just had to get earrings in them fast enough before they closed."
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Regulus snorted.
Barty threw his scarf at Regulus. Wait. No, it was his shoe. Or was it his hat? "Not as stupid as the kid who thought that the same bunch of leaves were used every year."
Regulus threw Barty's chocolate frog back at him. "Shut up."
There was a knock at the door. Barty remembers this part.
Potter stuck his head in the door, cutting off all laugher. Regulus face hardened immediately. Barty remembers there was something off about it though. His eyes somehow lost some of the weight they had been carrying before.
Potter cleared his throat. "Uh-Regulus can I talk to you?"
Barty glanced towards Regulus, ready for him to tell Potter to piss off.
Regulus scowled and stood up. "This better be fucking good." He slammed the door behind him.
Barty blinked at the door. He opened his mouth to say something, but Evan beat him to it.
"They're definitely fucking."
Pandora snorted. "No shit, Evan. It's been a thing since last year."
Barty gasped. "And you never told me? I thought we were closer than that, my dearest Dora."
"It's not my fault you never noticed, idiot." Her tone held no real bite to it. "It's not my fault that you were so obsessed with O.W.L.s last year that you couldn't see it." She glanced towards Evan. "Although there's not much I can say about that one."
Dorcas crossed their arms. Or their legs. One of the two. "It was since winter. I just so happened to be sitting in the common room when Regulus full on sprinted towards his dorm. I don't think he even noticed I was there." They glanced out of the compartment, then back at the three of them once they presumably found nothing. "The next day Regulus was trying not to look towards the Gryffindor table little too hard. Potter, on the other hand, glanced over at our table ever other second. It wasn't hard to piece it together after that."
The door slammed open, and Regulus made a show of walking in and sitting back down.
Barty glanced at Dorcas and almost burst out in laugher. "How was the chat with Potter?"
"He's a fucking imbecile."
Pandora pursed her lips, obviously trying not to laugh. "You've got-"
"What?" Regulus snapped.
Pandora snorted. "Your collar."
Regulus blinked. He looked down, then immediately back up, folding the collar of his shirt back down. "You didn't see that."
They laughed so loud the people next to them came over to bang on the door to tell them to shut up.
The months passed faster than Barty would have liked.
Soon it was Halloween. Barty threw up that night from the sheer amount of candy corn he had eaten earlier that day. Dorcas kept daring him to shove more and more into his mouth to the point where half of his stomach was filled with artificially dyed sugar.
There was pumpkins and skeletons and ghosts were everywhere. Not real skeletons or ghosts of course, although it would be interesting to see where the Dumbledore would get real skeletons and ghosts from.
A lot of the Slytherins weren't very into Halloween. That wasn't much of a surprise, as it's a muggle holiday. Barty though? Barty loves Halloween.
He first heard of it his first year of Hogwarts and he simply thought it was the most magical thing to ever exist. He didn't dress up as anything that year, but he made sure to the year after, and the year after that, always roping Regulus and Evan and sometimes Pandora and Dorcas to do it with him. The Halloween buffet was his favorite part of the whole thing, eating candy that he only got to experience on this specific day.
It helped that his father despised the holiday as well. He had mentioned it a few summers ago and was delighted to find that his father hated the holiday.
He always-
-walked into the Slytherin common room his first day of school ever practically vibrating with nervous energy. He had never really met that many other kids his age, his father forgetting that he existed until Barty got in the way or spoke or really did anything remotely wrong.
The head boy at the time told Barty he was supposed to be rooming with Black and Rosier. He recognized the names, having heard his father complain about their presence in the ministry countless times and reading about the Sacred 28 in their family library. Regardless, he clicked with the group right away. "Clicked" being used lightly, of course.
Regulus, for one, despised Barty at first. Well, no, he didn't despise him, but there was a general disliking there. Barty wasn't fazed by it. When Regulus ignored him, Barty continued to talk. Then he talked and talked and talked until eventually Regulus told him to shut up and it all spiraled from there.
Evan, on the other hand, warmed up to him quite soon. It took less than an hour for Evan to mention his sister in Ravenclaw. Barty then admitted that he had been a hat stall himself, the hat boarding between Slytherin and Ravenclaw for almost seven minutes before eventually deciding to place him in Slytherin. Evan had been there, of course, so he witnessed the whole thing, but it got a small smile out of the other boy. He-
-main thing he was worried about was potentially getting lice. The hat looked like it was about to distribute a layer of dust on his hair. The lady holding it placed it on top of his head with a small smile.
'Ah, another Crouch. It seems only yesterday that your father was-'
'Please do not ruin my day with the mention of that man.'
The hat almost seemed to laugh. 'Whatever you say.' The hat hummed. 'Why, you are quite an interesting one, aren't you? Gryffindor and Hufflepuff are out of the question, you would fit into those houses terribly.'
'Oh, thank Merlin.'
'You've got something against the lions and the badgers?'
'The only people that have ever wanted to make Gryffindor are idiots who think that they're going to become famous through stupid acts of heroism. It would be boring living like that, anyway, wouldn't you think?'
'Everyone gets their house for a reason.'
'Well, that's silly, isn't it? Eleven-year-olds hardly seem like they're got their personalities formed enough for you to accurately place them in a house that continues to fit to them.'
'Most grow around their house and the people inside of it. Their personalities are shaped by the people they grow up with.'
'Regardless, I still think it's stupid.'
'Hm. I must say, you are quite an intelligent boy, Crouch, I'll admit that. Ravenclaw... it fits, however-'
'However what?"
'You're remarkably ambitious. Your main goal, as I see it, is not to prove yourself to your father but rather to prove him wrong. You're stubborn and based on what I've seen looking into your memories, downright petty at times."
'Thank you. I try.' He mentally grinned.
'Do you have a preference of where I place you?'
'As long as it isn't in Gryffindor.'
The hat stayed silent for a second longer, presumably snooping around his thoughts. He suddenly realized that it could see everything. Everything his father had ever done or said or threatened. Suddenly, Barty wanted nothing more than to rip the hat off of his head and run away.
'I've got my answer, then, Mr. Crouch. It better be SLYTHERIN!'
The hat was taken off of his head, suddenly blinding him with all the light in the Great Hall. As he sat down the person that had been called a few times before him whispered to him that his sorting had taken forever. Later, Barty had found out that it had been almost seven minutes long before the hat called out his house.
Regulus came back with the Dark Lord's mark burned onto his forearm that winter. The small flicker of light that had burned in his eyes had gone out. He showed Barty in their dorm, then Evan who came in a second later before Regulus could tug his sleeve down. He made them promise not to tell the others.
Pandora entered shortly after and as soon as she laid eyes on Regulus she somehow knew. She didn't say anything, but her face immediately fell, her eyes flicked to his left arm and stayed there for a second too long. Regardless, she sat down next to Regulus. He took his hand in hers and gave him a weak smile. He practically gave out against her side.
Dorcas found out after. There was a fight. A bad one. They slammed the door on the way out and didn't come back. They refused to talk to all four of them, even Pandora when she said that they would stay by Regulus, regardless of the mark.
Then came Potter. Barty knew when it happened. Of course he knew. Regulus came into the dorm and he looked like a walking corpse. His lightless eyes had turned dull. Empty. Hollow. The only real sign he was alive were the tears streaming down his face. He climbed into his bed, then Barty climbed in after, leaving Evan in his-
-smiled as Barty passed over his book. "Pages 256 to 270ish should have it."
Evan grinned and placed the book in his bag. "Perfect. Thank you." He looked like he was about to leave. Then he paused. He opened his mouth. Then closed it. Open. "Barty-"
Then Barty kissed him. At least that's what he thinks happens. He's almost sure. He had abruptly leaned over the table, knocking over a jar of ink, and kissed Evan smack dab on the lips. Then he pulled away and stared. He didn't stare for long, because then he was running. And by running he means he was decking it out of the library before Evan could get a single word in.
And.
And? Wait.
Wait he knows this.
One second.
Evan chased after him.
Wait, no. Barty came back.
Or maybe they talked in the dorm when Regulus was gone. It was fall, so he was probably with Potter somewhere.
It was probably the dorm.
He doesn't
Oh.
Wait.
He doesn't remember what happened after that. Or what Evan said. Or what he said. He remembers kissing him again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
They never did more than that though. Evan never wanted to, and Barty was perfectly content with just kissing him.
And he remembers that when he did, he felt like he was absolutely floating. Kissing Evan was the best thing that ever happened to him.
Evan was the best thing that ever happened to him.
And then.
And then.
Wait.
Where did he go?
Evan was just there, he was just-
No.
Fuck.
No.
Why did-
Who-
i don't
where did he
come back
please come back