Crouch? Black.
The Rosiers weren't the most openly loving family out there, something Evan had gotten used to over the years. As he pushed his cart through the barrier of Platform 9 ¾ his mother and father followed, they were both silent as they walked. While other children his age were crying and holding onto their parents as snot ran down their noses not wanting to leave, Evan just stood there his parents behind him and his owl hooting due to all the noise. Evan stuck his hand out to the owl, trying to calm it down but his hand was swatted by his father “Don't touch it.” There was no reasoning given behind it, just an order. An order that Evan followed blindly as he nodded
“Yes, Father.” Both their tones were cold, void of any emotions as they spoke to each other.
“Now boy,” Evan's father called out, Evan immediately turned his body before looking upwards to face him “Yes Father?” “You behave, understood? Everything you do here reflects on our family, if I get word of any misbehavior or tomfoolery, well… you better pray to Merlin for forgiveness.” Even at his father's harsh words Evan didn’t seem to react, only nodding “Good, now, run along.” Nodding once again Evan began to make his way towards the express, trunk in one hand, owl cage in the other.
Making his way onto the train he looked for an empty compartment, most were since no one had really begun boarding yet except for the older kids but they all stuck together towards the back of the train. Pushing his trunk up into an overhead compartment Evan sat down on one of the seats, his owl sat next to him as he rested his head on his now closed fist, leaning his arms against the windowsill.
He sat there in silence for a minute before a boy around his age walked in, closing the door behind him “Don't mind if I sit with you, do ya?” The boy was dressed in nice clothing but the way he spoke didn’t match it, he had a very energetic voice, something that took Evan by surprise. Before he even got a chance to respond the excited boy sat had already put away his trunk and was now sitting directly across from him.
“I guess not,” Evan muttered under his breath.
Sticking his hand out the boy smiled at Evan “The names Barty, Barty Crouch Jr. But most just call me Barty!” Evan looked at him for a moment, puzzled by his strange behavior
“Rosier, E-Evan Rosier” He stumbled over his first name, he was so used to being called by his last name that he forgot most went by their first
“Rosier?!” Barty's voice was loud and filled the entire compartment anytime he spoke “My parents told me to keep an eye out for ya! You and one other boy our age, he had a strange last name though! It was a color I think!”
“Black?” Evan questioned, they were a famous pureblood family that just so happened to be related to Evan, even if it was a distant relation.
“Yeah, that's it! Said I should hang around you both, said you were good folk that would rub off on me.” Evan nodded as he listened, in the very short time they had spent together Evan had gathered two things about Barty. First, he was a loud boy, very loud. But, that was nothing Evan couldn’t adjust to. Second, he came from money. While he was noisy and overly excited about everything he dressed nicely, and Evan recognized the last name Crouch, it was well known in the pureblood community as his father worked in the ministry of magic.
“Your father works for the ministry, does he not?” Evan questioned Barty once again, he didn’t usually ask this many questions but with Barty, it was so easy, he gave out information without care while Evan, on the other hand, didn’t speak much about himself.
“Ya, he's busy most of the time so I don’t see him much but Mum takes good care of me!” His tone almost sounded sad as he spoke about his father, Evan decided he wouldn’t bring it up to him anymore.
The train compartment was quiet as the train began to fill up. No one else went into the compartment for a while, just as the train was about to take off though another boy wandered in, he looked different than Barty and Evan. His build was off, he was a lot smaller than the two, not in height but instead in weight and muscle, he was a bit scrawnier and his arms shook whenever he pushed his trunk into the storage compartment above them all. Barty and Evan just stared at him, something the boy quickly noticed “What are two looking at?” He questioned, he sounded nothing like the two looking at him. He sounded aggressive, almost offended that the two were looking at him. He acted as if he were better than them.
“The wall. Obviously, I was looking at you, prick.” Evan rolled his eyes as he spoke, muttered the last bit of his sentence as he continued to look at the abnormally skinny boy “Who even are you, or are we not allowed to ask your highness his name as we are only humble peasants” It was clear by the way Evan spoke he already wasn’t a fan of the boy, the sarcasm was clear in his voice in his tone.
The boy rolled his eyes as he sat down next to Barty, rolling up the sleeves of his white button-up as he pulled his hands through his thick, black, curly hair. “Regulus Black, not that it really matters but who are you?” Unlike Barty, the way Regulus spoke matched his appearance exactly. He dressed like he was from money and spoke that way as well, the only problem was that he also spoke and acted like a prick in Evan's opinion.
“Evan Rosier.” He responded before pointing over to Barty “And that's Barty, Barty Crouch Jr.” He glared at Regulus, they both looked at each other without moving, they looked like two predators ready to rip the other’s throat out at any sign of weakness. They stayed like that for a moment before Barty cleared his throat. The entire compartment was tense, the tension in the air so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Barty didn’t make the same comment to Regulus that he did to Evan, about his parents telling him to watch out for the two boys and to befriend them if possible. “So, either of you know how to play war? I got a deck of muggle cards from my cousin this summer for my birthday and he taught me how to play! Normally it's played with two people but we could make it work with three!” The joyfulness in the dirty-blond boy’s voice didn’t disappear for more than a second but it was clear he was trying desperately to ease the tension between the two boys.
“Sounds boring” Regulus commented as he pulled out an old-looking book, the pages were torn on all sides, and the only place not damaged was the leather cover.
“Ignore him, Barty, his highness couldn’t be seen playing cards with a bunch of commoners now could he? I'll play with you though” Evan smiled a petty smile at Regulus before looking back at Barty, pulling down the meal tray as Barty took out the deck of cards from his trouser pockets.
The compartment stayed quiet for a while, the only sounds heard were the flipping of cards and book pages, and of course, the not-so-uncommon under-the-breath cuss from Evan whenever he would lose a pair of his cards. About a half hour later Evan looked down at his hands and all his cards were gone, placed in Barty's pile instead “T-Thats impossible!” He exclaimed “I was winning moments ago. How did you get all the cards?! Are they enchanted or something? How did you cheat in a game of chance?”
Barty laughed softly at how worked up Evan was getting “That's exactly it, it's a game of chance. There's no way of telling who will win until the last card is placed on the table. There's no skill behind it, a new player is just as good as one who's been playing for years!” Evan blinked in confusion as he stared down at the cards, his brows furrowed as he tried to think of how Barty could have somehow cheated.
Regulus sighed “There's no point in explaining it to him, you can’t teach a moron simple things without them overcomplicating it”
Offended, Evan looked up and over at Regulus, his eyes narrowed slightly “Oh shove it, Black! You’d lose too if you were playing, why don't you get off your all high and mighty throne and play with us?”
Shrugging Regulus closed his book, setting it down next to him “Very well, if it’ll get you to stop yapping I’d do just about anything” Soon, Barty dealt out another hand of cards, this time though he dealt out a third hand for Regulus.
Another half hour passes and Regulus looks shocked, he and Evan were both out of cards “He-... How-... How did you do that?! I demand to know right this instant!” He sounded outraged at the results, Barty had won once again. Evan wasn’t mad about it this time though, instead, he looked at Regulus who was frozen in shock just as he was the previous round.
“Can’t teach a moron simple things now can ya?” Evan laughed as Barty put away the cards and the sweets trolley was pushed up to their compartment
“Can I get you anything boys?” The three looked at each other. Regulus went first, buying six chocolate frogs, Evan next buying three boxes of jelly beans. Barty bought 3 pumpkin pastries. They all looked at each other before throwing down whatever they bought on the meal tray to share with each other
“Oh look, the cruel emperor does have a heart” Even chuckled as he spoke, continuing to poke fun at Regulus before sighing and leaning back, opening up a chocolate frog before immediately biting off its head and then eating the rest of the body. The three continue to look back and forth between each other. Regulus didn’t seem as bad as Evan had first made him out to be and Barty, well there was something special about Barty. He was so… happy. Evan had never met anyone like that and somehow in the short amount of time they had known each other Evan had promised himself something.
He promised himself that he would never let anyone dull down Barty’s happiness, he would never let anyone dull down Barty.