Chapter 1
"Was that crouch?" He asked Rabastan, confirming his sight of her just before, sneaking past the boys dormitory corridor with steps so fast that Regulus thought he was seeing things.
"It was," Rabastan replied, frowning at their door direction as he sat straighter on the sofa.
It was the first Friday of the term, and the professors hadn't burdened them with any assignments. The both of them were just chilling in their room with their door opened to kill time, Rabastan with his book and Regulus with his snitch.
Then Madeline Crouch's figure just had to pass by their door, leading Regulus to forget about his snitch momentarily. Now the tricky little ball was nowhere to be seen in their room. He got up, finding a new motivation to leave his room.
"You coming?"
Rabastan curiously eyed him. "Where to?"
Regulus shrugged.
"Searching for my snitch. We might also visit the first year dormroom to check on what Crouch was doing."
Rabastan didn't need to be told twice. He closed his book and fixed his clothes, rising from the sofa. "How do you know she was in the first year dorm room?"
"She has a brother there, Rab. Don't be daft."
Rabastan rolled his eyes, falling into steps with his friend. "Well, excuse me if not everyone is a Madeline Crouch expert like you."
"One doesn't need to be an expert to use logic."
"I'm not hearing a denial."
They arrived at the first year dorm in no time, finding Barty Crouch and Evan lounging in their respective beds. Regulus wasted no time to ask his questions.
"Madeline?" Barty Crouch replied, echoing the subject of his question. "Yeah, she was here. We kind of promised our mother to call her through our mirror once a week."
What an odd routine. Regulus was certain that his own mother would never bother with calling them each week, and they had their own two-way mirrors. Even Regulus' weekly report through his letters didn't always get a reply. But that didn't matter right now. "So Crouch will be here once each week?"
Barty Crouch hummed nonchalantly. "Every friday, after dinner."
He nodded, taking this new information solemnly. Now he knew one more of Madeline Crouch's rutinity. It could be useful for future endeavors.
"Barty, you shouldn't share these kinds of information easily," Evan tutted suddenly, lips pursed. "We never know what motives people have when they ask of your sister, unlike Regulus here who was clearly asking because he likes your sister." Evan stated it with a knowing grin, freezing Regulus in his thoughts. He snapped his head to the loose-lipped boy, boring a hole in his little blond head with his glare. He could hear Rabastan slapping his own face on his side.
Barty Crouch didn't seem to be phased as he shrugged, rolling his eyes at Evan for pointing out the obvious. "Duh. I kinda figured it out since like, a month ago. What, did you think I unknowingly divulged information on my sister to some strange stalker?"
Regulus' heart whimpered.
Evening his breath, Regulus put on a brave face as he turned to meet Barty Crouch's eyes again, trying to find fallacy in Barty Crouch's words. "A month ago was our first meeting."
The younger boy arched an eyebrow. "Exactly."
Oh.
Could Regulus hide somewhere under a rock, please?
.
They returned to their dorm quickly after that. Regulus needed to settle his mind, you see, and he needed quietness to do it. He couldn't believe that a pair of firsties could figure him out just like that. If Regulus wanted to survive, he had to up his game.
"I don't think I heard you deny Evan's observation of you," Rabastan voiced, appearing indifferent as he opened his book once more. Regulus pettily didn't grant him any reply, choosing to busy himself with his mess of a mind.
Unfortunately for him, Rabastan was relentless.
The boy pretended to flip a page as he continued. "I also thought that we would be searching for your snitch?"
"I can easily buy thousands of snitches if I want to, Rab," Regulus bit out, hoping that Rabastan would drop it. But when did Regulus get what he wanted?
"So what?" His friend said, dropping his book to the side, not bothering to appear indifferent again. "Are you finally admitting that you like Madeline Crouch?"
Regulus's face contorted in annoyance, a scowl induced from hearing Rabastan's choice of words.
"Like," he sneered, his distaste apparent. "Such juvenile word. The correct term would be interested. Currently, I am interested in Madeline Crouch."
"You're obsessed," Rabastan pointed out, as if Regulus didn't know it himself.
Of course Regulus knew that he was obsessed. In fact, he had known about it since that night after he saw Crouch covered in her own blood. It didn't bother him that he was obsessed with the girl, what bothered him was that apparently, everyone knew that he was obsessed with Crouch.
And he hated that he only figured out that he was being obvious after Sirius pointed it out. Sirius, who was as observant as a mountain troll.
....
Yeah so the draft is deleted but the dialogue is still saved in my notes so i rewrote it.
I don't like this version because it's too light? I want my regulus to be an overthinker. I want him to have long narations to explain more about his thoughts. Also, there's a time and place for humor and i don't want to make his story all-funny just because. Also, i don't like how regulus speak to rabastan here. I want him to be nice to his close friends, even if he's prickly to the others. I want him to be thoughtful and appreciative to his friends.
You see i have this headcanon that the canon regulus is isolated, which leads him to be depressed and probably suicidal. I also like to think that it wasn't always the case. He has the chance to bond with others, like how draco malfoy had the chance to bond with his classmates and his two goons but chose not to. My headcanon is that regulus used to have friends. He had friends to turned to when he grew apart with sirius and he thought highly of some of his friends because why else would he grow further apart from sirius if it wasn't because his friends changed him, just like how sirius' friends changed sirius? Then his family problems thickened, and everyone started to worship voldemort, so he distanced himself. He lost all those bonds, which made him depressed.
Why, this has turned into a rant.