Walburga Black
“D’you reckon she’ll send a howler?” Barty whispered to Regulus as the owls carrying the morning post swooped into the Great Hall.
“Nah, I doubt it,” he whispered back, glancing around nervously as if he expected his mother to pop up behind him. “She’ll want to smooth it over quietly.”
Evan walked up behind them and flung himself down next to Regulus.
“Morning,” he greeted, grinning sleepily.
Barty opened his mouth to respond, but he was interrupted by the great oak doors being thrown open rather loudly.
All the students quieted down as Walburga Black stepped into the Great Hall.
“Albus,” She called, her calm voice ringing out crystal clear across the room, “I need to have a word with my children.”
Barty quickly glanced at Regulus then at Sirius. They both wore identical expressions of pure terror.
Before Dumbledore could respond, McGonagall stepped up.
“A pleasure to see you, as always, Walburga,” she drawled, her voice scarily icy. “But I don’t believe it is appropriate to have parents barging into the school and demanding to see their children. You must understand, we value our students’ privacy and safety here at Hogwarts.”
The look Walburga gave her could have withered stone, but McGonagall was undeterred.
When she realized the professor wouldn’t back down, she turned to her eldest son instead.
“Sirius, come here. At once.”
Barty expected him to resist, perhaps even to outright refuse, but he simply stood up and began to make his way toward his mother, staring resolutely at his feet.
Before he could make it very far, however, McGonagall grabbed his arm protectively and stepped in front of him.
“I must not have made myself clear, Walburga. You are not welcome here. Any issues you may have can be sorted out with the Headmaster or myself. If you have something to say to your sons, you are free to write them a letter or take it up with them over the holidays when you will be seeing them again. Now, please step outside or I will have to take action.”
Walburga Black was not a woman to be threatened, but even she did not dare challenge Minerva McGonagall. Visibly seething, she slowly turned on her heel and stormed out of the Great Hall, throwing over her shoulder, “Very well then, Minerva, I would like to have a word with you in your office.”
McGonagall nodded and followed her out, the Great Hall erupting into excited whispers behind them. Sirius stood alone in the middle of the room, wide-eyed and fearful, looking unsure of whether he should sit back down or just leave. He eventually decided on the latter, and everyone stared at him as he walked away.
Barty immediately refocused his attention on Regulus, who did not seem to be handling the situation very well. He was ghostly pale – even more so than usual – and he looked like he was about to be sick. He had risen out of his seat and couldn’t seem to decide if he wanted to get up or not.
“Hey, you alright?” Barty asked, his brow furrowing in concern.
“I have to- Sirius- I- I need my brother.” It came out as practically a whimper, and he looked so scared and vulnerable that Barty immediately got to his feet and reached out to him.
Shooting Evan an apologetic look and attempting to silently tell him, I’ll explain later, he grabbed Regulus’ arm and marched out of the hall, starting a new wave of whispers that he promptly ignored.
He didn’t stop until he spotted Sirius making his way up a set of stairs that most certainly did not lead to the Gryffindor common room. Barty hesitated. Generally, when people looked around furtively and disappeared through a stairway in a secluded area, they wanted to be left alone. But then he looked at Regulus, who was on the verge of falling apart, and followed the older Black up the stairs.
Barty stepped out onto what looked like the top of a tower, panting and sweating and cursing the bloody endless stairwells of Hogwarts. He had all of two seconds to feel bitter before he was being roughly pinned against the stone wall and his vision was obscured by a mass of dark hair.
Stupidly perhaps, Barty’s first thought was that Sirius’ curls were unbelievably perfect. It only hit him afterward, rather belatedly, that Sirius was also quite strong, and that he was at a very real risk of being laid out if he didn’t say something.
Fortunately, Regulus appeared at the top of the stairs a moment later and exclaimed, “Sirius! Put him down!”
Sirius started and stepped back, shaking his head as if he hadn’t even realized what he was doing. He reached out and straightened Barty’s collar sheepishly, muttering an apology. He then turned to Regulus, his entire body tensing up in concern the moment he laid eyes on him.
“Reggie? Hey, you look like death, come here.”
He couldn’t even seem to muster up a sarcastic retort, he just moved forward and practically collapsed into his brother’s chest, releasing a choked sob.
Sirius’ arms wrapped around Regulus immediately, almost instinctively, and he just held him like that for a few minutes as he waited for him to calm down.
He did, eventually, and then he looked Sirius dead in the eye and said surprisingly steadily, “We need to talk to her, you know that right?”
Sirius freezes. “Uh, are you sure, Reggie?”
“I have to talk to her. I understand if you’d rather avoid her, but I’d appreciate it if you came with me.”
Sirius swallowed harshly, and though every bone in his body seemed to be screaming in distress, he nodded immediately.
"Yeah. Yeah, of course I'll come."
"How about you? Are you... Do you want to come too?"
Barty blinked, only realizing after a few seconds that Regulus was talking to him.
"Me? I, uh, oh! Yeah, for sure," he stuttered, feeling rather pleased that Regulus trusted him enough to ask him to come along. He was well aware that the Black brothers didn't exactly have the best relationship with their parents, so he knew this was not going to be easy for them.
Regulus nodded and offered him a small smile, and the three boys made their way back down the tower – god, Barty hated stairs.
They arrived at McGonagall’s office rather quickly since Sirius, for some reason, had been able to lead the way easily. As they got closer, however, both him and Regulus grew stiffer and more anxious. So, Barty took it upon himself to take the lead.
He threw the door open and marched in, attempting not to look as afraid as he was under Walburga’s cold gaze.
“Professor McGonagall,” he began bluntly, “Sirius and Regulus are here to, ah, sort matters out with Mrs. Black.”
McGonagall didn’t look particularly annoyed or surprised by their unannounced entrance. She simply stared at him curiously for a few seconds before asking, “And you, Mr. Crouch? What are you here for?”
The question caught Barty off-guard, and he momentarily faltered in his act of false bravado. “Er… Moral support?”
For some reason, the professor seemed to like this answer and gestured to the three of them to take a seat. Walburga’s eyes quickly acknowledged the brothers before returning to settle on Barty.
“Now,” McGonagall began calmly, “It appears there has been a… misunderstanding. You see I was informed at the last minute that the list was mistaken and that your youngest was in fact called Regulus-”
“By whom?” Mrs. Black interrupted sharply.
“I’m sorry?”
“Who informed you of this?”
“I’m afraid I cannot disclose that information, Walburga.”
“Why not? The answer is quite obvious, is it not?” Mrs. Black’s eyes danced with rage.
Sirius gulped, shrinking back into his seat.
“Be that as it may, I made the change to the list, and your son responded to the name, so there must have been some truth to my information, Walburga.”
“That is not my son!” she barked, glaring furiously at Regulus. “She is my daughter!”
McGonagall was momentarily stunned, but she quickly regained her composure. “Perhaps it is not my place to criticize your parenting, but it seems you are missing some crucial information about your children if your daughter is running around calling herself a boy and responding to the name Regulus.”
Walburga looked dangerously close to getting out of her seat and throttling the professor.
“Do not mock me, Minerva, I am perfectly aware off what is going on here. My daughter, as of late, has been labouring under the delusion that she is a boy – one of those transgenders, you know the sort – and I will be damned if I have bloody queers in my family tarnishing the name of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.”
McGonagall, who had remained impressively calm through the entire conversation, now looked positively livid. When she spoke again, her voice was low and venomous.
“Walburga, I have been exceedingly patient with you thus far, but I will not tolerate such ignorant and hateful language used toward the children in my care. Hogwarts is a safe space for all children, no matter their ethnicity, their blood status, their gender, or their sexual orientation. I may have no say in how you deal with your sons at home, but as long as they are at school, they will be respected in their identities. That is all I have to say to you. Kindly take your leave now, or I will have to call on the Headmaster to have you removed."
With that, she stood and walked out, leaving the three boys alone with Mrs. Black.
The moment McGonagall disappeared from view, Walburga whirled on her eldest.
"Are you out of your mind?!"
Sirius flinched back so violently that he almost fell out of his seat.
"You little- I should have known you would encourage your sister's nonsense! You know what, it truly is unfortunate that she is a girl, she would have made a far better heir than you!
Sirius recoiled again as if he had been slapped. Regulus' brow furrowed in concern, but he didn't dare reach out to his brother.
In the back of his mind, Barty was also worried for Sirius, but that didn't matter because he had just had an incredibly stupid idea.
He cleared his throat. "Er, Mrs. Black, if I may- You just said that Regulus would make a far better heir than Sirius, right? Well, if you truly believe that, then isn't this situation somewhat, er, fortunate, in a way?"
The look Walburga gave him made Barty momentarily reconsider his idea.
"You- You see," he swallowed, doing his best to keep his voice from shaking. "As of right now, the entirety of Hogwarts knows your child to be a boy called Regulus. What if you were to, say, go along with this? Make it seem as if you had always had two sons? You could have him raised as a boy, and when the time comes to choose an heir, if you still believe he is more suitable, then you will have no trouble."
Sirius, who had initially looked hurt, now looked ecstatic. He shot Barty a look that clearly said, You are a fucking genius.
He fully expected Walburga to scream at him or perhaps even simply disregard him entirely, but she seemed to be actually considering his words.
"Hm," she said finally, "What's your name, boy?"
"Barty, ma'am." And then he added, rather reluctantly, "Bartemius Crouch Junior."
Her nose wrinkled in distaste. "Crouch, huh? Quite clever for the son of a nutcase, aren't you?"
Barty knew it was supposed to be an insult, but he couldn't help himself. He grinned. "Thank you, ma'am."
That seemed to amuse her. "You don't like your father." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.
"No, ma'am, not at all."
Walburga simply continued to smile at him for a few seconds before standing.
"Well, Bartemius Crouch Junior, I believe we have an agreement."
She turned to Sirius, her smile dropping. "And Regulus? I certainly hope you prove to be a better son than him."
She gracefully marched out of the room, her robes billowing behind her.
Sirius immediately sprung up from his chair and pulled Regulus into his arms.
"Reggie, this is wonderful!" he grinned widely, though it was slightly forced, and his voice was strained.
When he pulled back, his face was ashen, and his hands were shaking. He looked like he was about to cry.
"Hey," Regulus began, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.
Sirius shrugged him off. "I'm fine, Reggie, I'm happy." As if to prove that he was, in fact, happy, he widened his grin to a point where it looked almost comical.
It was extremely obvious that he was not okay, but Regulus didn't push it.
"Well," Barty exclaimed loudly in an attempt to cheer him up, "I think this calls for celebration. Come back to the Slytherin common room with us, we'll have a party or something."
Sirius, surprisingly, shook his head and looked down. "No, no, you guys go ahead and celebrate. I, er, I’m gonna go find James."
Barty had no idea who James was, but Regulus' expression immediately turned sour at the mention of his name.
"Oh, yes, of course," he spat, "The mighty James Potter. I'm sure your dearest friend will cheer you up better than your pathetic little brother ever could."
Sirius looked distressed. "Hey, no, Reggie, that's not what I meant, you know that's not-"
"Bye, Sirius," Regulus interrupted coldly, grabbing Barty's arm and dragging him out of the room. "Go talk to James."
Barty didn’t understand how things had gone south so quickly. Who the hell was James Potter, and why did Regulus hate him so much?