Chapter 14
The next morning, Regulus walks straight out of bed, surprised to be hit face to face with all of his friends in his room.
Barty and Evan are deep in conversation, while Pandora and Dorcas are reading on the floor.
“You whore!” Barty shouts when his eyes land on Regulus, laughing wildly. Regulus quickly covers his neck, and closes his eyes, the realization dawning on him.
“No!” Dorcas exclaims, closing her book harshly and getting out of her seat to examine Regulus herself. “Tell me you didn’t!”
Regulus can’t bring himself to speak, and Dorcas scoffs at his silence, “Regulus, this isn’t what you were supposed to do!”
“I tried,” Regulus says guilitly.
Dorcas laughs mockingly, “This doesn’t look like you tried .”
He fully expected his other friends to laugh at the situation, but Dorcas is absolutely seething, and nobody in the room is going to risk speaking, in fear she’ll tell them off.
When Dorcas gets mad—a very rare occasion—she gets mad. One time, Barty had greatly upset Evan, to the point where Evan wouldn’t speak to anybody at all. Barty, being the stubborn person that he is, wouldn’t apologize. This went on for a few days until Dorcas had snapped at Barty, scolding him in the middle of the Great Hall, everybody eating going silent so that they could listen in. By the end of it, Barty had apologized to Evan and Dorcas apologized to Barty, though she really didn’t need to.
“You lot.” Dorcas says to the group, “Out.”
They leave almost immediately, Pandora blowing him a kiss on her way out, Barty and Evan laughing silently at him.
Dorcas is obviously trying to calm herself down, pacing around the room. She stops in front of Regulus, her hands on her hips, “Regulus.”
“Cas, I-”
“Please, don’t even tell me that you didn’t mean to.” Dorcas cuts in sharply, which was definitely what he was going to say.
Regulus scoffs noncommittally, “I wasn’t.”
“I can’t believe you, Regulus.”
“Dorcas, it isn’t a big deal,” he groans, “Crikey, it was just a kiss.”
She waves her hand in a circle over his neck, “This is not just a kiss.”
“Again, it’s not a big deal,” Regulus groans, “It’s my life and my decisions.”
“Not a big deal,” Dorcas repeats sarcastically. “For fucks sake, Reg. I watched you literally fall apart! I had to sit here and make sure that you took a fucking shower! I sat here and cried with you, because your heart was breaking and I had to watch. I had never seen you that bad before.”
She’s right, yet Regulus can’t find a way to just outright say it, so instead he says nothing.
“I mean come on, ” Dorcas continues, “You thought so lowly of yourself, and it was all his fault! And here you are, nearly shagging him after talking once.” Dorcas groans, “Oh, please tell me you two actually talked.”
“...A little?”
“You didn’t even talk!” Dorcas sighs, “Listen, I understand that you think you’re happy with him. But, you’ve barely gotten better. I don’t want to see you so hurt again.”
“I get it.” Regulus groans, “If it makes you feel better, I thought of you and what you’ve done for me, and I stopped.”
“Immediately?”
Regulus grimaces, “Well…maybe like a few minutes later.”
“Regulus, I want what’s best for you,” Dorcas is visibly more collected, “And doesn’t he have a girlfriend?”
“Broke up.” Regulus dismisses with a wave of his hand.
“When?”
Regulus doesn’t have an answer to that.
Dorcas sighs, “Did he tell you how he felt? Did he tell you why he led you on like that?”
“No,” Regulus groans, “Look, it’s not like we’re going to be anything, Dorcas.”
“Like James Potter is capable of just moving on. Please just talk to each other. I still hate his guts, but I might feel better if you could give me a reason not to.”
Regulus nods, “Yeah. I’ll talk to him, and tell you what he says.”
Dorcas gives Regulus a hug, in which he easily returns.
That’s the special thing about Dorcas, she is never able to end any conversation on bad terms. Dorcas loves to give a hug, or kiss on the cheek, even when she might be arguing with somebody. Every argument, whether it’s big or small, Dorcas never wants any person involved to be unhappy when they leave.
Regulus envies her for it, and always wishes that forgiveness came easy for him.
The two eventually make it down to breakfast, not really speaking to each other the whole way down, a mix between uncomfortable and comfortable silence.
“Bloody hell, Reggie,” Barty says as Regulus and Dorcas finally sit down for breakfast.
Regulus groans, really not wanting anymore trouble, “What now?”
Evan casts a glamour charm, covering all the marks littering his neck. “You’re an idiot.” Evan laughs before sipping his tea.
Regulus can feel his face go red, just imagining all the people he passed in the corridors that saw all the purple marks. Meaning, he also walked into the entire Great Hall with them visible. “Crikey, this has been a fucking horrible day so far. I haven’t even been awake for a full hour.” Regulus mumbles, placing his burning face in his hands.
Pandora plops down next to Regulus, lifting his face from his hands and tapping him on the nose, “Oh, cheer up, I have some good news for you.”
Barty scoffs, “If it has anything to do with your new boyfriend , then I do not want to hear it.”
Pandora glares at him, “Xeno is a wonderful human, and I can talk about him as much as I please.”
“Since when were you and Xeno officially a thing?” Dorcas asks, looking at Pandora questioningly.
“It’s very recent, Barty wasn’t supposed to tell anyone,” Pandora glares again at a smirking Barty, “Until I knew Xeno was genuine, I wasn’t going to introduce him yet. Barty is just a nosy bastard.”
“All I said was that you had a boyfriend!” Barty exclaims, “You’re the one who said who it was.”
“Anyways my good news,” Pandora continues, deciding to shift the topic, “I finally got in some more booze to restock our cupboard, so we can all try to feel a bit better tonight.”
“Pandora!” Barty gasps playfully, “Are you encouraging this very fine, young, underaged man to drink?”
“Bartemius Crouch Jr., you are really getting on my last nerve,” Pandora retorts sharply before getting up and swiftly leaving their table. However, she didn’t seem to be playing around this time, meaning that she’s clearly a bit upset with Barty.
“Merlin Barty, why do you always purposefully piss her off?” Evan says when Pandora is out of earshot, and Dorcas nods in agreement.
“I was joking!” Barty defends, “I’m sure she knows that.”
Dorcas groans, “Yeah, but you know that she’s a bit sensitive at times. You were doing a lot of mean things back to back, and she wasn’t even playing along.”
“So, stop being a fucking knobhead, ” Evan emphasizes the last word, as well as throwing one arm around Barry’s neck, and he brings the other to mess up his hair. “And apologize to her.”
Barty swats at Evan’s hand that’s messing up his hair, and tries to get out of Evan’s hold, “I will! I will, eventually!”
“Do you promise?” Evan innocently asks, keeping his arm firmly around Barty.
Barty rolls his eyes, “Obviously.”
Evan releases Barty, and pats him on the head, “Good choice, Crouch.”
“Shit,” Barty rubs his neck, “Since when were you so defensive over Pandora?”
”Oh please, I’d treat Regulus the same way if he had pissed you off that bad.”
Dorcas scoffs, “No, you wouldn’t.”
Evan rolls his eyes, “I totally would.”
“Last time Regulus pissed me off that bad was like two months ago, and you congratulated him for getting me to shut up.” Barty points out.
“Oh yeah,” Regulus smirks, “He also gave me a big kiss on the cheek for that.”
Dorcas grins, “That he did.”
“It was very lovely, I may add.” Evan joins in.
“No way!” Barty exclaims, looking genuinely shocked, “How come I never get a kiss on the cheek?”
“Because you’re a prick.” Dorcas answers, Evan nodding in agreement.
“A funny prick,” Evan clarifies, “But you still are one, nonetheless.”
Barty splutters, “But Regulus is a prick and he’s not even funny.”
Regulus glares at Barty, “How come you’re mean to me when I wasn’t even the one who called you a prick?”
Barty scoffs, “You were probably thinking something much worse. It was just payback for whatever you were thinking.”
“Was not.” Regulus says truthfully, rolling his eyes. “If I was, then I wouldn’t hesitate to say it out loud.”
“So," Barty interrupts Regulus, "If I were to greatly upset Regulus, then would I get a kiss on the cheek?”
Evan sighs, contemplating it for a moment. “No.”
“Why the fuck not?” Barty groans, “This is really bothering me.”
“No way,” Dorcas says sarcastically, “We hardly noticed.”
“Would a kiss on the cheek make you feel better?” Evan asks.
Barty glares at Evan, “Obviously not, then it’d just be forced.”
“Jealousy does not look good on you, Crouch.” Regulus teases, an amused look on his face.
“Piss off, I’m not jealous, just extremely curious.”
Dorcas raises her eyebrows, “Curious of what, exactly?”
“God, forget it!” Barty grumbles as he rubs his temple. “Merlin, you lot are very annoying today.”
“I think we’re just confused.” Evan says softly, trying to restore the peace. “Maybe it got a bit out of hand.”
“No it’s alright, Ev. I think I’m being a bit too dramatic.”
Regulus snorts, “A bit?”
“Oh, you’re one to talk,” Barty retorts playfully, “Practically crying your bloody eyes out just because of a few love bites.”
Regulus coos at him, “Aw, don’t tell me that you're jealous of that too.”
“Please,” Barty grins slyly at Regulus, “You wish that I was the one who did them.”
Regulus scoffs, and goes back to trying to eat his food. The conversation moves on, all of them talking about whatever crosses their minds.
“Fucking hell, I’m off,” Barty groans as he begrudgingly stands up from his seat.
“Where to?” Evan asks, looking up to look at Barty who is standing behind him.
Barty grins down at him, “Got to study. Won’t be gone for long, darling, do not fret.”
“Oh shut it.” Evan rolls his eyes looking back down at his food, although Regulus can see a slight blush slowly blanketing his face.
“Shit, I should go too,” Dorcas sighs as she gets up to join Barty, “Haven’t started studying in the slightest.”
Regulus watches as they leave, and looks back to find Evan suddenly tense, looking like he desperately wants to say something.
“You doing alright, Evan?” Regulus asks once Barty and Dorcas are too far away to hear their conversation.
Evan nods a bit too harshly, “Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”
Regulus simply shrugs, Evan is the type to eventually say what’s clouding his mind.
“Was it Barty?” Evan asks abruptly, “The love bites?”
Regulus grimaces, fighting the urge to dramatically gag at the assumption. “Evan, there was nothing between the two of us. So no, it wasn’t him.”
“Fine.” Evan sighs, “It’s just- I don’t know. He’s been all weird recently and last night both of you were back late.”
“Maybe he was studying?”
“Yeah, maybe,” Evan bites his lip thoughtfully, “Do you think he’s seeing somebody?”
Regulus scoffs, “I don’t know, why don’t you ask him?”
“Because that’s weird.” Evan replies, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
Regulus shakes his head, extremely confused. “How in the world is that weird?”
“Dunno, but I feel like it is. How about you do me a solid, and ask him for me?”
“Why would I do that? You’re the one who wants to know. You’re probably the only one who wants to know, now that I think about it.”
Evan groans, “Oh, please Regulus. He’ll make fun of me if I ask him about it.”
Regulus caves, “Fine.” he mumbles, taking a sip of his coffee.
“Perfect,” Evan grins, “You’re the best, thank you. Now, I have to go and do some studying as well.”
Regulus groans, “You’re leaving me by myself?”
“You love being by yourself.” Evan immediately replies with a grin before setting off.
Fair enough.