Chapter 3
The party was off to a good start. Everyone was dancing and drinking, thank Merlin she was in charge of the music, Lily thought, because Sirius would have really killed the vibe in here. Most Hufflepuffs had turned up and all Gryffindor’s had attended, meaning the party was a huge success. It was obvious that no one really wanted the summer to end, and why should it?
Remus had put a silencing charm on the common room and Sirius had bribed the painted lady to keep quiet about the party. It had only taken him having a word with the boy who had kept trying to pry the her door open when he’d forgotten the password. Poor bugger clearly didn’t understand how magic doors worked yet.
But enough with all that, preparations were done now and the party was in full swing. Sirius had somehow convinced Remus to dance with him whereas James was still unsuccessfully trying to convince Regulus to join him on the dancefloor. Barty, Peter and Pandora were all gathered around the food, Peter having made some of it and wanting to show it off to the others. Lily had had one of his hot-cross buns earlier today and she was desperately craving another. The boy could bake. Dorcas and Marlene were no where to be seen but this didn’t surprise Lily as they hadn’t been able to keep their hands off of each other all day. Speaking of which, where had Mary gotten to?
***
Barty had his mouth full of one of Pete’s jam doughnuts and he could safely say it was the best thing he’d ever tasted. The boy could really bake.
“Wow! These are amazing, Peter!” Pandora smiled at the baker. “You should definitely open a bakery!”
Peter smiled sheepishly at the praise and his cheeks turned a hot pink.
“Thank you! That’s the plan!”
Barty thanked Peter again and headed over to where James was still trying to convince Regulus to dance.
“Trouble in paradise?” He asked with a cheeky smile.
Regulus looked relieved to see him, but made no effort to escape James’s hold on his hand.
“Not at all! I’m just trying to convince Reg to dance with me.” James blushed, clearly embarrassed that it was taking so much persuasion for his boyfriend to dance with him.
“And I’m telling Potter that I don’t feel like dancing.”
“That’s not what you were saying a minute ago!”
“Shut up, Potter.”
Barty chuckled at them both, their argument reminding him of that of an old married couple. He felt a sting in his chest has a certain blonde haired boy appeared in his mind. He shut it out quickly.
“Well, I’ll leave you two love birds to it.”
“No Barty please help me.” Regulus pleaded as James picked him up all of a sudden and made for the dance floor.
Barty would have helped, but he could see the secretive smirk that Regulus was hiding from James. Maybe he did want to dance with James all along; Regulus had always been one for the chase.
Barty turned to face the food table, hoping to go back to Pete and Pandora but he was instead met with the boy he had been so desperately trying to avoid. Why was he here? No other Slytherins were invited or had even heard about the party to his knowledge, so why was Evan here?
He was definitely not here for the right reasons, whatever they could have been. Barty felt himself build up with rage at seeing the boys face once again. But Dorcas was right, he had changed. He was paler and frailer than he had been before summer, with deep bags under his eyes and what seemed like a permanent frown. He looked devastatingly sad.
Barty didn’t care. He shouldn’t care. Not after what Evan had done.
He marched over there.
***
Evan hated this. Every second.
He had what he needed to spike the punch but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He’d been standing by the table for five minutes and he’d missed many opportunities. He just couldn’t.
He send a text to Dorcas anyways, thinking it was best to cover his tracks and pretend they found out rather than him not doing it in the first place. Now he had to make his exit. He headed towards the door.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
Shit.
Evan turned around to face the person he so desperately missed but who wanted nothing to do with him.
“Hey Barty.”
“Answer my question.”
Barty looked furious to see him, and so he should. Evan had done terrible things and he had since fallen into a hole of self-hatred and self-pity. He knew he should not pity himself, it was pathetic but he couldn’t help the feeling that he had deserved better, that he could have done better. But it was too late now, the damage had already been done.
Maybe he didn’t deserve anything.
“Just coming to see what all the hype was about.”
“Bullshit.”
“What do you want me to say, Barts?”
“Don’t call me that. I want you to tell me why you’re really here.”
Evan felt like he could cry. He probably looked it to. He was just so tired. He missed how it used to be; before Snape had discovered his secrets and used them against him. He missed Barty. He missed them.
“You know why I’m here.” Evan sighed. “I can’t control it any more than you can.”
“Yes, you can. I left and so can you. You’re just too scared.”
Things had always been so simple for Barty. He saw things as one or the other, no in-betweens. No ifs or buts or maybes. He wanted to leave then he did. Nothing else mattered. He either hated someone with his whole heart or loved them with it. Evan dreaded to think where he placed in Barty’s heart now.
“It’s not that simple. You don’t understand.”
“Then tell me.”
He could. He could tell Barty and be free from his torment. God maybe he was a drama queen. When is Dorcas ever wrong.
“Get the fuck out, Rosier.”
It was Regulus who spoke. Evan’s heart tightened.
“Reg I-”
“Get. Out.”
Regulus looked at Evan with a gaze so cold Evan felt goosebumps travel up his spine. He looked around and noticed them all staring at him. Sirius and Remus had stopped dancing, Pandora and Peter had paused their conversation and Lily had stopped chatting with Mary. All of them stared so intensely at him that he felt sick to his stomach.
Evan looked away from them all and back at Barty, who was looking at him with a half-desperate look that read what happened to you?
Evan couldn’t stand it. He broke eye contact and walked hastily from the room and down the stairs. He felt stupid. And to think he was going to tell Barty anything. They all hated him and perhaps it was better that way.
***
It was safe to say that Dorcas and Marlene had gotten…distracted.
Dorcas knew the party was in good hands with Lily in charge and she had full faith it was going to be a great success. She had received the message from Evan and quickly warned everyone about the punch. Crisis averted.
“Well, that was fun.” Marlene grinned at her as they walked back to the party hand in hand.
“Yes, I suppose it was.” Dorcas laughed.
“You suppose?” Marlene gasped, putting her other hand to her heart in shock.
Dorcas only laughed in response, turning her gaze to the steps where she saw a troubled looking Evan coming down the stairs.
“Evan?” Dorcas asked, feeling Marlene’s hand grip hers a little tighter.
“What are you doing here?” Marlene asked, voice sour.
Evan looked to them both, eyes red as if he had been close to tears, as if he still was.
“I’m leaving.” He spoke, voice hoarse.
“What did you do?” Marlene asked.
“Why would you assume I did anything, McKinnon?”
“Because you’re bad news, that’s why.” Marlene sneered. “Where’s your buddy Snivellus?”
Evan had made it to the bottom of the stairs, and it was clear this was a conversation he didn’t want to be having.
“I wouldn’t know.” He rolled his eyes. “Just leave me alone, okay?”
“Whatever.” Marlene scoffed, pulling on Dorcas’s hand. “Come on, Dorks.”
As much as Dorcas wanted to ask Evan what had happened, she feared the worst and opted to head up to the party to see if everyone was okay. She was sure the boy didn’t want to talk to her anyways.
They entered the common room and found the party still in full swing, nothing seemed to be wrong. Sirius and Remus were still dancing somehow, and the rest were chatting amongst themselves. Dorcas now wished she'd gone after Evan. Lily met them at the door.
“The parties going well! We had a bit of an altercation between Regulus and Evan, but James is calming Reg down.”
Dorcas spotted James and Regulus sat in the corner of the room, James brushing Regulus’ hair away from his face as Regulus talked. He seemed to be doing okay.
“What happened?” Marlene asked.
“Barty spotted Evan and went to confront him about why he was here. Regulus must have seen and wanted Evan to leave.” Lily explained.
“Why was he here?”
“I don’t know. I thought he may have been behind the spiked punch but turns out it wasn’t even spiked. Who did you see, Dorcas?”
Dorcas was confused. Evan hadn’t spiked the punch? Had his plan backfired or had he not been able to do it?
“Oh, I just saw a Hufflepuff pouring something into the punch. Must have been them pouring their drink back in because they didn’t like it or something.”
“Oh right. Well, the punch is safe at least!” Lily smiled, “Enjoy the party!”
She then walked off, probably to find Mary, leaving Dorcas and Marlene still by the entry way. Dorcas couldn’t see Barty anywhere.
“I’m going to go get a drink, want one?” Marlene asked, snapping Dorcas out of her searching.
“Oh, yeah sure!” Dorcas smiled as her girlfriend disappeared from the crowd.
“Looking for me?”
Dorcas whipped around to see Barty standing just behind her. Barty looked relaxed as usual, but if you looked closely enough you could see his hands were shaking a little. Dorcas gave him the benefit of the doubt and put it down to alcohol.
“Are you okay?” She asked.
“Just perfect. So you heard about our surprise visitor?”
“Yes. He didn’t spike the punch?”
“Nope. But you thought he did. Why?”
Barty had always had the ability to read Dorcas, knowing her tells and when she was lying. They’d been friends since first year, Barty being adamant from day one that Dorcas should have been in Slytherin. Sometimes, Dorcas believed that too.
“I told you I saw a Hufflepuff do it.”
“Lies. You knew Rosier was going to spike the punch. Did you find out? Or did he tell you?”
“Fine. I knew.” Dorcas sighed. “I can’t tell you how.”
“Okay so he told you. Why?”
“I can’t say.”
“He wants to stop so why doesn’t he?”
“Barty, please.”
“He wants to get away from Snape so why doesn’t he?”
“Barty.”
“He’s doing stuff he doesn’t want to so why doesn’t he just stop?”
“Because he can’t.” Dorcas snapped.
That seemed to shut Barty up. Dorcas had already let too much slip; Evan would kill her if he found out she’d told Barty. Now she understands why he didn’t tell her what Snape had on him. She’d only tell Barty within five minutes of questioning.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
Barty sighed.
“I’m just going to have to find out for myself.”