Chapter Text
Regulus is quite sure he’s got the worst taste in friends that’s ever existed.
As he slowly chews through a bite of his pizza, he watches Barty push Evan into the ornamental fountain at the park, both boys yelling indignantly when Evan pulls Barty in right after.
Regulus swallows and takes a step away to avoid the droplets flying his way.
“You little shit-”
“Coward- ow oW OW, DON’T TOUCH THE HAIR, ROSIER!”
“Oh, now it’s Rosier?! FINE!”
Evan throttles him back in and Barty glurps sommething underwater, yanking Evan over himself by the collar.
Regulus takes another bite and checks his phone. No new messages from Panda.
Sigh.
“If you two are done-”
“HELP ME, REGGIE!” Barty screeches, one of Evan’s arms across his chest and stopping him from getting out.
By this point, they’re both drenched, Barty’s hair looks like a sad mop and Evan has never resembled a wet dog as much as right now. There's also a bit of an audience gathering around, and Regulus is half sure that’s a local guard approaching, so he flips them the bird and walks away, yelling back a “Get a room” over his shoulder. Regulus leaves behind both Barty’s outraged blubber and the stern voice that’s most likely coming to kick them out.
Regulus finishes his slice as he heads for the nearby (lovely) gelato parlor where Dorcas had gone to get them dessert, and he finds his friend still waiting in line and scrolling on her phone.
Dorcas doesn’t see him right away – she tucks one of her luscious box braids behind an ear and stretches a little to her left side and then to her right, popping her back and letting out a huff before turning to the cashier. Regulus waits until she’s placed the order before tapping her shoulder.
“Meadowes” Regulus greets.
“Miniature Black “ Dorcas nods “Did you finish the pizza? And where did you leave the menaces?”
Regulus shrugs, moving forward when the worker places five little cups and Dorcas pays. He picks two up and leaves Dorcas to deal with the rest.
“They are most likely receiving a warning for disruptive behavior in public.”
Dorcas sighs, balancing her three cups on one hand while digging through her purse with the other. How does she do that? Regulus doesn’t know and frankly, he doesn’t want to know.
“Shit, if I have to pretend I’m Evan’s sister again-“
Heading back towards the fountain, Regulus takes a moment to enjoy the calm before dealing with a police officer. The little cobblestone path they're walking on is quite whimsical and, even if it's mid september and close to six in the evening, it's not chilly but instead sunny. Though the park isn't their usual meet-up place, after Pandora took a detour to place an order at the old Ollivander's pharmacy (which is, conveniently, right by the park) for some chemicals, they decided gelato in the sun might just be their new thing for today.
The public fountain comes into view again and, sitting on the edge of it like Hope’s favorite dish towels after she’s done cleaning, are one Barty and one Evan. And in front of them a redheaded police officer who seems to be speaking. The crowd has thinned a little, only a passer-by or two craning their necks to look at the two wet boys shivering probably from the water and not the guard’s attempt at a glare. Barty, at least, seems a bit fed up. Evan is completely neutral.
“Damn it, if even Barty looks this dejected-“ Dorcas begins, pocketing her phone.
“It’s bad” Regulus agrees with Dorcas, hurrying along and catching a snippet of their conversation.
“-what do you mean? At your age, I was still playing with Lego!”
“As if my parents ever bought me any,” Barty cuts back and rolls his eyes, but it’s pretty clear the redhead has hit a sensitive spot “they’d much rather I sat still and looked pretty-“
“I have Lego at home” Evan suddenly interrupts, staring off into the distance while twisting his wet hoodie sleeve.
“There! Now why couldn’t you two young boys go enjoy a good few colored bricks at this fella’s house and instead had to come here and throw yerselves in the fountain? This is not the first time, now I’ll have to call your parents!”
Regulus sees the moment Barty snaps before it even happens. He hurries forward just as Barty begins: “I’ve told you, they won’t care-” but Dorcas gets there before he finishes and taps the guard’s shoulder.
“I’m really, really sorry sir, my brother and his friend tried” she balances on her tippytoes and pretends to whisper, (but Regulus already knows what she’s saying) “to impress their crush, the pale boy behind me?”
The officer actually gasps and nods, sending a single look in Regulus’ way before he looks thoughtfully at Barty and Evan.
Dorcas whispers something more, her hands gesturing wildly although she's carrying so much gelato. With every little explanation, the officer seems more and more corrupted by whatever lies she's spouting off.
Finally, he sighs.
“Well, I suppose... but this is the last time I’m letting them off the hook, Ms. Meadowes, do you understand?” he scolds, though his face betrays amusement.
“Yes sir, I’ll keep an eye on them” Dorcas smiles brightly and old Mr. Weasley walks away, mumbling about young love.
The second his back is turned, Dorcas’ smile falls, Regulus lets out half a laugh and Evan just stares at them, raising an eyebrow. Barty leans back into Evan's side and tries, in vain, to untangle the mess his black-dyed curls have become on his head.
The fine-aged excuse they’ve been using for the entirety of their years as a friend group is something they came up with on a whim – when Evan had accidentally taken a pair of socks from a cheap store without noticing, and a very angry vendor had come outside to scold and argue with him about honor and thievery and-
Dorcas had stepped up then, a good few inches taller than eleven-year-old Evan who looked ready to cry, and threw herself into a good old argument of “don’t mess with my brother or else” - which became a joke but very soon an actual excuse, especially when dealing with strangers.
Thankfully for them, most bigoted or racist elderly people from around town don’t spare their different shades of skin tones more than a look when Dorcas ambushes them. And when they do, the “half-sibling” excuse works like a charm.
“May I ask, what were you two morons thinking?” Dorcas asks, passing each a gelato cup and a plastic spoon. Evan mumbles a “thanks” back.
Barty shrugs, digging into his cup and talking around the spoon into his mouth “Not much, really” gulp “we were” gulp “arguing over whose console” gulp “we’re using to play Mario Kart” gulp “on Sunday” he finishes, taking an obscene amount of gelato into his spoon and almost inhaling it. Regulus feels a bit disgusted to continue his own cup now but he does nonetheless. Barty's pig-like manners shouldn't be a reason for Regulus not to enjoy life as it comes.
Dorcas tries saying something, but just at that moment Regulus’ phone rings, the repeated violin riff in Toxic blaring across her words. He shrugs at her glare and almost smiles when he sees “Panda” as the caller.
“Hello miniature Black” she greets.
“Panda” Regulus responds, putting her on speaker and sitting down next to Evan. Dorcas sighs and takes a seat on his left, starting her own gelato.
“I’m coming in a minute, I saw Xeno and had to stop for a chat” she chippers, rustling something on her end. “I think I'll arrive soon though, I’m passing by that flower shop Peter’s mum works at.”
“You can invite him if he wants to come along” Barty butts in, leaning over and propping his arms in Evan’s lap “I heard they have some new offers at Fortescue’s and last time Alice said she’ll slip us an extra cup if we wait ‘til they close-”
“Nah, ‘s fine, he’s going home anyway. Oh wait, I see you-”
The call is cut short as the short figure of Pandora herself appears in front, skipping her way on the coblled path towards them with a gentle smile. The layered scarves around her neck flutter behind her, a floor-length skirt brushing her heels as she bounces over, bangles dingling softly at her ankles, neck and wrists.
“I’m hungry” she greets again, picking the gelato cup Dorcas offers her and digging in.
Barty retreats from Evan’s lap but instead leans into him, still inhaling his own gelato as Evan quietly eats his.
For a minute, it’s pure peace and quiet – Pandora sits down criss-cross next to them, Barty’s mouth is too full for him to make any noise and the sweet aroma of pineapple gelato surrounds them in a bubble of artificial sugar.
But alas, quiet is bound to be broken, just as promises are. At least in Regulus’ life.
“So,” Barty begins the instant he’s finished licking his spoon “are we going to mine’s tonight or..? Pops is on a business trip ‘til Friday”
Regulus shakes his head before he’s done talking “Can’t. Maman wants me home by seven.” he shrugs, though he’s aware his tone is bitter.
Well, he told his mother the truth. The fact that maman hadn’t been paying attention when he announced he was going out with his friends because she was on a warpath to get to Sirius “got-into-two-extra-clubs-in-my-GCSEs-year” Black is just a pure coincidence. The get-home-by-seven rule is already in place anyway.
It's not like her or Orion will notice he’s missing anyway. Unless he gets exceedinly bad grades (anything below an A) or doing poorly in fencing (read: not winning every match), Regulus is (mostly) left to his own devices. He's aware it’s a rather unreasonable lifestyle, having someone breathe down the back of his neck at his every move or being threathened into oblivion whenever something goes wrong, but it could be worse.
He's had worse when he practiced at Riddle’s academy or arts.
As if on cue, his phone buzzes and he ignores Barty’s moaning about unfair and unbelievable and unequitable and Evan’s response of that’s not a word and their following bickering. For some reason, Remus has texted him.
R.J.L.
- Alright.
- You’ll hate me for this
- But I forgot to mention something about tomorrow’s meeting
- And my knees are killing me so I’m not sure if I’ll get there on time morrow
“Who is it?” Pandora asks curiously, propping her chin on his knee and looking up at him.
Regulus gently pats her head “Remus. He's complaining about his joints again.”
As if awoken, Barty exits his little spar with Evan (who rolls his eyes and turns his attention to Regulus) and looks at the phone for a moment.
“Hasn’t he tried any new PT after Greyba-” he starts, but his reply is cut short by Dorcas reaching behind Regulus and smacking the back of his head while Evan elbows him in between the ribs.
Barty cusses softly but doesn’t continue, Pandora sending Regulus a questioning look. He nods, aware his friends are watching.
Truth be told, it’s not a secret. They call it The Incident, because nobody except maman, Hope and probably Remus know all the intricate details of it. What the public knows – and his acquaintances, classmates and even friends – is that Riddle’s academy shut down after the staff put multiple students through abuse of different kinds.
It's a fancy arse way of belittling how terrifying it was for Regulus to return to the lockers to retrieve something twenty minutes post-practice only to find a girl his age sobbing her guts out and almost retching on the floor after Rabastan had “had her way with her” and threathened her into silence.
It was a downhill slope from that point. When he got her to their academy nurse, she ignored them and eventually Regulus had to fearfully call the police, at just ten years of age.
And suddenly, from the first victim that spoke up (the girl, whose name was something something Parkinson) dozens more erupted – either older students being harassed or overworked but not leaving because by that point, quitting the academy would guarantee their possible careers plummeting, or younger ones who couldn’t distinguish the way their parents acted at home as something bad, especially when even their coaches acted the same; cussed them out or, on some cases, hit them.
Regulus, thankfully, hadn’t caught the brunt of it all. Rabastan and Nott were very rigid coaches and often didn’t bother to hide their disdain or aversion at working with children, but having Bellatrix nee Black as his sister in law made Rabastan only toe the line with Regulus, never actually crossing it. Of course, he had overtime practice, mediocre feedback that never helped and was often held even over lunch break, but in the end he can't really remember if he's been touched with ill intent. Key word though - remember. He can't remember properly.
What did make him snap was when he learned Fenrir Greyback, Riddle’s favorite recommendation for physical therapists, whom he kept praising to maman and then maman further recommended to Hope, got searched by the police in the aftermath and…
Remus hadn’t even noticed. It wasn’t like Greyback had been obvious about it, but he had treated Remus respectfully most of the time. Thus, when the police found an entire archive of pictures he took of his students in all sorts of poses while they completed their exercises, not even Remus could believe it.
Especially not when he was the main subject of them.
Greyback had managed to erase whatever connections he could’ve been sending them to, if that was what he was doing with them, so no one had any idea just how far all of them had spread. He could've been selling them for all they knew. It was all very meticulously arranged - folders in folders in folders, separated on sections depending on person, people upon people when in moments when they're vulnerable or need to feel safe enough to learn how to heal.
Greyback had zoomed in on all sorts of things in different pictures. Though the case was never fully closed, many people still scoured the internet to try and find if those pictures were ever shared, but whatever Greyback had done, it had been sneaky.
Which was, combined with Rabastan, Nott, Yaxley, Mulciber and Avery’s literal criminal records in the academy, more than enough to get Riddle and his accomplices behind bars.
Since then, Regulus has never done neither ballet nor gymnastics again or even attempted to, and he’s rather sure Remus won’t be looking for a new PT anytime soon. It’s still a sore subject though, especially since that had been the final act that made Hope Jenkins crack and abandon her place at the Black Manor for a good few months until Walburga almost had to beg her to come back.
As Regulus soon found out, there wasn’t necessarily a line of people ready to suffer Grimmauld Place, waiting to replace Hope. Regulus is glad, though he feels a bit guilty about it, that Hope has chosen to stay in the end. He’s not sure how he’d handle his episodes if she or Remus weren’t around.
Leaning over Evan and snapping his fingers in front of Barty’s face, Regulus rolls his eyes.
“It’s fine. He doesn’t want to, and that’s that.”
Barty nods and they return to their gelatos, munching away whatever’s left.
“Can Xeno come, actually?” Pandora asks out of nowhere, chewing her spoon and sending a look Barty’s way “He said he’s got some stuff to buy but he’s free after.”
Barty nods and steals Evan’s cup, who doesn’t do much except hand it over and pet Barty's (still wet) head of curls. He seems thoughtful for a moment as he gathers his thoughts.
“I’ll invite Chloe too then, she-“
“No” Barty interrupts, staring daggers at Evan.
Evan narrows his eyes at Barty and Regulus can sense a silent battle of wits is going down between his two friends. He sighs, licking his spoon and mournfully putting it in his empty cup.
“She’s super rude and-“
“No” Evan says, “Chloe’s rude to you because you’re an absolute brute when she’s around and you're always glaring at her. She’s done nothing wrong!”
Barty rolls his eyes and waves Evan off with his hand. Trust him to villainize Evan’s girlfriend to his own face.
“Yes yes, alright okay, but we’ve never had a civil conversation and I don’t want her in my house-”
“Goodness gracious Barty, you’re such an arse sometimes-”
Regulus tunes them out for a minute, typing a quick text back to Remus.
You
- Am I allowed to ask why?
He waits for a minute and then closes his phone, reaching a hand out to play with Pandora’s hair and letting his head fall on Dorcas’ shoulder as all three of them watch Evan and Barty bicker. Again.
“You’re letting Xeno come, and you used to say he was boring and creepy!”
“Well, that was before he made the meanest spliff I’ve seen in ages?” Barty says, voice lilting as if he’s saying something very obvious to him “What can your fling do, hm? Sit there and look nice?”
“Now you’re just being stubborn, and don't call Chloe that” Evan huffs, running a hand down his wet hair “If I had known you’d be so unreasonable i wouldn’t have asked-”
“I’m the one being unreasonable? You want to bring a stranger to my house!” Barty almost screeches, making Evan lean back and narrow his eyes again.
“I’ve been dating her all summer, Bat” he gestures with his hands in an attempt to exaggerate his naturally monotone voice, but all he does is sprinkle water from his still-soaked cuffs “All. Damn. Summer! I’m going to her sister’s wedding as her invite, for goodness’ sake!”
There's a good moment of silence as Barty works his jaw. He suddenly stops.
“Well then” Barty’s tone is icy cold and Regulus raises his head from Cas’ shoulder, sensing something off “If she’s such an adorable and amazing and pure angel like you make her out to be, then you can piss right off with your perfect prefect girlfriend, Evan.”
For a moment, they’re all quiet. Regulus shifts a bit forward, trying to catch a glimpse of Evan’s face, but before he can, the boy is already getting up.
“Thanks for the gelato, Cassie. I’m going home. Bye” he waves to them over his shoulder as he stalks off, clothes hanging dark and wet and voice just as even as before but a little more flat. With a sigh, Regulus gets up and follows him.
“I need to get home soon anyway, I’ll walk you. Goodbye everyone” he turns to wave at the rest, but only Panda notices and sends a smile his way. Dorcas is too busy holding Barty by the nape of his neck and spewing vitriol in his ear.
For a moment, he’s a bit sorry for Barty. Having to face Dorcas’ wrath is not a fate he wishes on anyone, but he knows Bat’s deserved it. They've been going round and round over this same discussion ever since Evan’s started seeing Chloe – everything is fine, then Evan mentions Chloe, Barty snaps, Evan walks away and they ignore each other for two days before returning to normal and pretending nothing’s happened.
It's exhausting even to Regulus, and he’s not part of... whatever love corner this is supposed to be.
He finally catches up to Evan and takes a moment to analyze his friend’s profile. He's taller than Regulus and lean, but wider in the shoulders than Barty and his lanky limbs. His skin is a shade sandier than Dorcas’ ebony tone and more on the olive side, but it still clashes with the thick, platinum blond curls he and Pandora share. Evan's got his in cornrows but Regulus suspects he’ll ask Pandora to make bantu knots for him the next time they’re working on each other’s hair.
“Hey. Wanna get fish and chips?” Regulus asks in an attempt at comforting. Or maybe his best attempt at comforting.
It's not a very good one though, because Evan laughs under his breath.
“You don’t have to coddle me, Reg, but thanks” he says, tone back to its usual fond gray “I’ll prolly order myself some ramen tonight.”
“Alright then.” just as they exit the park, side by side, Regulus’ tummy audibly growls and Evan struggles to hide a laugh. Regulus sends a glare his way which only makes Evan crack, holding his stomach and bending over at the waist with little hiccups of laughter.
“If you were hungry, you should’ve just said so, buddy” Evan finally straightens and Regulus scoffs.
“First off, I’m not your buddy, I’m a very reluctant member in whatever cult this is that you and Pandora have dragged me into” he says, heading in the direction of Madame Rosmerta’s inn and knowing Evan is following right behind.
“Mhm, you can just say you love us, y’know.” Evan adds conversationally.
“Sod off -and second off, no, I am not hungry, I’ve just eaten” his stomach growls again and Regulus speaks louder, trying to cover it “and believe me when I tell you-”
Evan just chuckles and pats Regulus’ head, making him squak in annoyance. How dare he touch THE hair?
“...you’re so dead” Regulus says in an uncanny imitation of Evan’s usual tone blank voice, already feeling his overworked and underpaid curls flattened where Evan had the gall to pet him.
“Only if you can catch me” Evan smirks and rushes forward, spinning in place to see Regulus' reaction.
He shouldn’t have, because now Regulus feels the primal need to win this. Thus, he barrels forward at full speed, making Evan squeal and rush towards Madame R’s inn in a half panicked, half amused daze.
Just wait until Regulus gets his hands on that little twat-
---------------------------------------------
Evan lays down, hands burrowed under his head and fake stars shining on his bedroom’s ceiling. He counts them, running his leg back and forth against his blanket in an attempt at grounding himself.
One. Two. Three.
It doesn’t work.
Four. Five. Six.
He reaches for his phone and fidgets with its tactile case.
Seven. Eight. Nine.
He pops out the holder attached to it before pushing it back in.
Ten. Eleven. Twelve.
Barty got him that case last year, it had been a birthday present.
Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen.
Barty’s turning fifteen in October, maybe Evan should get him something-
Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen.
-or not, since they’re not talking now.
Nineteen. Twenty. Twenty-one.
They're arguing again, aren’t they?
Twenty-two. Twenty-three. Twenty-four.
The ciggs he shared with Dora earlier are making his head fuzzy.
Twenty-five. Twenty-six. Twenty-seven.
His phonecase is so annoying now, and those cigarettes were so annyoing, and Barty-
Twenty-eight. Twenty-nine. Thir-
Barty is so-
Wait. Where's the thirtieth?
Evan abandons his phone on the bed, sitting up as if taking a closer look can help his odds of finding the missing star. He counts them again quickly under his breath. Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine...
And that’s it.
Where. Is. The. Thirtieth?
Evan takes a deep breath, but his throat feels filled with smoke again, like earlier when he breathed in too deeply, but much much much worse. He needs to find it, he needs to-
Where. Is. It?
He attempts that other counting trick Dorcas taught him last week but it doesn’s seem to work. His vision is blurry and he’s not sure if he’s crying or just delusional.
Where. Is. IT.
He can feel his lungs caving in and he claws desperately at his chest, tearing a button off his silk pyjama by accident. Shit, now mum will get on his arse too in the morning over what he did-
WHERE. IS. IT.
He tries pulling the thread back in, hiding it, but he tears the little black button right off. Even in the semi-darkness of his room, he can see it’s a strong, obsidian-like color.
WHERE. IS. IT.
Like Barty’s hair, his mind unhelpfully supplies and now, overlapping his gasping breaths are also sobs. Everything is wrong and the bed is too soft and too hard and his hair is too tight against his skull and his eyes are too large and his hands are too far and his mouth is too dry and his lungs are too shriveled up and the damn star is missing-
WHERE. IS. HE.
“Evie?” Pandora calls out in the dark of their room, her voice groggy but still light.
“Panda?” Evan hoarsely responds, his tone betraying him.
Almost faster than he can see, Pandora rolls out of her bed and hurries over to his, almost collapsing from getting up too quick. She regains her balance soon though and sits down next to Evan.
“What happened?” her voice is so gentle and Evan knows it’s stupid and-
“...where is he?" he can already sense her confusion so he shakes his head "It’s so, so, so stupid, Panda” he croaks, voice wobbling again.
Pandora just runs a hand over his back, rubbing soft circles into his tightly-pulled muscles.
“What is?” she whispers and Evan feels another sob wreck his way up his throat as he collapses into her.
“There’s a star missing” Evan mumbles when he regains his voice, head tucked into the crook of her shoulder.
“Hm, I see. Which one?”
“Callisto.”
“Oh, goodness no” Panda sighs and wraps her arms tighter around him “Wasn’t that the first one we put up there?”
Evan shakily nods. He and Pandora put those stars up there when their family moved into town about a decade ago. At first, they couldn’t reach, both being small little four-year-olds with dreams too big, but Felix had finally had enough of their whining and took each of his little siblings on a shoulder and let them place as many of their stickers as they wanted.
Evan still remembers that moment, where for a bit everything was alright. Panda right next to him giggling, Felix’s arms awfully strong even at barely seventeen and his own attention fully fixed on naming the stars they put on, head finally quieted for a moment.
Callisto was the first. Then came Io, Europa, and Ganymede, and then Phobos and Deimos. That's where Pandora lost count, but Evan kept naming them after moons.
Titan. Tethys. Hyperion. Phoebe. Rhea. Adrastea. Euporie. Triton. Galatea. Nereid. Laomedeia. Thalassa. Neso. Sao. Oberon. Rosalind. Ariel. Perdita. Mab. Portia. Belinda.
The last they named was Luna, which glowed a little brighter, seemed a little wobbly and is still Pandora’s favorite.
“It’s okay Evie, we can put it back tomorrow” Panda whispers into his hair.
“It’s so, so, so stupid-”
“No, it’s not-” Pandora begins scolding but another sob escapes Evan.
“He’s so, so, so damn stupid, Panda." Evan's voice is a sob on the last syllable "I hate him so much.”
Pandora goes quiet for a moment, her hand gently gliding over Evan’s cornrows.
“Is it Barty?” she asks and gosh, it’s as if they’re twins and best friends – of course, because they are.
Evan nods shakily and exhales in the same manner, all the fight leaving him in an instant.
“I hate him, Panda. I miss him so much.” he mumbles, but they both know she can still hear him.
“I know. He's a proper bastard at times.” she responds.
Quiet. For one second. Two. Three. Four. Five-
“But you still love him, don’t you?” she whispers like a secret, because it is.
Evan closes his eyes and, after not even half a moment of hesitation, nods.
Pandora just sighs again and presses a kiss to his forehead.
They both know why it hurts. They both know that, after canceling game night at Barty’s that evening, he went out to some party, used his growth spurt to pretend he was above sixteen and got himself all plastered, posting on his social media some pictures someone took of him and a pretty black-haired girl snogging mid-dance floor.
They both know he’ll have another girl on his arm tomorrow, or, who knows, maybe a boy next week. Barty does look older than he is, after all. And people know he’s got a handsome face. It's not like he doesn't have who to chose from. Barty's pretty and he knows it.
Gosh, Evan surely does. He knows he’ll break up with Chloe soon anyway. She's amazing, but they’ve both been acting more like close friends rather than boyfriend and girlfriend recently.
And he’ll be single, and Barty won’t be, but at least his Bee will be happy. Right?
“Can we stay like this tonight?” Evan asks quietly, voice scratchy even against his own ears.
“Of course, Evie. Anything for you, as long as you make pancakes 'morrow” she teases and draws a small laugh out of him.
They stay like that even as Evan’s eyes wander back to the ceiling, searching for Callisto.
Evan doesn’t find her. Maybe he will, another day.
------------------------------------------
Barty couldn't find her. Maybe he will, another day.
The girl he had been snogging half the night turned out to have a boyfriend, and his search for her to actually get her number had been fruitless, especially when he got in a brawl over it. A big, beefy guy that had a good half a head on Barty and fists made of steel.
Barty for sure knows that, now. Especially when he’s sitting on Dorcas’ washing machine, jaw aching just like Mary described the feeling of when she got her braces. Dorcas dabs at the cut on his cheek with betadine again and a pitiful sound escapes his mouth.
“Quit whining.” she admonishes, taking the cloth away and pouring more disinfectant on it before resuming her mission “You should know better than to go to random parties, Bat. You're not even fifteen!”
“As if you’re older-” he mumbles, but Dorcas twists the cloth against his cut and he hisses in pain.
“Because I am, dumb arse. I’m turning seventeen this year because I was too sick to go to school for a year, does that sound better?”
Barty shuts his mouth. Gods above, what’s wrong with him?
The day had started out fine, right? His mother hadn’t gotten on his case about his room being a mess, his father actually grunted in response to his “good morning” and he was only five minutes late to his first class! Although he did skip form.
Then Snape accused him of cheating on their last first algebra test and he had to prove – to Slughorn, of all people – at the front of the class, that he did indeed know everything he had written down.
And then, he thought he could talk to Alice about this feeling of helplessness he’s felt for a while but she was busy with customers at Fortescue’s and neither had gotten more than five words in.
Then, he wanted everyone over at his house now that his father had finally left, but then Rosie had to bring her up again and-
(Barty feels a wave of nausea roll through him at the image of his Rosie and that Greengrass blondie smiling chastely at each other across the classroom)
-and then Barty had to go ahead and muck it all up.
Dorcas snaps her fingers in front of his face, bringing him out of his daze.
“Earth to Barty? You sure you didn’t take anything too illegal, right?” she jokes, but her eyes widen marginally when he doesn’t respond “please, for the love of all things holy, tell me you didn’t do drugs-”
“No, no I didn’t, i was just... thinking, I suppose” Barty settles on, unaware of how he should explain this gap in his chest, the one nestling in between his ribs and his lungs, pressing down and squeezing the air out of them and-
“Bat? You there?” Dorcas looks downright concerned now, the unfortunate betadine cloth forgotten somewhere in the sink.
Barty blinks. He's not sure why the worry in her voice makes him want to claw his eyes out.
He's just tired, really. Of pretending so much that he actually feels things as loudly as he does. Strongly? Yes, he feels them like waves and waves and waves that don’t stop. His reactions are manicured to his taste though. But he doesn’t feel like pretending tonight. Not now, when the booze is still in his system and Dorcas looks at him as if he’s-
As if he’s a kid.
“Not really. I've been feeling out of it for a while.” he shrugs, but it’s tense.
For a moment, Cas pauses. She takes a deep breath which she also exhales before shaking her head.
“We’re putting this discussion on hold for a minute because your face is all swollen and if my mom arrives sooner than expected from her date then she’ll have questios. C'mon, the bandaids are in the kitchen.”
Barty jumps down from the washing machine, following behind her.
“And you’re sleeping on the couch tonight,” she continues on, her rambling bringing a smile to Barty’s face “and don’t even try to resist, if your mother is so insolent she can’t notice you’re not fine right now-”
She turns, rage on her face but not aimed at him, and Barty can’t help it really. He huffs a laugh and steps closer, wrapping her up in a hug. She's frozen for a moment before hugging him back, and Barty properly cackles now.
Dorcas laughs too, her anger forgotten for a moment as she pats his back.
“Hey,” she begins, letting a sigh slip into Barty’s hair “I’ve always wanted a little brother, you know that?”
Barty nods, though his body's frozen up.
“Even if you’re being a little shit most of the time, I think you’ll make do nicely.” she finishes stepping away and holding him by the arms to inspect him mockingly for a second before nodding “Yes, excellent annoying baby brother material-”
“Oh c’mon, stop it!” Barty complains, though there’s a smile on his face.
Dorcas shrugs and finally lets him go, turning and rummaging for bandages. Barty sits down at a barstool and waits for her, humming something under his breath.
He watches Dorcas flit around to also get him some water, and his mind unwillingly goes to his other friends – Reg. Dora.
Rosie.
He was a right arse to him, wasn’t he?
He'll apologize tomorrow. He will, this time. For a moment, Evan had actually looked hurt. That was partly because Barty had aimed to hurt, and Evan wasn’t surprised but still looked disappointed.
Dating a prefect a year older than their friend group (excluding Dorcas) had gotten Rosie quite a good standing in his parents’ eyes, from what he knew. The Greengrasses were flithy rich, after all. The kind to sail the same ranks as the Blacks, or to at least think they are.
But truth be told, his Rosie and... Chloe are sweet together. A little shy still, but very bubbly when around one another. Barty doesn’t know why he mocked the prefect status she worked so hard on to annoy Evan, but he did. Well, he does know actually.
She's perfect for him.
And for some reason, that makes a grotesque beast arise from that dark gap between his ribs and lungs.
Barty knows he’s messed up past repair many, many times.
And tomorrow, he’ll apologize.
But tonight, he’ll tuck his hands under his hand and pretend he’s couting stars with Rosie at his side.
-----------------------------------
(BONUS SCENE)
Regulus rubs the sleep from his eyes as he closes the car’s door behind him, mumbling a “good day” to Kreacher, who grunts in response. It's monday morning after all, who wants to be awake?
He goes through the motions of his day as usual. Classes: physics, biology, chemistry, then lunch time and then again, but now literature, math and another hour of biology.
Regulus is heading towards Rowena Debate Club’s room for the first time this year (since he missed the initial meeting two weeks ago due to feeling and looking like shit) when he hears thundering footsteps behind him.
He turns and comes almost face to face with Remus, who’s gasping for breath.
“Hi...there......Reg......” he punches out of his lungs, voice barely wheezing through.
“Who’s making you run so early, old man?” Regulus asks, wrapping an arm around Remus’ back and holding him upright.
“Well....last minute choice, but we’re... actually meeting with.... all the new debaters that are... joining this year” Remus finally finishes, being able to stand on his own with a huff, though he looks tired.
Regulus shrugs and lets Remus lead the way.
Just before they enter, Remus stands across from him, head dropped and staring very intently at the floor.
“Regulus” he begins “I have one request. Just one.”
When he looks up, his eyes are genuinely pleading.
“When you search for someone to blame, please remember our years of friendship and my constant, weakened state of living-”
“Chill, Lupin, what did you do? Murder someone?” Regulus attempts to joke, but he’s growing antsy. What did Remus do? And how exactly will it affect Regulus?
“Well... I didn’t realize it, but I did kind of, well, sort of, dare someone to do something kind of stupid?” Remus huffs as he goes over his phrase weirdly, face growing slightly flushed.
Regulus scoffs “Calm down, unless you asked my brother to wear a tutu and ambush my study hall to a Mariah Carey song then you’re fine.”
Yeah, he’s still sour for that one April’s Fools when Pandora and Evan did that.
Without noticing Remus’ weak “wait-” Regulus turns to the door.
When he steps into the empty classroom, he doesn’t notice many new faces or the chatter going on in between them or the laughter. He barely registers Pandora (who’s already announced him she’s joining the club this year) in a corner, but his attention is drawn to the front.
Where Hestia Jones, former “boxing queen” at Beauxbatons before she transferred to Hogwarts, is holding his brother in a chokehold in the crook of her elbow, the people around them going wild and cheering them on. Frank is trying and failing to get her to let go while Amos is sharing a biscuit with Gild and watching. King and Lily are nowhere to be seen. The Pettigrew boy is also there with Mary, for some reason.
“Sirius?” Regulus calls out and Hestia’s head snaps to him before she harrumphs and lets go of his brother, mumbling something similar to “You’re lucky today”. To Regulus however, she has something else to say.
"Won't you say welcome to the new member we've accepted in our midst, Regulus?" she says then walks away without looking back.
Sirius coughs a little before grinning sheepishly at Regulus “So...hello there, Reggie? Surprise?” he gives his best attempt at jazz hands.
There's pure silence for a moment and Regulus feels his brain go into overdrive and blue screen in a matter of miliseconds.
“What the absolute fu-”