Work Text:
It wasn’t supposed to go this wrong. They finally found a way to turn Regulus into his Animagus form, and initially it had been funny. A bird. It was cute, really. Evan wasn’t surprised though. Regulus, despite his protestations, was very much a small, temperamental, and certainly one to be adored. If Regulus had been a girl, Evan had no doubt his family would treat him with the same reverence as they treated his own cousin, Narcissa, but alas, Regulus was a boy, and would not be wrapped in cotton the way he deserved to.
Not that Regulus – or Narcissa – needed to be wrapped in cotton. Evan thought the other boy was just as resilient as the rest of them and a capable duelist, but he needed a push sometimes. He’d seen him at his worst. He’d seen him get into scraps with the other boys when he was finally pushed to his limits. He wasn’t fragileby any means, but he looked the part, and that’s why this was initially amusing to him that Rex had turned into this little puffy bird.
He had tried to convince him to turn back. The small goldcrest looked to be struggling with something then flapped its – his – wings, chirping angrily at Evan and Evan had realized then that Regulus was struggling to turn back.
“Blimey, uhh… shit… Try… try to imagine how Bella will squash you with her boots if she sees you like this.”
Instead of having the desired, reassuring effect, Regulus the bird decided to chirp even more frantically than before, and Evan felt quite affronted. He was helping. The least Regulus could offer was a thanks.
Before Evan could tell the other boy where to stick his beak, he heard Rex’ new shadow approach. Evan looked at the newcomer with a look of panic, but Barty Crouch Junior simply looked at him and the small bird with the sort of face Evan knew he’d make if he ever found his own father cuddled up to a puffskein – unlikely and quite disturbing.
“Is that Rex?”
Evan grimaced and nodded, “He can’t turn back”.
Barty looked at Regulus then with a contemplative look, “What if you told him Bella would-“
“I already did that!”
“Oh… how about letting him fall off a branch?”
“We’re not teaching him to fly, we want him to turn back!”
“Why. Imagine staying an animal for the rest of your life. No homework. No chores. No overbearing fathers.”
Evan sighed. “Do you have anything useful? Regulus is a Black. He can’t just live off his life as bird. Besides, we’re supposed to have Transfiguration now. McGonagall will kill us.”
He held his hand out to Regulus, “We can work on this later. Right now we need to go to class, and we can come up with an excuse for why you aren’t there.”
The angry little goldcrest nibbed him hard in his hand, “Ow! Honestly, Rex, I don’t like this anymore than you do, but we need to go, we’re already late!”
Regulus did a motion with his body that reminded Evan of a spooked cat and hopped onto his hand. Making sure no sharp objects were in his left pocket, Evan let him reside there for the time being as he and Barty walked towards the castle.
Before they parted ways, Barty suddenly exclaimed “I have an idea!”
Evan stopped in his tracks and turned to him with a hopeful expression, “Yes?”
“What if we launched him out of a party popper?”
Evan felt his eye twitch at the same time that the annoying chirping sounded from his pocket.
“We. Are. Not. Teaching. Him. To. Fly. Idiot”
Barty rolled his eyes before he turned towards the stairs and Evan still felt his eye twitch as he was walked towards the transfiguration classroom.
He burst into the classroom, panting “Professor, I’m so sorry I’m late. My—a seventh year had taken my bag and I know how much you expect us to be prepared.”
Professor McGonagall gave him an unimpressed look, “I also expect punctuality, Mr. Rosier. Where’s Mr. Black?”
Evan froze. He’d completely forgotten to come up with an excuse for Regulus’ absence.
“Ow”, Evan tried to discreetly keep the pocket part of the robe away from his body to prevent Regulus from hurting him further, “Eh… he’s in the bathroom.”
The professor looked at him with a blank expression for one. Two. Three. Four. Five beats before she opened her mouth. “For the whole lesson?”
Evan kept his face impassive, as he tried to come up with a reason for Regulus to be in the bathroom for so long, when everyone knew what a swot he could be, “Err… he’s got explosive diarrhea”
Professor McGonagall stared at him in disbelief. He heard sniggering and felt a rustling in his pocket, and he knew that if he could, Regulus would be hiding his face in embarrassment, his face turning to the darkest shade of red.