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"Slytherin!" The Sorting Hat screeched, less than a second after the hat was placed on Barty Crouch Junior's sandy head. He blinked rapidly, before sliding off the seat and scurrying over to the Slytherin table, not really taking in the scowls that came from the older students.
When Barty took a seat, some of the students who were near him stood up and moved further up the table, causing him to frown. He was only eleven — he didn't know the full extent of what his father had done to the parents of many students who sat at that table. He didn’t know why they would be so hostile to him.
Regulus stood up, feeling irritated at his new housemates. He had been sorted just a few moments before Barty, and had been nestled between his older cousin and students he knew through their familial connections. He didn’t particularly enjoy the atmosphere that was radiating off his fellow housemates, and he felt sorry for the boy who was looking down at his hands, with no one sitting beside him.
Perhaps his brother was lucky, having been sorted into Gryffindor. The students at the Gryffindor table all sat together, laughing and jostling and patting each other on the back every time someone new was sorted into their house. None of them glanced at each other coolly or turned their noses up at new students that they didn’t approve of.
As Regulus made to walk over and sit beside Barty, a hand grabbed his wrist.
He looked back at his older cousin, Narcissa. She shook her head slowly, and pulled him back down into his seat, before leaning to whisper breathily in his ear. "Aunt Walburga wouldn't want you making friends with a traitor."
Regulus looked over at the Gryffindor table, where his brother sat with his friends. His mother called Sirius a traitor regularly after he was sorted into Gryffindor the year previously. She might not be happy about it, but Sirius certainly looked okay.
He pulled his arm away from Narcissa, and sat down next to Barty, sticking out his hand.
“I’m Regulus. Nice to meet you.”
They were in their third year, when Barty accidentally skipped his first ever class.
He was hurrying down a stairway from the library and the staircase suddenly started swivelling to the left. He gripped the rails, cursing inwardly as the stairs swept through an overhanging tapestry, and he was instantly lapsed into darkness. He jumped off the staircase as soon as it stopped moving and grabbed his wand, but another orb of yellow wand light shone in his face first. "Barty?"
Barty backed up, squinting in the dim light. Regulus was clutching the wand, staring back at Barty. "What are you doing down here? We have Transfiguration…" Barty held his wristwatch up to the light and groaned loudly. "Right now. McGonagall is going to be so angry."
"I forgot my homework by accident," Regulus muttered, and Barty could hear his feet shuffling. "I was on my way back to the library to get it."
"How do you forget something that important?" Barty demanded to know. "Wait — why was your homework in the library this morning?"
Regulus grinned. "I was doing my homework before class. I couldn’t finish it yesterday because of Quidditch practice."
“Quidditch practice?” Barty repeated incredulously. He didn’t see the importance of sports, not over his classwork, anyway — even though Quidditch had always looked fun, and he would be lying if he said he hadn’t wanted to try it out. But his father refused to buy him a broomstick when he asked for one some years earlier, because ‘you couldn’t possibly achieve twelve Outstanding achievements in your studies while you’re messing around on a broomstick’.
“It’s my first game for Slytherin next week. I’ve been practising non-stop. I forgot that we had Transfiguration homework.”
Barty shook his head and started feeling around the walls. "Where are we?"
"The staircase shifted us into some kind of hidden corridor," Regulus muttered. "I guess we're stuck.” He leaned back against the wall. “At least until the staircase appears again. I don’t know any other way out of here.”
Barty leaned against the wall next to him, shaking his head. “My father is going to kill me. I haven’t missed a class yet.”
“I don’t think my mother will be too happy either,” said Regulus. “Though, I think she’ll be more angry at the school when I tell her that it was the staircase that made me miss class.”
Barty chuckled softly. “Yeah, I don’t think that will work with my dad. He’ll tell me that I should have known by now what time the stairs are going to change positions and move us into dodgy secret corridors.”
They both laughed. Barty smiled, feeling a little better about his missed class now that he had someone else to share in it with. He turned to face Regulus.
"Regulus?"
"Yeah?"
Barty looked down at his feet, feeling his face glow as he contemplated the words he was about to say. "You know, if you're ever struggling with your homework…" he paused. "I don't mind helping you out."
"That won't be necessary!" a sudden voice pierced the air, and another bulb of light loomed towards them. The stubbly features of Rabastan Lestrange, an older Slytherin, glowed in the wandlight. "Time for class, Regulus."
"Haven't you got class?" Regulus grumbled, shoving his wand into his pocket.
"Free period," Rabastan shot back. "The perks of being in the sixth year. Come on, before you catch something from this little rat."
Regulus glared at Rabastan. "I don't need you to tell me who to be friends with,” he said coolly.
"Actually, you do," Rabastan replied airily. "Bellatrix has asked me to keep an eye on you. To make sure you're not following in your big brother's footsteps," he shot another glare at Barty. "Though, if you keep hanging around with traitor scum, you won't be far behind."
They were fifteen when Barty plucked up the courage to ask Regulus to Hogsmeade. The first visit of the year happened to fall on Valentine’s Day, and he was hopeful that they could finally get to spend some time alone together.
Trying to be friends within the castle walls was impossible. Almost everyone in Slytherin seemed to be one of Regulus’s cousins or family friends, and they were determined to keep him on the 'right path'. Regulus had explained that it was his mother's doing, because she was determined to make sure he didn't end up like Sirius, but Barty couldn't help but feel irritated that his only friend had so many people trying to keep them apart.
But they still had Hogsmeade, and Barty couldn't wait for the upcoming visit. Regulus had promised to meet him at Madam Puddifoot's Tea Room — a horrible little dwelling that Barty was sure no one else from school would dare set foot in.
A shocking pink teapot had just been placed down in front of him when Regulus walked through the door, ringing the bell as he did so. No-one looked up to see who it was; everyone who inhabited the tearoom was part of a couple, and they only had eyes for each other.
Regulus grinned in Barty's direction and sat down opposite him, pulling his scarf from around his neck. "Pour me some tea then," he muttered, placing his hands around one of the teacups. Barty smiled and obliged, holding the teapot out.
“Sorry for picking such a garish place,” Barty said.
Regulus pulled his cup towards him once Barty had filled it and stirred it with a teaspoon, straining the teabag against the side of the cup. “I like it.”
Barty raised an eyebrow. Regulus looked out of place against the gaudy pink backdrop of the teashop. “Really? Why?”
“Well, it’s quiet,” Regulus replied, shrugging, “And we can just…” He reached out to take one of Barty’s hands, smiling. “We can just be us.”
The bell suddenly rang once again, and Barty automatically snatched his hand back in shock. A woman, who looked strangely familiar, was looming towards them. She had dark, menacing eyes, and pale blonde hair, pulled back into a tight, uncomfortable-looking bun.
"Regulus," she said quietly, and Barty saw all the colour drain from Regulus' face. He turned around in his chair, staring up at the woman. "What have I told you?"
"Mother," Regulus spluttered. "What are you doing here?"
"Checking up on my son," she hissed, shooting a glare in Barty's direction. "You are spending time with the Crouch boy. I specifically told you that I don't want you near him. I have forbidden it."
"Mother, please," Regulus whispered. The other couples in the tearoom were starting to glance up from their tea, intrigued by the scary woman who was causing a scene.
"Get up. You've disobeyed my orders for the last time. I'll drag you back up to the school myself, and I will be withdrawing my permission for you to visit this pathetic little village." She curled her lip as she sent a long glare around the tearoom, lingering for a little while on Barty. Regulus kept his eyes down as his mother pulled him from his seat and yanked him out of the tearoom by the arm.
They were just a few days away from graduating when Regulus slipped between Barty's sheets in the dead of the night.
"What are you doing?" muttered Barty as warm breath grazed across the back of his neck. Regulus was nuzzling into the back of Barty's head, inhaling his hair.
"No one cares anymore," Regulus replied quietly. "Everyone who gave a damn has left."
"Your mother has eyes everywhere."
"I don't care anymore."
Barty turned around in bed so that he was facing Regulus and glared at him through the darkness. "You say that every time. But then as soon as one of them catches us, you let them drag you off and you say nothing."
"You know I didn’t have any choice back then, Barty,” Regulus said softly. “They could have hurt you if I didn’t let them think I was letting them drag me away from you. But I’m serious now.”
"It could never work," continued Barty. "Your parents hate me. Your friends and family hate me. No one wants me."
"Well, I want you," whispered Regulus. "I think you’re beautiful. Inside and out."
Barty swallowed a lump in his throat, wishing that Regulus wouldn't always say the right things. He did nothing as the other Slytherin bowed his head, pressing a lingering kiss to his lips.
"We have a connection, Barty. Everyone keeps trying to pull us apart, but we always fight to stay together. Don't you want to fight for me anymore?"
"Don't make me feel bad."
"We'll run away." Regulus went on, and Barty resisted the urge to sigh. Regulus was a big dreamer, with big ideas, big hopes. But he was always brought back down to earth by his parents. "We can be together."
Perhaps Barty was just being pessimistic. "Okay," he murmured, after a long silence. "We'll run away."
Regulus kissed him, hard. Even though Barty had the lingering feeling that Regulus would probably be dragged away again in a couple of days, he could pretend.
For now, they were together.