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There’s a cemetery near the Black mansion that the boys like to visit. Regulus has always had a fascination with all things dark and dismal -- probably from his upbringing if he’s being honest about it -- and with that fascination came along his love for cemeteries. He doesn’t quite know what he likes about them, maybe it’s the idea of cemeteries, bodies hidden just underneath the ground for acres of land. Maybe it’s the weird sense of community that Regulus gets when he thinks of all these strangers buried next to each other. Maybe it’s the comfort that he gets to see people get when he watches them visit their loved ones. Maybe it’s the idea that one day Regulus will be dead and none of the bad that happened to him in life will mean anything. Maybe it’s the way that kids tell horror stories of the ghosts coming to life when they snuck into the cemeteries in the middle of the night. Maybe it’s…
Regulus loves cemeteries.
And maybe it’s because that’s where he met Barty Crouch Jr. Fellow heir to a Sacred 28 family that he thinks he may have met once at a ball one of the families was hosting.
They met at a cemetery because Barty loves cemeteries. But, unlike Regulus, he knows why he loves them. It’s the death, a concept that Barty has been obsessed with since his own childhood. It’s a twisted enjoyment, in some way, but he’s never denied that he’s a little fucked in the head.
Regulus and Barty met when Regulus was perched in a tree near the back of the cemetery near the Black manor and Barty walked straight up to the tree and sat leaning against it, playing with his switchblade and humming a little bit to himself. At first, Regulus didn’t really want to make himself known, but as the last light of day was beginning to fade and the cold street lamps were starting to flicker to life around them casting a faint, eerie glow over the cemetery, Barty looked up and nearly jumped out of his skin upon seeing a deathly pale figure hunched over in the tree, looking right back at him.
“Jesus you fuckin’ freak,” Barty swore upon getting his heart back in his chest, “What the fuck are you doing up there?”
“People watching,” Regulus muttered into the dark, much quieter than Barty’s own voice, “And I was up here first, it’s not my fault you’re oblivious. This tree doesn’t even have that many leaves left.” And from then on, there was a beautiful friendship that blossomed between the two of them, one that later turned into a long-term relationship full of the two of them visiting the cemetery whenever they could, usually heading straight to the back and finding themselves sitting around the tree that they met.
Regulus loves cemeteries and maybe it’s partly because that’s where he properly met James Potter. His older brother’s best friend, someone untouchable and someone that Regulus has hated since Sirius started talking about his ‘best friends’ every time he talked to Regulus.
James’ love for cemeteries is unexpected of a person like them. But unlike the reasons that Barty and Regulus love cemeteries, they love them because they love the idea that there is a place to end up when you die. James has always been scared of death, but they found comfort in the idea that all of those people in the cemetery found their afterlife, found their place to go, and were reunited with long lost loved ones.
Which is how Regulus and Barty met James. As they usually do, the two were sitting around the tree in the back of the cemetery, watching the sunset that they could just barely see over the houses around them. That’s when Regulus spots a taller figure, silently walking through the back of the cemetery, stopping in front of several graves and wiping away the dirt that has long settled on the graves to reveal what Regulus assumed was the names on each one, before nodding to themself, saying a couple words, then moving on. It was methodical and Regulus could tell that the person had done it many times before, even if not with these graves.
“Hey B, watch that person.” Regulus mutters, elbowing his boyfriend and pointing in the direction of the person oblivious to the eyes watching them. The couple watch the person for a while, watching as they make their way closer to the tree that they’re sitting at before they finally look up and meet eyes with Barty, nearly jumping out of their skin.
Originally they clearly intended to ignore the two of them and continue on their routine, but Barty called out to them before they could fully kneel in front of another gravestone, “Hey! What’re you doin’ over there?”
The person once again jumps before slowly, maybe even cautiously, making their way towards the tree, “Nothing of importance.” They shake their head, “Why do you want to know?”
Barty shrugs, “Just like knowin’ things about people. What’s your name?” The person goes to answer, but just as they opened their mouth, Regulus recognised them. Recognised their golden rounded glasses and crazy hair that irritates the shit out of Regulus, recognised their body language.
“James Potter.” Regulus answered for them, sneering just a bit, “Didn’t know you enjoyed dwelling in places just as unpleasant as yourself.
“Likewise.” James rolls their eyes in response, before starting to walk away.
It was a rough first meeting, and a rough second and third before Regulus finally stopped being ‘prickly enough’ -- Barty’s words not his own -- for James to actually want to interact with them. By the fourth time that they met, Regulus had told Barty all about his issues with the taller but that didn’t stop him from calling out to them.
James once again turns to them upon hearing their name, face dropping at the sight of Regulus before they reluctantly made their way over to the tree just like they always did considering Barty always called to them. This interaction went a little smoother, though not by much and every interaction that the three of them had out in the cemetery by the Black manor went better until eventually Regulus would’ve called them friends -- strong words coming from Regulus who’s adamant that he doesn’t need more friends than he already has.
In the end it was Regulus that fell for them first, Barty followed shortly after and they asked James out one of the nights that they were all in the cemetery together.
All three of them loved cemeteries, specifically the one by the Black manor and it became commonplace to find the three of them dancing around the cemetery hand in hand to music that James would play with the cassette player that they had or just sitting around the three. At one point James introduced their boyfriends to their routine and the other two would humor them in it.
Regulus, Barty, and James loved cemeteries, which is why when things were getting hard with the war and tensions were getting high with the Blacks and the Crouchs, the three of them would secretly meet in the cemetery by the Black Manor that they loved in the cloak of night, illuminated only by the cold, eerie street lamps.
Regulus and James loved cemeteries, which is why Barty would always visit their graves -- James and Regulus paid for a lot that they and all of their friends would be buried together in when their times came -- after he escaped from Azkaban. James loved cemeteries because they found comfort in the idea that everyone was able to find each other in the afterlife and Barty only hoped that Regulus was with James, even if his body had never been recovered. Regulus loved cemeteries because he liked the idea of community that it gave him, he liked the dark and dreary beliefs around them.
Barty loved cemeteries because he loved the idea of death, he thought it was fascinating.
That’s why, standing in front of Regulus and James’ grave in the cemetery by the Black Manor an escaped convict and with a completely different face -- one that Barty refused to believe was himself sometimes and one that Barty knew Regulus and James would hate to see yet still love him either way -- Barty decides that he doesn’t love cemeteries anymore. Not when he’s seen too much death, not when he’s seen the death of James and Regulus, and especially not when he’s part of the very group that killed both of his lovers.
Barty loved cemeteries, but he loves James and Regulus, which is why he walks out of the cemetery by the Black Manor for the last time and vows to protect James and Pandora’s children from the very men that killed his lovers -- them being Dumbledore and Voldemort.
The next time that Barty is in the cemetery is when his body is being lowered into the ground and he’ll finally get to reunite with his lovers, wherever they are.