Chapter Text
June, 2002
London, England
The low hum of chatter and clicks of pens filled the room, students and teachers alike wore the same tired expression, equally bored as the next. Regulus confided in a quiet corner away from the rest, tired and brooding, his mood filling a blanket of darkness over the room. Some didn’t pay it mind, others had their heads hung low, but very few smiled with glee. Barty was one of them.
Barty, the only person who seems to enjoy Regulus’ company, had latched onto him since the moment Regulus had walked into the school 10 months ago. His distinct, obnoxiously loud chatter fills the classroom's silence.
“…are you excited for the big city reggie?” he says behind a giggle before continuing to speak “I think I can hear it calling your name” he jokes, all while a boyish grin spreads across his face, clearly proud of himself
Regulus stays silent for a few moments, he still hasn’t been given a clear answer as to why his family has left their life in London for New York, he supposes he trusts his brother’s intuition, especially if his mother was on board with it.
He sighs, “It’ll be nice to see Sirius and mum again, I still don’t know why mum chose to move to New York though.” Regulus says after a few moments, head in palm as he fidgets with his pen. He looks up at the clock hung on the wall.
2:17 it reads, 3 more minutes.
Barty pauses and thinks for a few moments, looking quite troubled as he tries to find the right thing to say, that look doesn’t slip past Regulus.
“Well at least you haven’t been alone finishing the year up haven’t you? I’d say you’re quite lucky my dad wanted me visiting him here this year don’t you think?”
Regulus shrugs, it’s been nice finally having Barty back at school with him again but it’s not quite the same as it was, he rather misses Sirius, though he’d never admit it to him, but before he could respond the shrieking sound of the bell interrupts the class, signalling the end of the day, Regulus winces at the sound.
“Woo!” Barty pushes himself up off his chair and flings his backpack onto his shoulder “Let’s go pack up our dorm and get the fuck out of here!” he beams at Regulus
As the two boys make their way out of the main building to the neighbouring dorm rooms, Barty continues to chat about his plans over the summer, he’s going back to New York, going to some sort of summer job or camp he mentions, but not with much detail to Regulus’ notice. As they walk up the stairs and down the hallway Barty continues his chatter and Regulus listens, nodding his head every so often to show he’s listening.
Walking into their dorm room, you never truly know whether it’ll be a right mess or…. well honestly it’s just gonna be a right mess due to Barty’s effortlessly chaotic nature, Regulus aimlessly throws his backpack to the side and all but drags himself to his side of the room, opening his makeshift closet and pulling out two suitcases. From the other side of the room, Barty does the same while he silently grumbles to himself, probably complaining.
Over the next hour, the two boys work in tandem together, sorting out their clothes, cleaning the room, pushing furniture and decorations to where they were originally, they chat idly and simply exist in each other’s presence, it’s always easy to do that with each other.
As Regulus shuffles through folding clothes and sorting them into piles he stumbles upon a black hoodie with the Leo and Canis Major Constellation hand-sewn into the front pockets. It was either originally his or Sirius’ he honestly can’t recall, as it’s been a shared item between the two of them for so many years, it’s visibly worn shape shows sign of its age and love seeped deep within the fabric, Regulus looks at it with a soft smile before pulling it over his head and pulling the hood overtop his head.
After what seems to be ages, the suitcases are filled and most, if not all, other miscellaneous supplies and objects (it’s almost all notebooks and sketchbooks of some kind) have been gathered in one place, ready to be sorted and shoved into his backpack as a last-ditch effort.
“So…” Barty whistles zipping up his suitcase and rolling it to the door
“When’s your flight out to New York? I may have forgotten to book mine…” he admits sheepishly, with a guilty grin on his face.
Regulus sighs, “The information should be on my desk, just write it down on a separate paper or something, are you gonna book the same flight as mine or something?” he raises an eyebrow in question, watching as Barty bounces over to his desk and hovers over it.
“Why the fuck did you book a flight for eight in the morning? Are you mad?” Barty shrieks, picking up the paper “My gods Reggie,” he shakes his head dramatically, looking at the paper in disgust as he scribbles flight times down onto a sticky note, for it to then be crumpled and promptly shoved into his hoodie pocket.
Regulus rolls his eyes from the other side of the room where he had decidedly given up on sorting through his various piles of sketchbooks, and had ventured that laying on the hardwood flooring is apparently much more fitting for himself than bothering to sort through a mess that had already been put off for weeks, he lets his mind wander off as Barty shuffles through his backpack and pulls out a CD player, quickly pulling out a CD of Jeff Buckleys, Grace album. As the intricate sounds and haunting voice of Jeff Buckley flood the room, Regulus’s mind drifts off to New York.