#trying to figure out where barty keeps everything

[sixlane]

tricks up sleeves and all that

rosekiller microfic | 1,180 words | magician Barty, single dad Evan

The first thing Evan thought when his daughter told him she wanted a magician at her birthday party was how did I raise a child who enjoys close-up magic? It wouldn’t have been his first choice, probably wouldn’t have even been his last. He would’ve gone with something classier, more elegant, like a tea party or a day at the museum. Something to live up to the extravagance of previous years. Sure, Eleanor is only seven but that doesn’t mean she can’t enjoy the finer things. 

So, in between meetings and phone calls, Evan researched children’s birthday party magicians, and as you’d expect, not much was living up to his standards. After days of sifting through resumes and background checks, he was eventually able to find a well-designed website with good reviews and speak to a representative who promised to send their best.

This is why Evan is so confused when he opens his front door to find a tall, lanky man in ripped jeans and a worn out t-shirt, his look complete with ruffled hair, an eyebrow piercing, and excessive amounts of tattoos. 

“You must have the wrong house,” Evan says. He thinks he should probably close the door but something about this man is intriguing. He wants to look for just a second longer.

The man leans back to check the address beside the door. “You’re Mr. Rosier, right? I’m here for the birthday party. I’m Barty, the magician.” 

Evan raises a brow. “You don’t look like a magician.”

“Were you expecting a full tuxedo? It’s like 95 degrees out.” A tilted grin spreads over his face, showing off a pointy canine. “Here let me show you.” Before Evan can back away, Barty is reaching behind his ear and producing a shiny quarter, flipping it between his fingers confidently. “Ta da.”

“That’s hardly magic,” Evan says, crossing his arms. He better get a full refund if this is the best they had.

“No, you’re right. That’s just the decoy.” He raises his left hand, and between his thumb and pointer finger he holds Evan’s watch, which had previously been secured to his wrist.

Evan’s mouth drops open slightly. He hadn’t even felt it. “That’s not magic either, that is literally stealing.” He snatches the watch back, putting it on.

“It’s the art of misdirection,” Barty explains. “I do a dumb coin trick, and while you’re paying attention to that, I do something more impressive. It’s like, the basis of all magic.”

Evan doesn’t even know what to say. This man has just pickpocketed him on his own front porch and now he wants Evan to let him into his house? 

At the same time Evan is getting ready to slam the door in Barty’s face, Eleanor appears at his hip, smile wider than a mile across her face.

“Is this the magician, Dad?” she asks, tugging at his shirt while she bounces up and down.

“You must be Eleanor,” Barty says, squatting down so they’re at eye level. He’s performing now, Evan can tell. He lights up and his smugness from before is washed away. “Would you like to pick a card?” 

Eleanor nods enthusiastically.

Barty pulls a deck out of his back pocket and starts shuffling. Evan watches the way his fingers move deftly around the cards. Bending and flipping them expertly before fanning them out in front of her.

“Okay, go ahead. But don’t tell me what your card is, just show it to your dad and put it back anywhere in the deck.”

Eleanor does as instructed and shows Evan the card, ace of hearts, before sliding it back in.

“Thanks Eleanor, that’s great.” He starts shuffling the cards again, adding in flourishes here and there. Evan watches intently, trying to track his every move, see where he might be switching cards out or taking a peek, but he moves too quickly for Evan to stay on top of everything. “Now Ellie, can I call you Ellie?” Eleanor giggles and nods her head. “Your dad here,” he tilts his head up at Evan, “has already seen me do a trick similar to this, but I think I can put a new spin on it, what do you say?” 

Eleanor looks up at Evan, affronted. “Dad! You’ve been playing with the magician without me?”

Evan hears Barty try to stifle a laugh and feels the beginning of a tension headache spreading behind his eyes. “I was just making sure he was up to our standards,” he grits out.

“Don’t worry Ellie, your dad was just doing his due diligence.” Eleanor looks appeased and waves her hand in a motion that tells Barty to continue. He does one last shuffle and then reaches behind Eleanor’s ear. When he pulls back, he has the ace of spades in between his pointer and middle fingers. “So Ellie, was this your card?” 

She looks confused and a little disappointed. Evan holds himself back from kicking Barty directly in the face. “Um… close,” she says. “Mine had hearts on it.”

Barty looks at the card. “Huh. You know, sometimes the cards don’t always do what we want them to so we have to shake some sense into them. He starts waving the card quickly back and forth. When it comes to a stop, Barty holds the ace of hearts where the ace of spades had previously been. He smiles in triumph. Evan still kind of wants to kick him in the face.

Eleanor lets out an excited squeal and rushes forward to tackle Barty into a hug. “Can we keep him, Dad?” she screams directly in Barty’s ear. He doesn’t even flinch.

Evan lets out a resigned sigh. He’s really never been able to deny Eleanor anything, so he steps to the side, opening the door wider, a smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. “Of course Eleanor. Go gather your friends in the living room. Barty will be right in.” He places a hand on her head as she runs by.

Barty stands up and straightens his pants out, sliding the deck back into his pocket. “Good enough?” he asks, shrugging a shoulder.

Evan scrutinizes him for a second, running his eyes over every inch of the man. The line of his cheekbone, the curve of his neck, the way his thumb rubs a circle into the side of his pointer finger. There’s something about him. Evan hasn’t heard Eleanor scream that loud since Pandora got her a bug collection kit for Christmas last year. 

“I want you to know that I keep a detailed inventory of everything in my home, so if you steal something I will find out, and you won't be happy about the consequences.”

Barty smiles, something mischievous glinting in his eye. “We’ll see about that,” he says brushing past Evan to make his way into the living room. Evan closes the door behind him. Right before Barty turns the corner, he throws something over his shoulder. Without thinking, Evan catches it. His wallet. With the ace of hearts sticking mockingly out of the top.

[iamgonnagetyouback]

PROMISE ME.⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ㅤㅤ●ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ J. POTTER

SUMMARY ৎ୭ after sirius runs away, you find yourself breaking down in an empty corridor. james potter isn’t your friend, but he finds you anyway. you don’t ask for comfort—you just ask him to take care of your brother

WARNINGS ಇ. angst, mentions of family trauma, emotional breakdown, abandonment issues, hurt/comfort

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ᡣ𐭩 words.ᐟ 1,004

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ౨ৎㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

The halls of Hogwarts were silent this time of night, the only sound the occasional creak of floorboards or the soft wind brushing against the stone walls outside. James Potter had been patrolling—another night of prefect duty—when he saw a figure slumped near a window, head in their hands.

He wouldn’t have paid much attention, probably would’ve assumed it was someone sneaking out past curfew, but the gleam of dark hair caught his eye. He stopped, his heart sinking. It was you.

You and James weren’t friends. In fact, you weren’t friends with anyone, really, except your own family and some Slytherins like Barty, Evan and Pandora. Most people knew to keep their distance from the Black siblings, pure-blooded and cold. You walked with your chin high, always distant and aloof, like you didn’t care about the world around you.

But now, huddled near the window, your shoulders shook with quiet sobs. James hesitated, unsure if he should leave or approach. He wasn’t used to seeing you like this—broken.

Slowly, he stepped forward. “Hey…”

You didn’t respond. Your sobs didn’t falter, and he suddenly felt out of place. He wasn’t supposed to see this—wasn’t supposed to see you like this. But something inside him couldn’t just walk away.

“Black?” His voice was softer this time, unsure, but you still didn’t move. He took another step closer, and that’s when you finally looked up, eyes red and puffy. There was a desperation in your gaze that caught him off guard, and before he could say anything, you shook your head.

“Please…” your voice was hoarse, a whispered plea. “Don’t look at me.”

James froze. He’d seen people cry before, but never like this. Never someone so proud, so unbreakable, shatter in front of him.

You wiped your face quickly, trying to compose yourself, but it was no use. Your mask had already crumbled. You knew James could see everything now—the pain, the hurt, the cracks in the perfect image of the Black family. And for some reason, that made it worse. He wasn’t supposed to see you like this. No one was.

“Look, I didn’t mean to—” he began, but you cut him off.

“Just… don’t,” you choked out, voice shaky. “Please.”

James swallowed hard, guilt flooding him. He could leave, give you your space like you asked, but something in his gut told him that’s not what you really needed.

“What happened?” he asked softly.

You stiffened, staring down at your hands, the silence stretching unbearably. James was about to give up when you finally spoke, your voice barely audible.

“Sirius… he ran away.”

James blinked, his heart skipping a beat. Sirius had only run away from home a few days ago, but he hadn’t told anyone where he’d gone—only that he’d shown up at the Potter’s doorstep with nothing but the clothes on his back. How did you know?

You must have sensed his confusion because you let out a bitter laugh, though it was tinged with more sadness than anything else. “I know he’s with you.”

James’s throat went dry. Of course you knew. Sirius was your brother, after all. But that didn’t explain why you were crying—why the tough, untouchable Black sister had broken down in the middle of a dark corridor.

“He didn’t even tell me,” you continued, voice wavering. “He just… left.”

The words hit James like a blow to the chest. He’d always seen Sirius as invincible, but to you—his sister—Sirius leaving must have felt like betrayal. Like abandonment. And for the first time, James understood. You were left behind to deal with the mess of the Black family while your brother escaped.

You sniffled, wiping your face again, but this time your hands trembled. “I’m supposed to be the strong one. The one who holds it together. But…” You broke off, biting your lip hard, as if trying to stop yourself from crying more. “But I couldn’t. Not this time.”

James crouched down beside you, unsure of what to say. “It’s okay to not be strong all the time,” he said quietly, surprised at how soft his own voice sounded.

You shook your head, squeezing your eyes shut. “Not for me. Not in my family.”

He understood that. The Blacks had a reputation to uphold—a legacy of power, of purity. Emotions had no place in their world.

But you were just a person. A sister who had lost her brother to a world that wasn’t yours.

“I can’t hate him for leaving,” you whispered, almost to yourself. “I just… I just wish he’d told me.”

James’s chest tightened. “He was probably trying to protect you.”

“I don’t need protecting,” you snapped, though the words came out too broken to sound convincing.

Silence stretched between you, the weight of everything pressing down. James wanted to say something to fix it, but he knew there was nothing he could say. Sirius was gone, and you were left to pick up the pieces.

“He’s going to be okay,” James finally said. “I’ll… I’ll look after him.”

You looked up at him then, eyes glassy but determined. For a moment, the vulnerability vanished, and you were the strong, unshakable Black again. But this time, James saw beneath it. Saw the hurt that came with that strength.

“Promise me,” you said softly. “Promise you’ll take care of him. No matter what.”

James nodded, his voice firm. “I promise.”

Your shoulders slumped in relief, but the sadness in your eyes didn’t fade. You stood slowly, brushing off your robes like nothing had happened, though the cracks were still there, visible to him now.

Without another word, you turned to leave, but before you walked away, you paused, looking back over your shoulder. “Thank you,” you whispered.

James opened his mouth to respond, but you were already gone, disappearing into the shadows of the corridor, leaving him alone with the weight of your words.

He’d keep his promise. For you, for Sirius. Because now, more than ever, he understood just how much it mattered.

©iamgonnagetyouback౨ৎ please refrain from copying, translating, or reposting any of my work.

[oh-phoenixx]

"Forbidden Forest" - Jegulus microfic @into-the-jeggyverse - 418 words

@abductedhiko

-

Everyone froze.

Until the count of three, no one spoke. Then, at the same time, Regulus and Sirius asked, “What are you doing here?”

They glared at each other, and Regulus had to keep his eyes off of James. He always tried to make sure he was not around his brother and James at the same time. According to his friends, Regulus’s feelings were not well hidden, and though Regulus knew his brother was not incredibly perceptive, he didn’t want to risk it. 

“We’re trying to find ingredients for a potion!” Pandora said happily.

“No, you and Evan are trying to find ingredients for a potion and we’re making sure you don’t get killed out here,” Regulus added, though there was no real bite to it. Pandora just shrugged and grabbed his hand. Regulus did not miss the jealous look that James quickly covered.

“Well? What are you doing out here then?” Regulus questioned impatiently.

Sirius looked as though he was searching for a lie, but James spoke first. “Planning a prank.” Sirius glared at James, but James’s full attention was on Regulus. 

“Why are you not using your invisibility cloak?” Regulus asked before he could think better of it. 

“How do you know about that?” Sirius’s eyes narrowed.

Regulus did not answer, trying to regain his air of indifference. Barty laughed from beside them and continued his search for ingredients with Evan. The two were attached at the hip, and had been for the last week or so. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened between them, though their friends were all waiting for them to admit it in their own time. Pandora and Regulus shared a knowing look and smiled, both wondering if they truly thought they were being discreet. 

James cast another jealous look Regulus’s way, and Regulus couldn’t help the little smirk that he quickly tilted his head to hide. Seemingly having forgotten about Regulus’s nearly-incriminating question, Sirius took Remus’s hand and walked ahead, leaving Pandora, Peter, Regulus, and James all standing around somewhat awkwardly. With a mischievous smile, Pandora walked over to Peter and guided him in another direction, where she had supposedly seen a cool plant she thought he would be interested in. 

“She’s evil,” Regulus told James. “I think everything she does is some insanely calculated plan to improve my love life.”

“If it got you to me, I can’t say I mind,” James said, offering Regulus his hand. 

“I suppose you’re right,” Regulus agreed, taking it. 

[vinylfoxbooks]

July 18 - Burnt | @jartylusmicrofics | wc: 747

It’s Friday, which means that they get the weekend with their boys -- especially because Regulus doesn’t have work unless he gets called in -- and it’s movie night. So James gets to cook for them and they’ll sit down and eat on the couch while they’re watching shitty romcoms that Regulus pretends to hate but actually loves. To make it even better, Regulus didn’t have to work today and Barty always has Fridays off so no one is going to be tired. 

Needless to say, James is thrilled to get home. 

When they get to the flat they share with Regulus and Barty, they’re quick to enter and throw their things to the side -- ultimately knowing that Regulus was going to chew their ass out about it later -- and head into the house, only to stop when something smells… burnt?

“My loves?” James calls out, “Is everything okay in here? Please tell me that you’re still alive.” 

“We’re in the kitchen, Jamie.” Regulus calls back, though he doesn’t sound quite… right. James makes quick work of getting to the kitchen, where both of their boyfriends are standing over a pan of bread that’s a little too brown on the outside.

“What happened here?” They ask, smiling. The older walks over to both of their boyfriends, pulling them into brief kisses.

“We tried to bake for you.” Barty says, looking weirdly proud for the fact that he’s currently standing over his creation. The thing he tried to make for James, but… burnt.

“And how did that go?” James smiles wider, not even trying to hide their mirth.

Regulus rolls his eyes, “We figured that it would be easiest for us to bake something like bread. I trusted Barty with keeping the timer and apparently he didn’t start one. I didn’t realize because I had trust in him, only to smell burning. I’m also pretty sure Barty used baking soda instead of baking powder.”

James laughs, “Well, I doubt the blame is entirely on him. But that’s… better than I was expecting.”

Barty scoffs, “And what does that mean?”

“It means,” James starts, sending Barty a look, “That neither of you are any good in a kitchen because you both grew up in households with butlers and chefs to do it for you. The nice thing about bread,” they smile, pulling the bread out of the pan with experienced hands and grabbing a bread knife, cutting into it. Once the heel has fallen, it reveals bread with a surprisingly good crumb. They cut off another piece and cut the burnt edges from it before handing a small piece to each of their boyfriends, “Is that, it really is hard to fuck up that badly. Usually if you burn the outside just a bit, the inside is still pretty good.” They take a bite and hum, “This isn’t actually that bad, especially for you guys’ first time baking. Could do with some jam, but that’s my own fault.”

“You’ve got the jam that your mum made for us.” Regulus hums.

James nods, “Yeah, but I don’t want any more bread for now. I must make room for the delicious meal that I have in mind. Which, if you want me to cook, then you two will help me clean the kitchen and leave me to be.” Regulus laughs but starts cleaning up, Barty pouts about it until James presses yet another kiss to his lips and pushes him towards one of the counters.

When the kitchen is cleaned up, the boys don’t leave the kitchen, instead Regulus sits on the counter in an area that he won’t be in the way -- wasn’t the first time that this has happened within their relationship and time living together -- while Barty pulls a chair so he can just sit at the very edge of their kitchen, smacking James’ ass on the way out and laughing at their yelp. 

“Was that necessary?” They ask, watching him drag a chair along the floor, probably leaving scuff marks.

Barty cackles, “What? You’ve got a nice ass, it’s basically begging to be smacked. Gotta treat you right, my love.” James rolls their eyes but gets to work making the pasta dish that Regulus was craving the other day, everyone serving up when they’re finished with it. 

All three of them sit down on their couch and turn on The Proposal, cuddling up together and Regulus having to constantly stop Barty from pelting the both of them with pasta.

[nyxiolls]

rosekiller soulmate fic —

When you turn 12, you're given a soulmate symbol on your arm, the exact same spot where your soulmate receives it. When Evan and Barty first became friends, they promised to only reveal their symbols after they've found their soulmates.

Fast forward to their 5th year, Evan and Barty are inseparable, they act like the other will disappear if they aren't touching each other in some form. Barty, being barty, gets in trouble with Mulciber and Avery because they love to provoke Barty. Barty beats them to a pulp and as revenge, they stalk him while he's just near the forbidden forest and jump on him when he's high. Barty can't figure out what's going on, he's already bleeding and he's still trying to find his wand(they threw it aside) and just then Evan hurries up; sweat glistening in his forehead and it was evident that he had been searching for barty for a while now; he sees barty almost getting hexed again and he quickens his pace and throws a quick expelliarmus at them. Mulciber and Avery notice Evan and run away with threats.

Evan helps barty up and while trying to clean up the blood from his torn sleeve, he sees barty's soulmate symbol. He stops breathing for a few seconds before he pulls himself together and drags Barty to the hospital wing, throwing in a quick excuse of barty falling down from a tree while they were playing.

Evan does not know what to do after that, he starts distancing himself from barty, and Barty is losing his mind thinking that Evan simply doesn't love him anymore. Meanwhile, Evan has been losing his mind thinking that how could barty love him — he can't give barty what he would probably want — he thinks that barty cannot love him because he's asexual, he thinks that barty will get bored of him.

Their friends are also in a dilemma, regulus is just silently holding barty while he cries to him because he thought that Evan started to hate him. Evan is isolating himself from everyone; pandora tries to help but he pushes her away too. Dorcas tried threatening him but he just ran away from everyone. Evan started to look hollow, the sparkle in his eyes isn't there anymore. He's become quieter, retreating more into himself, they all think that he'll come around, they still don't understand what's going on.

One day, Regulus hunts Evan down and corners him, they get into a big fight before Evan breaks down in Regulus' arms and tells him everything, regulus looks at him strangely and tells him that barty has been a mess because of him the past few days, barty can't breathe without his ev, how could he ever think that? Regulus comforts him silently and tells ev to figure it out soon, he promises to keep it a secret for a few more days.

Fast forward to dinner time, Barty gets in a fight in the corridors again, Evan is passing by and he tells Barty to stop, barty whirls around and when he sees ev, his already bloodshot eyes start tearing up; he sees Mulciber pointing his wand at barty again and just as he throws a spell at him, Mulciber ducks and runs away and professor McGonagall sees them and calls them to her office. They come out with a detention but barty had been oddly quiet and Evan can't take it anymore.

He tries to say hello, a bit awkwardly to barty and barty just starts crying hysterically, asking him why he doesn't love him anymore. Evan quietly pulls him into an empty classroom and crushes him in a hug till barty stops crying. Once he does, barty is just standing there meekly waiting for an explanation.

Evan is shaking silently as he pulls up his sleeves to show barty. Barty is confused but when he sees what's in Evans arms, his mouth falls open.

Barty : how long?

Evan : what?

Barty : how long have you known?

Evan : *blinks and stays silent*

Barty : Evan.

Evan : since I saved you near the forbidden forest.

Barty : that's when you..

Evan : *a bit uncomfortable* yes.

Barty : ev, are you ashamed that it's me? This doesn't have to change anything between us Evan, we can just remain friends but please don't ignore me again, I can't breathe without you, you're an oxygen I need to survive and I-

Evan : barty, no, that's- that's not why

Barty : *stops rambling and stares at him* then w-why

Evan : *shifts uncomfortably* you know how I've never messed around with anyone, it's because I'm asexual and I didn't think that you'd be happy with that, I thought you'd be disgusted and you'd stop loving me, I thought I'd disappoint you if I showed this to you and I couldn't bear that, barts I - I thought- you wouldn't want me anymore and-

*barty pulls Evan in a bone crushing hug and rests his head on his shoulder*

Barty : ev, you bloody wanker, that doesn't matter to me, I don't care if I have to live without it for the rest of my life. I only want you, I want to be close to you, I want to be near you, to hold your hand and to kiss you till we both lose our breaths, i want to be beside you forever, I want to do everything together and as long as I have that, I don't care, ev, I love you. But please. Please don't ever pull into yourself again, I thought you'd stopped loving me, I didn't know how to live anymore Evan, I was barely even human without you.

At this point Evan is a full crying mess, he melts into barty and they just stay like that for a long while. Eventually they separate and they both lean in slowly for a kiss — nothing else matters anyways — as long as they're both together. That night they sneak into Evans bed and snuggle the entire night, talking and laughing before they both get exhausted and fall asleep in each other's arms.

The next day everything goes back to normal and regulus is the only one who knows and he can be seen smirking, satisfied. Dorcas and pandora are very confused as to what changed overnight but they're happy that Evan and Barty are together again — they all know that ev and Barts can't function without each other — that they don't know how to be human without each other.

[iwriteasfotini]

Snake Fangs

In which Barty (as a birthday gift from Evan) gets two lip piercings because that shite is totally plot progressing! It’s a bit long (1200 words). Yes, my Hogwarts story includes students getting piercings and tattoos.

A subtextual Rosekiller scene from The Heart of the Lion.

Regulus POV, Regulus is in year three, as is Barty. Evan is in year five. 

...

The second most exciting thing to happen in November was Barty’s birthday piercing session. Honestly, Regulus was slightly unsure how he ended up being invited to attend the proceedings, but for some reason Barty was a lot less hostile towards him these days. Between him and Evan, who was also keen to have Regulus around, Regulus had actually found himself in social situations which did not involve Severus and were not as painful as they used to be. 

Bibbler, the sixth year resident tattoo artist and piercer had commandeered one of the small study rooms as his workspace. He had begun offering his services the previous year and charged what Evan claimed was a fair price. Sometimes people tried to rob you due to the inaccessibility of the skills. However when students started going to get work done by people in other houses, essentially broadening the market, the prices had settled in reasonable territory. 

Bibbler sat Barty down in a chair and opened a black leather case, displaying a large variety of silver jewelry. 

“These are all surgical steel, don’t ask it’s muggle terminology. Depending on what you want, we do either a bar or a hoop. Muggles don’t like to do certain piercings with hoops initially but with a dab of dittany you are all healed up, so hoops are a valid option for pretty much anything. These here,” and Bibbler waved at a selection of silver jewelry which looked identical to all the rest of the pieces in Regulus’ opinion, “these have had a glamour charm added. They cost twice as much, but with a simple spell, they become invisible. It holds for several hours. You can learn to glamour any of it yourself, but it’s advanced magic.” 

Barty was leaning over the briefcase, studying all the little pieces of jewelry. 

“Any idea what you want?” 

With a quick glance at Evan, Barty said, “I want snake fangs.”

Evan gave a coy smile and nodded in approval. 

“How much for two of these?” Barty pointed to some thin silver hoops. Only then did Regulus realize the hoops were completely closed circles. How in the world were you supposed to get them through your skin?

“For the glamours, eight galleons a piece.” Barty’s face fell slightly. 

“I’m buying you one, you figure out the other,” Evan said. 

“I have four galleons,” said Barty. 

Regulus must have been in a generous mood, for he found himself saying, “I’ll give you four, then you’re covered.” 

Barty looked at Regulus, and Regulus looked at Barty, and in that moment, Regulus thought the animosity which had sprouted between them might have evaporated. 

“Thanks Black.” Regulus nodded quickly, then fished the galleons out of his pocket. Ok, he might have been preparing for this a tiny bit. He didn’t often walk around the castle with a pocket of clinking galleons, he wasn’t that common. 

Regulus didn’t necessarily like Barty. But knowing what he did from the accidental witnessing of the other boy’s kiss a few weeks back, plus knowing he came from a difficult home life, made him feel less hostile and more empathetic towards his dormmate. 

Therefore Regulus had decided to keep trying to patch things up between them. It was far better to have an ally than an enemy at any rate. And if said ally had a history of making brash and dangerous decisions, better to keep them close where you can monitor their movements and hopefully intervene to keep any more awfulness from unfolding. 

Galleons pocketed, Bibbler prepared his tools. He talked them through the process as none of them had ever gotten a piercing before, or so Regulus assumed. 

��First I sterilize everything with a charm. Watch it now, really gets the eyes.” Bibbler tapped the hoops, and several other silver instruments with his wand. Sure enough, the scent of rubbing alcohol filled the small room, making Regulus cough slightly. 

“Better to be heavy handed than to end up with an infection. You want to avoid asking Madam Pomfrey to tend to infected piercings. She’ll help, but she’ll also chastise you for marring your body for an hour. It isn’t worth it. It doesn’t usually happen unless someone in my position is careless, or people try to do their own piercings.

“Alright, here’s a mirror. Let’s make sure we get them where you want them.”

Bibbler handed Barty a large hand mirror and then took out a blue something, which had a cap Bibbler removed. He held it in his hand, looking like he was ready to write with it.

“What the hell is that?” Regulus asked. 

Bibbler looked at the thing, and then at Regulus, smiling slyly. “This my young pureblood friend, is something we call a felt tipped pen.”

Bibbler proceeded to use the felt tipped pen to mark where Barty wanted the piercings, muttering to himself about them being evenly spaced. 

“I stand behind my work,” said Bibbler. “If these end up wonky somehow, come back and I’ll put it right.”

He grabbed his wand again and tapped each of the hoops Barty had selected, the identical silver hoops opened and changed shape slightly. Then he grabbed a silver set of tongs and the piercing needle. He showed them all how the needle was hollow. He pulled Barty’s lip back with the tongs and said, “ready?”

Barty gave a jerky head nod, lip restrained in the tongs. Bibbler pushed the needle through Barty’s lip, Barty squeezed his eyes shut. Then Bibbler grabbed one of the open hoops, threaded it through the hole, and tapped it with his wand. 

“That seals it back up. Really convenient. We’ll do the other side, then I’ll put some dittany on them.”

Bibbler repeated the process with the other side, Regulus craning his neck slightly to get a better view. Well, if he had been worried about being squeamish watching such a proceeding he was clearly fine. Both hoops in place, Bibbler grabbed a vial of liquid. He told Barty to tip his head back and he applied a drop of the liquid to each piercing. 

Barty let out a gasp as the liquid hit his skin, and the wounds smoked slightly. But within a few seconds he was feeling the new adornments gently with his teeth. 

“Feel ok?” asked Bibbler. 

“Yeah, I could have done without the dittany.”

“I know, it stings like a bitch. But it’s worth it.”

Bibbler handed the mirror back to Barty, who was now examining his reflection. 

“The glamour charm is Caecus. Watch.” Bibbler pointed his wand at Barty’s face and said, “Caecus.” The lip rings vanished, leaving behind two barely noticeable marks where they sat. 

“Finite Incantatem.” And they were back. 

“Wicked.”

“Be glad Hogwarts doesn’t have a piercing policy. I don’t think it was on anyone’s radar until recently. Let’s hope they don’t get difficult on us.”

Barty hopped up from the chair and gave Regulus and Evan a small smile. Regulus nodded in approval. Seeing how easy it was to glamour the jewelry had him thinking again, but was it worth the risk of forgetting and his mother finding out? Probably not. There were some disadvantages to being a Black, the Black. 

“Happy birthday mate,” said Evan, grabbing Barty’s shoulder and giving it a gentle shake. Barty’s cheeks went a bit pink. You might have rings in your face, but it doesn’t make you immune to blushing, Regulus thought. 

…

Have a wonderful day! :)

[pinkpalaceapartmcnts]

hello! after a few months (a lot of on and off reading) i caught up to edge last night and just...wow. this fic has me in an absolute chokehold, truly one of my favorite fics i have ever read

there is not a single character with a pov who i dislike, and i think you do a wonderful job of uniquely characterizing them all without giving them all away in the beginning. the way u dive into the psychology of everyone, and are very specific with what each pov is supposed to show is incredible.

and this is a small detail compared to everything else, but the casual inclusion of trans characters like marlene and barty is really nice. you do a wonderful job of showing that their trans-ness is a part of their identity without making it their only personality trait (marlene discussing her relationship to femininity was wonderful)

all in all this fic is amazingly written and has one of the most attention grabbing plots ever. i dont know of many other fics where i would have been still hooked after 300k with no first kiss (which is a massive complement! i think keeping readers hooked on that slow burn of a romance is amazing)

personally, i love when james has a mean era or is maybe having a bit of a mental breakdown, so while i am very stressed for him, i am excited to see how his prison era plays out!

anyways, thank u for blessing us with this amazing fic <3

hi! i'm so sorry my reply is delayed by many many months, but finally, i'm here!

i'm so happy you enjoy the characterizations! i try so hard to figure out the line of how much to share and not share inside each of their heads, and i really love working with more and more povs to get a chance to flesh out various 'side' characters, because that's what i always love to read in fics and books :))

as someone with so much gender confusion on a daily basis that gives me the warm & fuzzies to hear, i particularly enjoyed writing that bit with marlene, so i'm very glad it you liked it!

when you put it like that... my god i really wrote 300k with no kiss 😭 happy that it's interesting enough to keep you slogging along though haha ;)

messy reputation era james! we will see so much more of his derangement and i'm so pumped! he deserves it

thank you so much for this, you're incredibly sweet and i hope you're doing well 💙

[winters-on-the-wing]

you are absolutely right. it is such a problem in the fandom that men are endlessly given the benefit of the doubt, the world is BENT AND CHANGED purely for the sake of excusing their behavior, of making every single one of them come off as innocent victims. especially the death eater men. ESPECIALLY the death eater men.

it is so insanely formulaic. i can’t even differentiate the fanon interpretations of regulus, barty, and evan because they’ve all been given the same treatment. the only differentiation between them i see is that reggie is the smart one, barty is the crazy one, and evan is the sexy one. but that’s as far as it goes. now, they’re all sad wet cats who were abused as kids and forced to become death eaters. they’ve been stripped of authenticity, of objective, of WANT. they don’t want anything from their lives. they’re just plastic dolls created for angst porn. they’re the PERFECT victims.

and i don’t think that’s a coincidence. this fandom can’t stand to see privileged white men be complex people with darkness and flaws and bigotry. even when that’s the core of who they are. this fandom sees a pureblood white man and everything goes out the window except “how can i make him the victim here?” in a world where EVERYTHING CATERS TO THEM. in a world where what they were fighting for was to step on the heads of the oppressed to keep themselves on top. this fandom loves erasing that when they see men. it’s blatant, and honestly, it comes off as extremely bigoted.

i’m not saying you’re a bigot if you like these characters but the active action of continually, routinely taking the male death eaters and nobody else, taking the few sentences we have about them and throwing them into the garbage, weakening the OVERARCHING CONFLICT of the entire universe, all for the sake of avoiding seeing a white man as genuinely flawed and autonomous in his bigoted and horrific behavior. and it’s SO NORMALIZED.

“it’s fandom! let people enjoy it how they want to!”

funny how the same people who say that are the ones who leave endless hate comments on my fanworks that don’t infantilize the male death eaters. funny how that concept gets thrown out the window the second i merely suggest anything different from the status quo. these people don’t actually want to uphold fandom etiquette. they just want to shut down anyone who doesn’t enjoy it their way.

and god, don’t even get me started on the women. my third favorite character to write about in the marauders fandom is minerva mcgonagall and she, just like all the other women, are reduced to cardboard. they don’t have any personality because theyre never FIGHTING FOR anything. they never WANT anything except to tag along with whatever the boys are doing. except to step in and occasionally tease them or give them advice. but whenever i read a marauders fanfiction that isn’t jily, and i see the girls, i always ask myself “okay what do they want? what are they trying to get right now?” and i can’t figure out an answer. because the author hasn’t figured out an answer either, because the author hasn’t cared to figure it out.

girls in this fandom are treated like human props, human accessories. they’re the wise sages who know all the answers and then leave. they’re the venomous exes who provide angst for the boys. theyre the vile, evil mothers and motherly, stale teachers. when a character doesn’t have wants of their own, clear desires, clear goals, then they aren’t characters at all. they’re part of the set design.

Oh what you said responding to the ask about transphobia/bigotry I've been looking for the right way to describe it: hard to romanticize! Thats like the foundation of this fandom it seems. Everything is whitewashed and stripped down to its bare bones to be the most relatable and palatable shit! Complexity for this fandom is babying regulus and feeling bad because his brother (rightfully so) left home. Like cmon are we not capable of being deeper than that. We base everything on the most bland tropes like brother's best friend and grump x sunshine! Truly moving and deep literature explores people in 3d not the 2d shells of people that can be described in singular words/attributes that bastardize them and make them walking caricatures of people (eg; Marlene = lesbian, Mary = pretty, James = sunshine, remus = wolf, and so on) the best art isn't easily palatable! The movies that leave you feeling ill or uncomfortable (in the good way) for lack of a better word are usually some of the best films. I feel like even aside from the racism, sexism and other problems of that sort, this fandom just lacks depth? We gave ourselves full creative power over these characters and bastardized them and it makes me so sad. There are so many smart and deep people in this fandom and I wish their analysis and ideas about the fabdom were he more popular ones instead of the ones that are easy to romanticize. Let's see conflict, not everyone has to be friends, people can be complex and not completely bad or good. Make them have complicated relationships outside of ships. What are the odds of about 13 people (the most popular characters) ALL finding their soul mates in highschool??? Like u can have sm fun exploring these characters but noooooooo. Ok sry for rambling, I'm a yapper. I'll stfu now

no. don’t stfu. never stfu.

you are absolutely right and you really boiled down something i’ve always been frustrated with.

i’m an actor. it’s my JOB to take characters from text, to see words on paper, usually ONLY dialogue and stage directions, and create a person, a fully fleshed person with wants and goals and fears and a soul. it’s my job to use the clues that the canon text provides and make the character pop out of the page, to make them compelling, to make them HUMAN.

if it’s not human, who the fuck cares? i know i sure dont.

i don’t want to read about plastic robots as they go through all the tired, stale tropes. grumpy x sunshine, enemies to lovers, best friends brother. it’s all the same. it’s a formula. it’s spoon feeding. i’m not trying to hate on people who enjoy it but i just can’t imagine being satisfied with that. the barest touch of the surface level when there’s so much if you go deeper. so much more HUMANITY. so much more meaning.

i need grit. i need people with palpable flaws, people who don’t always get what they want falling into their laps when they want it, people who are IN THE WRONG. people who think bad things and do bad things and regret it, people who do bad things and don’t regret it. people who exist messily. people who make me uncomfortable to read about because they’re so like me and i have to face the fact that i’m not perfect.

i don’t want a perfect romanticized story where the little white boy gets rescued by the big muscular casanova. i don’t want a robotic generated formula where the perfectly placed lesbian couple get just enough sentences to be seen so that the author can feel progressive and inclusive and then the lesbians get shoved off and forgotten about forever.

what happened to authenticity? what happened to bringing a piece of your soul to the art you create?

again i’m not trying to tell people how to enjoy fandom. do what you want.

it just personally saddens me how hard it is to find work with that human spark in it. the spark of curiosity, of intrigue, of going deeper than the bare surface level. i love art that makes me think. why does nobody THINK while creating anymore? sometimes i just feel so alone in this, surrounded by plastic when i want to read and write and engage with work that was written with a beating heart so palpable that it can be heard between every word.

i wish fanfics and headcanons and concepts that were created with thought were more popular than they are, instead of the same bland thing being shoved down my throat every second of the day. i constantly get hated on in this fandom for thinking differently than everyone else, but why is individuality an enemy? im starting to think that i get hated on in this fandom for THINKING, period.

does that make sense?

maybe i’m pretentious. it’s highly likely i’m pretentious.

[aspiring-artist-em]

I put this idea into a wolfstar discord server but I felt the need to put this into the world.

I PRESENT...

restaurant au

sirius's pov

server/bartender sirius, new at the job, freshly disowned at like 22 or something. he has a reputation around town for being a bit of an asshole because of his majorly asshole family, and when he's working, he is working, and he makes money because he's young and pretty (not necessarily because he's any good at his job) and some people don't like that. also because of the whole, straight into serving and thrown onto bar because he's friends with james despite no experience. but he's charming and people eventually warm up to him.

line cook remus (with the amount of cigarettes he smokes it only makes sense, also imagine sirius trying to flirt his way to free food and remus being like "lol no", might work with customers but not with me). HIS SCARS ARE FROM A WORKPLACE ACCIDENT FROM WHEN HE WAS LIKE 18 THAT CAUSES CHRONIC PAIN BUT HES SO GOOD AT HIS JOB THE KEEP HIM THERE AND HES BEEN WORKING IN RESTAURANTS SINCE HE WAS 16? ALSO FLEAMONT LOVES HIM.

fleamont owns the place, hence how sirius gets the job in the first place, and like james is a manager because nepotism. sirius and james met in school and were close ever since. james is like, the cool manager who actually listens to the employee and takes their side but does it so kindly that nobody really minds it. everyone loves james. he is the sun.

peter is a busser, (why did i put him as a busser? because they're overworked and underpaid and under appreciated which is how it lowkey went in their friend group, it also puts him in a place of admiration or envy because he wants to be where sirius or remus or james are at, and they don't see why because their jobs are all respectively hard but peter just sees the money BECAUSE BUSSERS ARE NEVER FAIRLY COMPENSATED FOR THEIR WORK (-a server)) he betrays them after effie and fleamont dies and james takes over the business he starts stealing money and stuff and forging checks to the homophobic organization called the death eaters.

lily is the main chef. chef lily. yes chef, please step on me. when remus starts to fall victim to sirius's charm she checks him right then and there and is like "uh no you don't". she yells at james to keep his servers in line because he manages foh and "GOD DAMN IT JAMES WHO THE FUCK RUNG UP THIS TICKET" (it was sirius). i present. chef lily.

marlene is also a server, and so is mary. the two are the work besties when they serve. they always are together, their sections are right next to each other and lily loves them so much because they know how to ring up a ticket. marlene is very popular with the younger crowd and older people love mary. their sections are always next to each other.

dorcas is a host and works to go. the end. she hosts and gets pissed off because her saying "Sirius. I seat in a rotation" and "McKinnon. You've been here for 10 minutes you are not cut." just make sense to me. she can take charge and lead and her manning to go and hosting at the same time makes sense to me.

eventually regulus escapes. he gets a job there and actually was a death eater. i think it would be funny if sirius convinced james to put him in foh to fuck with him, but he doesn't survive one day without threatening a customer (sirius intervenes and smooths it over. not really. there's a brawl in the dining room) and so james puts reg on the lined, where he meets remus and lily.

evan dies. he doesn't make it out of the death eaters. he was at the wrong place at the wrong time and he gets killed by a police officer. barty gets arrested, he goes to the police officers house and tortures him and his wife and gets arrested with other death eaters, even though they weren't gay and were white and straight and everything the group idealized. that's what made regulus run, and that's why pandora ends up taking her life.

tom riddle is a political figure. in the background of everything he is looming and is trying to write homophobic legislation and pass it into law. his followers are the death eaters. dumbledore is another political figure. it's the lesser of two evils.

the blacks are known as important polititians (orion) and a cutthroat lawyer (wally), and they make many donations and publicly announce their support to the death eaters. the potters are known for their monopoly on restaurants in london, with fleamont managing them and effie taking care of the legal part. they're both known to be kind instead of cold.

Anyway.

one time sirius gets absolutely berated, and actually hit by a table because apparently he was flirting with the girlfriend of the man there (he was not)and he acts impassively and just turns around and walks to the back where he starts sits in the walk in. remus comes in because they're all looking for him 10 minutes later because "sirius GET YOUR FOOD". he finds him just sitting blankly and tells him to get his food. when sirius flinches, remus realizes something isn't okay. the closer remus gets the more emotions slip out of sirius until remus is holding him, oh so gently, as the new server, not only a week into his job, breaks into pieces before his eyes. There's an angry red mark on his check and remus knows. Fuck. he knows what happened out there and he should have checked on him when he saw sirius walk past him with that numb expression he sometimes gets before plastering on a smile. fuck fuck fuck. sirius is sobbing and remus doesn't know what to do, he's not good at this, his hands break and ruin and can only create with the guidance of others like lily, and then they can make something divine, but right now there's nobody there and remus doesn't know what to do with sirius fucking black, now practically sitting on his lap as he cries about his brother (he had a brother?) and his mother and god he can hear her. please remus make her stop yelling in my ears. sirius doesn't know what to do and he just sits there, helpless as the tsunami of emotions drown him. he should have never convinced reg to skip swim with him because now he can't breathe and he's gasping for air as tears and snot fill his lungs and mouth and fuck he needs the money. his tables have been neglected for what, 20 minutes? what if he was sat. he needs the money but he can't go out like this, his carefully placed makeup smudged with the heel of his palm. calloused fingers swipe under his eyes and he flinches away and cries and apologized more. scarred hands hold his face and tell him it's okay and there's a noise and talk and maybe that's pete but he can't tell and james is here. james is here. and he's being led to the managers office and god it was so cold in there. he's being told to go home and fuck he's fired. oh but he isn't and the kind scarred man who hasn't left his side, who's rough fingers are interlaced with his, is going to drive him home and he trusts him. he trusts remus lupin.

[blossoms-and-possums]

vigilante shit is @battlehamster ’s wywm regulus’ song. here is why:

draw the cat eye, sharp enough to kill a man

okay, this line is obviously about being able to paint sleek, clean eyeliner on, which we know regulus can do, even after a period of an inability practice.

‘Taking in a deep breath, Regulus lets muscle memory do its job with quick, short strokes [of eyeliner], until he’s got a sharp line on the very corner of each eye. And it’s the best feeling he’s experienced in fuck knows how long. He turns to look at Sirius with his middle finger up[.]’ - ch17.

you did some bad things, but i’m the worst of them

sometimes i wonder, which one will be your last lie? they say looks can kill and i might try

these lines are about power, which we know regulus has. he’s a Black, and yaz has established in wywm that the Black family blood is important. it gets people places, it gets people fired, it gets shit done (and they look good while doing it). 

‘looks can kill’ here could have a double meaning, in that regulus always looks good - ‘[regulus is] pretty in absolutely everything he wears.’ - ch17 - and that his wrath is enough to kill someone. he even mentions a willingness to have lily killed for her neglect and awful treatment of james and harry. ‘Murder has never figured among the list of his crimes, even the ones he wasn’t put to trial for. But he’s also well aware of the fact that dismissing of Lily wouldn’t keep him up at night, because just like Sirius used to say, half of him did come from Walburga Black, after all. If James asked him to, Lily wouldn’t make it alive ‘til sunrise.’ - 17

i don’t dress for women, i don’t dress for men

lately i’ve been dressing for revenge

since moving into james’ place for house arrest, regulus wears clothes that make him happy. he doesn’t wear the trousers and shirts he was essentially forced to wear when he was engaged to barty and working for his parents. his freedom in his clothes and stylistic choices are is ‘revenge’, a “fuck you” of sorts to walburga and the control she had over him.

‘He’s allowed to wear something that makes him feel pretty. Especially if that something happens to be something that would’ve made Mother throw a fit if she saw him in it. And it’s not that oversized t-shirts and cool socks don’t make him feel pretty, mind you. He’s pretty in absolutely everything he wears. But he can’t deny there are certain things that bring him some extra happiness when he puts them on, like overalls.’ - ch17

i don’t start shit, but i can tell you house it ends

so, obviously, regulus didn’t initiate the corruption of the Black Empire. once his parents, lucius, and other employees/members of the family land themselves in prison, and regulus is able to get out via sirius, regulus is able to direct where the future of the Black Empire is headed. he does so by influencing amos into doing his bidding, with the promise of power.

‘“And I will, of course, occupy her place. So, when this shitshow ends, I am going to need a new COO. Someone dedicated and intelligent, but above all, someone loyal. That someone will be you if, and only if, you keep me as far away as you possibly can from Black Industries until I can walk free.”

Regulus slides the stack of papers back to him, and extends his hand.

“Do we have a deal, Amos?”

A bit wide-eyed, Amos is quick to nod, taking his hand.

Regulus shakes it firmly, with a grin crossing his lips.’ - ch11

don’t get sad, get even

regulus has demonstrated a vengeful streak, which i elaborate on a bit more in the ‘vigilante shit’ section, but is shown in this quote: ‘“Of course I do,” he snaps. “I can make her disappear from the face of the Earth and never inconvenience you or Harry ever again, if that’s what you want.”’ - ch17. regulus is willing to have lily killed for her mistreatment of the boys he loves; that is, james and harry. to regulus, this is ‘get[ting] even’. 

so on the weekends, i don’t dress for friends

lately i’ve been dressing for revenge

she needed cold hard proof, so i gave her some

she had the envelope, where you think she got it from?

now she gets the house, gets the kids, gets the pride

after all the miserable years regulus endured away from james, whilst with barty or in prison, he gets to be reunited with his lover, he gets a kid, gets to move into james’ house, and his finally reaching a happy ending. ‘“Not you, Dada!” Harry grunts. “I was talking to Papa!”’ - ch30/31

‘“I can make you the happiest man alive.”

Regulus stays quiet for a long time, enough to make James wonder if he stepped out of line, but then his lip curves tenderly at the corner and the night becomes brighter. “You already do, darling.”’ - ch32

‘“I love you more,” he whispers close to Regulus’ ear, but Regulus shakes his head.

“I regret to inform you that’s impossible,” he tells James. “I love you more.”’ - ch32

picture me thick as thieves with your ex-wife

and she looks so pretty drivin’ in your Benz

regulus was gifted a mercedes-benz on his birthday. ‘“Someone sent you the keys to a bloody Benz.”’ - ch17 

also, james got a new car after getting into an accident. and im sure james (im making james the ‘she’ here, hope that’s ok with you all) definitely looks pretty when he drives :) ‘“I should have the new car by then so I’m going to drive down to the office for that, you won’t have to see Bobby again.”’ - ch24

lately she’s been dressing for revenge

well, he was doing lines

and crossin’ all of mine

someone told his white collar crimes to the fbi

this line is so self-explanatory, i feel like this headline will more than suffice. ‘‘REGULUS BLACK SENTENCED TO SERVE ONE YEAR AND EIGHT MONTHS BEHIND BARS IN AZKABAN FOR WHITE COLLAR CRIMES.’ - ch1.

and i don’t dress for villains or for innocents

once more, just elaborating on how, with his newfound freedom (ironic, given the most freedom regulus has is during house arrest for his crimes, but i digress) regulus dresses only for himself. ‘Oh, nothing, besides the fact that he spent years forcing himself to put on suits and ties and leather shoes and fucking belts every time he had to dress up like a proper businessman, even when he was in uni, and then the time he spent sitting behind a desk, eating grilled salmon for lunch and resisting the horribly strong urge to tell his secretary to cancel all his meetings because he was going to jump off the balcony. To be fair, putting on some jeans will never, ever amount to that sort of torture, but still.‘ - ch11.

i’m on my vigilante shit again

i think it’s safe to say regulus would consider himself a vigilante. by definition, a vigilante is someone who undertakes law enforcement without legal authority, typically because the legal agencies are thought to be inadequate. this definitely rings true with what we have seen with regulus. most obviously is with the lily situation, and having her deported from india back to england, and stripping her of her ability to work where she had been. notably, regulus does his vigilantism behind james’ back. repeatedly. 

(1.) ‘“Hold on, is this about you getting Lily deported back to England?” James wonders. Regulus doesn't think he's ever been robbed of his words as quickly as in that moment. “What?” he wheezes, shoulders falling on his sides. “How the fuck did you know about that?”[...]

“I know you, Black, whether you like it or not. And that night you asked me if I had any news on her, you got that look in your eye... The look that always, always means trouble,” James tells him. “Every time you got that look I used to fear for some poor soul's safety, (2.) like that time some Hufflepuff called me some names and you got his head and eyebrows shaved off right before the Yule Ball.”’ - ch17.

james goes on to say he never knew how regulus did ‘that’ - shaving the hufflepuff’s eyebrows off before the yule ball - and regulus then tells him. as previously mentioned, regulus also intends to reform the Black Empire with amos diggory’s assistance, which could be yet another example of his vigilantism.

ok. that’s all i got rn.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Hey! I love your meta’s, a little while ago you talked about The Order of the Phoenix as an organization could you talk about the Death Eaters?

The post anon is referencing.

TL;DR the Order is incompetently hilarious and Dumbledore is a man who trusts no one.

Oh, the Death Eaters, what to say about the Death Eaters...

In a World Without Voldemort, They'd Probably Be Arsonists

One of the things JKR implies in the series, and something fandom seems to take for granted, is that Tom Riddle is the ultimate corrupting influence.

Were it not for him, the Wizarding World would be a much better place, and people like Bellatrix LeStrange would be productive members of society.

As soon as he is killed, even, by Harry, the good guys win, their problems all presumably solved, and Harry tells his son Albus Severus that it's totally fine if he's put into Slytherin.

I don't believe that though.

To me, it's not so much that Tom Riddle corrupted these people, but that he gave them an organized cause. The people themselves, oh, they were itching for a fight.

In a world without Tom I think they'd be a loosely, poorly organized, group (probably with Bellatrix as the ring leader) where they commit acts of domestic terrorism probably involving burning offensive shops to the ground or attacking muggleborns, halfbloods, and blood traitors.

Voldemort, to me, is designed to pander to them (and not the other way around).

The Death Eaters' Beginnings

So, first off, I think Tom's goals are not what he says they are. What he represents to his followers is exactly what they want to hear, wrapped in a grandiose theatric bow that they just love.

But how did this all start?

First, I don't believe in the Knights of Walpurgis. Instead I think Tom came relatively out of nowhere in the 70's uses parseltongue to prove his heritage as the Heir of Slytherin and thus of purer blood than any of them.

He throws these exciting rallies/parties that the rebellious, angsty, teenage heirs all go to. There he says everything they wanted to hear in the most eloquent manner they've ever heard, promises them the action that their fathers have never delivered, promises them a role in the glorious revolution and a place in history, and probably offers them mounds of cocaine.

All the Death Eaters we see, or the core of them, appear to be in this age range where they'd be in Hogwarts or just out of it when Voldemort came knocking. I can imagine they're all whipped up with excitement, YEAH LET'S BLOW UP THE MUDBLOODS and for some that's great, for others... things don't go the way they expected.

October 31, 1981: It All Falls Apart

Regulus famously steals Tom's horcrux. I imagine it wasn't so much that he learned the error of his ways but that he saw what Tom Riddle was really after: the destruction of his very society.

Lucius is riding high until October 31, 1981 and he sees the complete destruction of the entire Black family. Lucius' priorities greatly shift and as he grows older he prays Voldemort never returns. Unfortunately, Tom does, and he charges interest.

Bellatrix absolutely loses her mind, refuses to accept reality, and tries to torture the Longbottoms for information they do not possess. She is imprisoned in Azkaban and never truly recovers from this.

Snape ends up the cause of death for Lily Evans and must forever live with the guilt and be tied to her prophesied son. He also becomes Dumbledore's lackey forever, which ultimately gets him killed.

Point being, no one's having a good time. Some because they figure out being a Death Eater wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and others because they had the Voldemort rug pulled out from under their feet when Tom Riddle disappears.

Pettigrew flees and lives as the Weasley rat for nearly fifteen years.

They're left making a mad scramble as they try to pick up the pieces of their lives.

Canon Catches Up

More than ten years go by and then suddenly, in a muggle graveyard, the surviving Death Eaters discover that they are bound to Voldemort for the rest of their lives.

Death cannot stop this man and he has branded them: there's no escape.

Some are still enthusiastic supporters of the cause: Bellatrix is vindicated that her lord has returned, he rescues her from hell on earth, and everything's finally coming up Bella. Barty is similar in actively working for Voldemort's resurrection.

Lucius, meanwhile, lives in constant terror. Karkaroff desperately flees the country and hopes Tom will not find him. Snape, is in fact, Dumbledore's agent. Pettigrew only returned in utter desperation and has now cut off his own hand.

They're not the young men they were, some of them have families, to some of the past ten years have been utterly miserable. They have to watch as their children make the same damn mistakes they did, be sucked into this same hell hole, and there's nothing they can do about it.

There is a notable reluctance for the cause, and yet, they have to try with the same vigor or this madman will kill them all.

And it's all worthless anyway: come 1998, Voldemort dies again (perhaps for real this time, who knows, Harry Potter seems to think so for whatever reason) and then they are imprisoned for their acts as Death Eaters.

And they just laugh, because how badly Lucius wishes he could go back in time and tell his eighteen-year-old self, "YOU DUMB FUCK, LEAVE NOW!"

But Do They Learn Anything?

No.

Just because we see some of them regret being Death Eaters doesn't mean they regret their beliefs. Their beliefs were fine, even blowing up people here and there, a bit gauche but fine.

But maybe following Voldemort blindly was a bad idea.

Are They More Competent Than the Order?

No.

Tom Riddle is terrifyingly competent in that he infiltrates the government with ease, has spies everywhere, and all but proclaims himself minister one day and nobody blinks.

He gains the full support of most of the wizarding world's wealthiest and prestigious families.

But he doesn't actually give these people anything to do. Because there's nothing for them to do, with them, Tom's won. He owns the Wizengamot, the Ministry, everything.

There's no need to fight. It's over, there never was a war. Society is primed to accept Tom Riddle as their ruler.

However, the likes of Bellatrix LeStrange thinks there's a glorious war on, so "uh, go out and blow up a few muggles, have fun." And the young Death Eaters (and the older ones), think they've committed this great, daring, brave, and very important act.

Tom only seems to hand out real assignments when in desperate straits or else when being particularly vindictive.

Lucius, after messing up with the diary, is told to retrieve a prophecy he is not allowed to touch in a department of the ministry he should have no access to. If he fails: Tom kills his entire family. When Lucius does fail, Tom assigns his son to assassinate an already dying Dumbledore. These aren't real tasks, though they do have the appearance of one, and consequences for failure.

Barty, Tom is forced to rely on, as he is trapped in this dying infant's body. And better Barty, someone who is truly loyal and seems fairly clever, than Peter Pettigrew who is a miserable scum bag who'd sell his grandmother for a bar of soap.

Barty, of course, fucks this up. Rather than just kidnap Harry Potter at any of the many easy points this could be done (Hogsmeade trip, lure Harry out to Hogsmeade with super secret serial information about Voldemort/Snape being a Death Eater, etc.), Barty is determined to make use of the Triwizard Tournament to destroy his father's legacy.

This means rather than a few weeks, it takes months to kidnap Harry, and even then they bring along an extra boy who then gets killed and provides some evidence that Tom Riddle has in fact returned. (Somebody murdered Cedric). It takes months and Barty actively ensuring Harry makes it through the tournament and does well, leaving open the possibility that he might get caught helping Harry cheat at any moment. And of course, Barty has to pretend to be Madeye Moody for months, keeping his man locked and drugged in his trunk.

Thankfully, Moody's such a paranoid wreck, no one even notices.

Quirrell, Tom is forced to rely on. Quirrell fucks up, though admittedly not as badly as Barty. Quirrell fails to steal the stone when it's in transit/in Gringotts. He fails to murder Harry Potter, an eleven year old boy in the world's most dangerous school. He rouses Snape's suspicion almost immediately. Then of course he doesn't get the stone. He at least gets to the room with the stone and nearly overpowers Harry and gets it had he not been mysteriously lit on fire by the power of love/Lily Evans.

The only one Tom ever really relies on by choice is Snape. Snape is charged with spying on Dumbledore and later running Hogwarts (which he fucks up).

There is only one competent man in Britain: Severus Snape. Which is, of course, why he's a double agent that Dumbledore and Tom both extensively rely on despite his being a double agent.

There's no one else.

Tom Riddle doesn't make use of the Death Eaters but given they prove themselves enthusiastically incompetent at every turn I don't blame him. Just pretend to give them something to do and hope it makes them feel important.

That's all I've got in general, you want anything else you'll have to ask for something more specific.

[bloomvine02]

DOWNFALL - A Barty Crouch Epistolary

1979, July 10th

Dear Reg,

Where the hell did you go? The dark Lord has grown weary and even your brother seems to be worried.

You’re not dead, are you?

I don’t know if this owl will reach you. Or even find you. But if you do read it, know that whatever you've done to make you hide, I forgive you.

Your friend,

Barty.

1979, July 30th

Dear Reg,

I was angry that you didn't reply to my owl, thought you’d given up on being friends to be honest.

But then I read what happened. In a stupid newspaper.

It’s not fair.

Pandora managed to figure out where you went, by the way. What were you doing there?

It’s colder without you. Even though you were a serious git, you were my friend. You were our friend.

None of this is fair.

Your friend,

Barty.

1979, July 30th

Reggie,

I’m sorry. I should’ve been there. I should’ve asked how you were and where you were going.

Did you do this for him?

It’s painful without you. Do you remember when you would sneak into Ravenclaw tower during lightning storms, so I wouldn’t be scared.

Why did you die?

You were only 18.

All my love,

Dora x

1979, August 2nd

Hi mate,

Guess I wasn’t important enough to be told about your death first hand. It had to go through four people.

I found out from Pettigrew. Goddamn Pettigrew.

Dory told me to write this. Apparently she and Barty have been too.

I guess it’s my job to tell Dorcas then.

It’s dark without you.

Ev.

1979, August 3rd

Star boy,

Evan told me yesterday. Guess I should keep up on the news more often eh?

Sirius knows now. He and Remus finally read the news.

What hurts is, he’s taking it better than I am.

I won't let anyone talk bad about you in the order. It won’t happen.

I was told how you died. Where you were.

You died a hero.

To be honest I’m not sure if I’ll even send this anywhere. But it’ll be nice to have this for me.

It’s silent without you.

My affection,

Flowers x

1979, December 25th

Reg,

Merry Christmas. I got you a present.

Your mum made you a painting, in case you wanna show up in it. I left the box there. Come say hi.

Everyone’s round, even Dorcas.

We all miss you.

It’s not fair.

Barty.

1979, December 25th

Reggie,

Happy holidays.

I put some tinsel around your portrait frame this morning. Walburga will probably get Kreacher to take it down, you know how she hates tacky things, but it’s the thought that counts. Right?

Do you think of us?

Kreacher’s not doing too well either. He won’t talk to anyone, poor elf.

All my love,

Dora x

1979, December 25th

Hi mate,

Merry christmas and all that.

It doesn't feel like christmas.

Nothing feels like anything any more.

Love you mate,

Evan.

1979, December 25th

Hello Star Boy,

Sorry I couldn’t stay for long, your mother isn’t too fond of me.

I left you a card by your portrait. It’s open so you can read it if you decide to come by.

Evan left before me. I’m worried about him, he doesn’t smile like he used to.

Then again none of us do.

My affection,

Flowers x

1980, January 7th

Reg,

Everything happens so quickly. I guess this letter should be for two now. So let me start over:

Reg, Evan,

The days become so dark. So, so dark without you.

The darkness allows my mind to wander. I don’t want it to wander.

I guess we all knew you would never go down without a fight Ev. I would ask if you’re up there, with Reg, but at this point if there were a God? He wouldn’t have killed my two best friends.

It’s not fair.

Barty.

1980, January 10th

Reggie,

Did you meet Evan by the doors up there? He missed you, though I guess he got the easy way out. I love you.

Ev,

Dorcas won’t talk to us. To anyone. I think she thinks your death was her fault. But it wasn’t. It was Moody.

I love both of you boys,

Dory x

1980, January 11th

Hi.

I don’t know why I’m writing this. I gave up on trying a while back. What’s the point if you’re not even going to read it.

But if somehow you’re here watching me write this. I miss you. Both of you.

I'm done though. Done with the letters to no one. Done with sitting in order meetings and pretending my friends are ok.

It’s only a matter of time before someone goes next.

Dorcas.

1981, June 3rd

Why?

Why why why why why why why why why why why.

This isn’t fair.

None of this is fair. I can't help but feel that I'm on the wrong side.

Voldemort got Dorcas. Killed her personally.

WHY WHY WHY WHY?

B.

1981, June 4th

There’s only two of us now.

Barty won’t talk to me though.

It’s so lonely.

I’ve told Luna about you lot. About your amazing lives and how brave you were.

Barty visited us, he seemed skittish. I’m worried.

Xeno and I moved to the countryside, you'd all love it here.

I love you.

Dory x

1982, June 4th

Hello.

It’s been awhile.

I haven’t seen Barty in a year either. It’s so lonely.

Luna’ s growing up fast. Too fast. She reminds me of you Ev, loud.

She’s one now. She can already speak.

I can tell she’s going to be a beautiful witch.

Dora x

1983, June 4th

This seems like tradition now,

Every year.

Barty came round today. God, he looks so different. So tired.

I know he doesn’t write anymore, but he misses you. I can tell.

Dora x

1985, June 4th

My friends,

I’m sorry I missed last years, I got married and it didn’t feel right to write the letter a day late.

I reserved seats for you, at the wedding. Right at the front.

Dorcas you were a maid of honour.

Luna looked beautiful in her dress, she through flower petals at people rather than in the air but she’s only 4. You would’ve loved her Evan.

Barty showed up. I had hoped he would. He didn’t talk much but he was there, in his seat.

Dory x

1986, June 4th

Barty came round today, but he seemed… different. His hair is so long and his eyes are so tired. He keeps doing this… thing, with his tongue. Like a snake would.

He didn’t seem very happy. I’m worried about him.

Dory x

1987, January 28th

This isn’t fair.

This isn’t fair.

This isn’t fair.

This isn’t fair.

This isn’t fair.

This isn’t fair.

This isn’t fair.

Voldemort is searching for Pandora.

This isn’t fair.

THIS ISN’T FAIR.

Everything is so dark.

1988, January 4th

Hello.

Luna is 7 now. Only 4 more years til hogwarts! I hope she’ll make a group of friends just as I did.

Regulus. You would’ve loved seeing her grow up. She has your magical talent.

She’s so similar to all of you. In so many ways.

Pandora x

1989, April 8th

I can hear you. Judging me.

There’s nothing I can do.

I’m a coward.

It’s not fair that she gets a perfect life.

Where’s my perfect life.

I want my friends back

SHUT UP WITH THE JUDGING

SHUT UP

SHUT UP

SHUT UP

PLEASE

Bartimus.

1990 , January 4th

Today has been a better day, lately I’ve found though that a lot of my magic is failing, maybe I’m getting old.

Luna turned nine recently, she’s got such a beautiful smile. I got her 3 cards, one from each of you.

Barty’s coming round to visit today, he should be here soon.

Dora x

1989, April 8th

I’m so sorry Dora.

SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY.

It wasn’t my fault though. Was it?

Your spell backfired. Not mine.

It wasn’t my fault you weren’t strong enough.

Xenophilius wasn’t in.

Good.

There was so much blood. But you looked so peaceful. It makes me happy.

Dora’s right, Luna is so pretty. But so sad.

WHY IS SHE SAD.

IT’S NOT FAIR.

BARTY

[sleepfight]

🌸 🏀 🐍 for barty boy and percy

MMKAY I'm just gonna do these for Bart for now because the questions are kinda long P:

🌸 What’s a sentence that would make your OC’s day better? One that would make them laugh? One that would make their day worse? Why? What words would you have to say to them to completely ruin their day?

Make his day better: "Wanna go check your trail cams?" Bart is easily overwhelmed and retreating to the woods is a surefire way to calm him down. But he doesn't like acknowledging meltdowns directly so by offering to go to check his cams, it gets him to the woods where he can do a familiar activity without him having to admit he's struggling.

Make him laugh: "I heard John ripped the ass of his pants trying to pick up a keg at the cookout." Literally anything that involves John Seed making a fool of himself will make Bart laugh like a hyena. Also fart jokes, unfortunately.

Make his day worse: "I think Zip is in your driveway." Zip and Bart have an extreme hatred of each other and fuck with each other constantly. If Zip is seen running off the property, the mailbox is probably full of live hornets.

Ruin his day: “What, you stupid or something?” Bart is too self-absorbed and disinterested in normal social mores to be insecure about many things. But his way of thinking has always been different from his peers and he’s received very little accommodation over his life with many authority figures dismissing him as unsalvageable. He is a voracious learner when it’s a topic he chooses for himself but he has almost no formal education so being called stupid completely dismisses how hard he’s worked to teach himself and brings up a lot of old pain from growing up neurodivergent. Calling him stupid is one of the only insults left that still effectively hurts his feelings.

(Continued under cut)

🏀 Does your OC have any skills that people wouldn’t expect them to have? Do they have a hobby or pastime that others would consider strange or weird? How did they learn this particular skill or pick up this hobby?

I'm gonna say that UFO hunting is a lifestyle, not a hobby, but an offshoot of his interest in cryptids is an interest in conservation and ecology. He isn’t formally involved with any particular group or organization but has taken it upon himself to maintain planting projects, brush clearing, litter collection, etc in the woods throughout Hope county. He is very concerned with keeping the forest protected and has earned a reputation as a Lorax wannabe from some folk and as an eco-terrorist from people like John Seed. He once chained himself to a backhoe to halt production in one of John’s developments because it would destroy a small pond used by ducks during nesting season.

This interest in nature evolved organically just with how much time he spent out in the woods to begin with, both for comfort and to snoop for jackalopes. He’s an excellent hiking partner if you don’t mind him being a chatterbox, he’s literally just a walking field-guide and will point out EVERYTHING. Need some mysterious animal poop identified? Brother, he’s got you covered.

He also disassembles old engines and makes scrap sculptures out of them! The trailer park residents hate him!!

🐍Is your OC a good liar? How easy is it for them to tell lies? What is the biggest lie they’ve ever told and did they ever get found out? On the other hand, what is the biggest lie someone has told your OC and did they believe them?

NOPE HE IS SO, SO, SOOOOOO BAD AT IT. Bart is extremely blunt and honest and genuinely doesn’t understand why other people aren’t. Lying doesn’t make sense to him because why wouldn’t you just say what you mean? What is the point of lying? What does it accomplish? Even little white lies that might spare someone’s feelings are hard for him to grasp, though he does try to choose his words more carefully after being told he’s a dick one too many times. People accuse Bart of lying all the time (which he HATES) but he always tells the truth, as he sees it.

The biggest lie he has ever told was while under heavy influence from bliss and it was telling Jason and Uri that he was happy to be chosen by Joseph. This was to manipulate them into joining Eden’s Gate and something he would regret for the rest of his life.

The biggest lie anyone has ever told him is his entire existence tbh. Gaslighting (ACTUAL gaslighting) is a huuuuuuuuuuge part of Bart’s story and there have been people tasked with manipulating him since he was a child. One of the most vile examples are doctors on Joseph’s payroll who convince Bart that he is psychotic and give him placebo pills to treat his hallucinations while EG continues to secretly expose him to bliss, triggering visions. It takes a very long time for Bart to recover his sense of self after the events with Joseph.

[ourloveisforthelovely]

Princess Part 10

Harry Potter Marauders Era AU

Link to Part 9

Pairings: Regulus Black x Reader 

Rating: M

_____

“Considering we have been preparing for you to die...I think we deserve five minutes of explanation. You have scared Y/n and your mother to death. I suggest you start talking…”

Regulus frowned at his father’s comment. Orion was right. You did deserve the truth. Regulus knew later he would feel guilty for not caring about his mother knowing the truth or Orion for that matter. His only worry was you. You sat at his side gently stroking his now healed hand.

“Fine, shut the door.”

Regulus replied as James reached out and shut the door with his foot. As much as Regulus didn’t want anything to do with James nor Sirius, they did save his life. Maybe it was time to put some bitter feelings on the back burner for the moment.

“Voldemort is worse than we all feared. He’s insane and we need to stop sympathizing with him. James and Sirius just keep doing whatever it is that you do. That part was directed toward you but...mum and dad...we were so wrong. This guy almost killed Kreacher....yes, that pissed me off but it wasn’t the reason that I…did what I did. Voldemort is out there creating horcruxes...I found one...a locket. I just need to figure out how to destroy it.”

Sirius’ mouth dropped.

“So that explains what you were muttering about. How do we destroy it?”

Regulus shrugged.

“Beats the hell out of me. Kreacher has it right now.”

Sirius frowned.

“You left something that important to Kreacher? The same Kreacher that we grew up with?”

You winced when Regulus’ hand tightened around yours.

“Well, it was either that or it went to the bottom of the lake with me while I was busy being drowned by Inferi. Which would you have preferred?”

Regulus ignored how both Walburga and Orion went completely pale at the mention of “being drowned.” Sirius, meanwhile, was still trying to take in what he was hearing.

“So inferi tried to turn you into a human pretzel?

Regulus was beginning to get annoyed with Sirius. He didn’t like being interrupted as it was now here was Sirius asking questions that would have been answered anyway.

“Yes, Sirius...please keep up. Like I was about to say, Voldemort won’t just leave the prized pieces of his soul just lying around. He will make whoever it is work for what they are getting. Between having to slice my hand open to get into this place, drinking some god fucking awful potion, and almost getting drowned...I had to give the locket to Kreacher. He is probably at home having a panic attack because the last thing that he saw was me going under. Mum, can you send a telegram home and let him know that everything is alright?”

Walburga was fanning herself. None of this was anything that she expected to hear. She had expected to hear some story of Regulus going up against another death eater. Now knowing how close she actually was to losing her baby, everything was beginning to feel fuzzy.

“I don’t think mum is available right now.”

Sirius commented. Orion nodded and gently patted his wife’s shoulder. He wasn't sure what really to do to comfort her when he was trying to control his own pounding heart. Between questioning, if what Regulus was saying was true and the realization that he almost died...Orion didn’t know how to feel.

I knew that I should have never supported letting him get into that.

Orion thought before finally speaking.

“Son, Kreacher is just fine. I told him where we were going before we left.”

Regulus nodded before turning his attention back to you. Your hand was over your mouth as the tears were streaming down your face.

“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry. That’s why I was so short-tempered before we broke up...I was…”

You shook your head. None of this was anything that you wanted to hear. Deep down you knew that there was a reason Regulus had been so grumpy. Regulus losing his temper when you begged Sirius for help all made sense now.

“You’re fine now...that’s what matters.”

Regulus laughed.

“I don’t know about fine. When Voldemort finds out that I figured out his secret, he isn’t going to be thrilled.”

“Sounds like you need to go into hiding a bit.”

James commented. Regulus hated the thought of being trapped in a house but, for once, Potter was probably right on this one. He definitely needed to lay low once Voldemort came back from trying to gather new recruits in Bulgaria.

“Yeah, maybe.”

Regulus commented as Walburga jumped up.

“There is no maybe to it, Regulus! You will go into hiding whether you want to or not.”

Regulus didn’t feel like arguing with his mother at the moment and only nodded. In fact, the only thing that he really wanted to do was to go back to sleep and sleep for a long time. He had to shake the urge to go back to sleep before turning his attention back to you.

When Orion stood and commented that the two of you needed some privacy, you could have been more thankful. The two of you had a lot to talk about and the last thing that either of you wanted was to have this conversation with an audience.

Regulus waited until everyone was out of the room before relaxing back into the pillow. He finally felt like he could relax.

“Do you hurt badly?”

You asked before reaching out and stroking your fingers through his hair. Regulus didn’t open his eyes but was clearly pleased by the physical contact.

“A little. I didn’t want you finding out what happened like that.”

You sat down on the side of the bed and took his hand in yours. It didn’t matter how you found out, you would have been devastated. Knowing how close you were to losing Regulus made everything within you ache. Seeing him banged up was bad enough but knowing that you almost lost him forever...you couldn’t put that thought into words.

“It would be horrible no matter how I found out.”

Regulus’ eyes fluttered open.

“I’m sorry about the past few months. I never meant for any of it to go the way it did. I was a jerk to you and you didn’t deserve it! You were trying to keep me safe...I’m not mad at you for going to Sirius. I guess part of me was jealous.”

“Darling, you don’t have to worry about my feelings toward Sirius. He’s obsessed with Remus and I can’t nor do I have the desire to compete with that.”

Regulus smirked for a moment, however, his face went back to the “sad lost boy” expression that always made your heartache. His face looked as it did the night that Sirius left.

“I always knew that there was something going on there. Anyway, I don’t want to talk about them. I want to talk about us. I love you, Y/n and I want to be with you because you're good for me. The past few months without you...I don’t want to go back to that place. If you want your ring back...I’ll never take it off of your hand again.”

Regulus wrapped his hand around yours and brought it to his mouth. He closed his eyes and inhaled your scent. Regulus wasn’t about to tell you the childish mess that he had been without you. Maybe you should know that he either drank himself to sleep or cried like a baby every night to mourn your loss. Regulus had refused to get out of bed for a few days and had taken to laying with his face shoved into your pillow just to smell your lavender shampoo.

“I love you too, Regulus. You’re right. I was just trying to keep you safe. I didn’t want to see you harmed. Now knowing that you almost died and seeing what you have gone through, I regret ever saying that I was okay with you being a death eater. I’m proud of you for what you have done though. You were so brave, love.”

“It was more desperation than bravery. I also got pissy because that twat hurt my elf.”

You smiled.

“You should rest, darling.”

Regulus didn’t move to let you go.

“Lay with me. I’ll sleep better feeling you against me.”

Regulus scowled at you when you didn’t move fast enough. You, meanwhile, looked down at him with apprehension.

“You won’t hurt me. Just lay on my right side and put your head on my chest. Please.”

You couldn’t say no to those eyes. As gently as possible, you eased yourself against Regulus’ body. Regulus yawned and snuggled his face against your hair.

“See. I’m not hurting now, Princess.”

You smiled against his chest as Regulus slowly began to doze back off leaving you awake.

Everything will be okay this time…

It took another week before the healers would consider letting Regulus go home. You were relieved when the healer finally said that he could go home. Regulus has been getting frustrated with not being able to leave even though he felt fine (so what if he was still walking with a limp). He wanted out of the hospital to heal at home.

Regulus had talked you into agreeing to move back into him. You knew that James wasn’t thrilled with the idea. He had tried to persuade you to “take things slow” with Regulus.

“Y/n, please. You really should take this slow. I don’t want you to get hurt again.”

“I know, James. Regulus needs me though. I want to take care of him.”

Regulus, meanwhile, was thrilled upon hearing that you didn’t do what James wanted but what he wanted instead. It just proved to Regulus that you were loyal to him and that was what he wanted.

The following two weeks were a little more difficult than you expected. Regulus wasn’t thrilled that you didn’t want to give up your job working for Barty Crouch Sr. The day that you were scheduled to return to work, Regulus sat on the bed watching you with a scowl.

“Why do you want to work for that crazy old man? We have plenty enough money for you not to work.”

“Because I actually enjoy my job.”

Regulus crossed his arms over his chest with an impatient frown.

“I don’t like him. He locked up his own son.”

You sighed as you finished putting on your lipstick.

“He kind of had to, love.”

“He’s a creep.”

Regulus muttered before standing and limping toward the door. You quickly walked after him as Regulus sat down on the couch to start reading a book.

“Reggie, please. This job has really taught me a lot. I’m not some spoiled selfish princess who only cared about herself anymore.”

Regulus looked up. He felt guilty about his less than stellar actions. While Regulus was trying to “see things differently” now old habits die hard deaths. He was thankful that you had been beyond patient with him as he would fuss about the order then turn around and say that they were doing the right thing.

“You have never been selfish. Love, you are the least selfish person on this stupid planet. I just worry...I’m also getting frustrated with sitting here day after day. It may be a good thing that you are there. It gets more information that my brother can use. I don’t want anything happening to him.”

You gave Regulus a pleased smile.

“I know, darling. Maybe you should spend some time with Sirius. He would love to see you. I also need to have coffee with Remus. Since I won’t be getting a sister-in-law, Remus gets to do all of that ceremonial activities.”

Regulus smirked.

“I’m sure Remus is looking forward to listening to stories of our sex life.”

You pulled on your coat before moving to kiss Regulus goodbye.

“I return the favor so he doesn’t mind.”

It took all that you had not to laugh at the grossed-out expression on Regulus’ face.

“Gross. I don’t want to think about my brother getting laid. Have a good day. Maybe when you get home, we can work on some new stories to tell Remus.”

Regulus had been ready to rip your clothes off the day that he had come home but you told him no. It didn’t matter how many times that you told him no “for his health” Regulus tried to guilt-trip you into it.

“We’ll see how it goes.”

You had been gone for half an hour when there was a knock at the door. Regulus tossed his book to the couch before getting up and going to answer the door. Emma Rosier stood on the other side with a smile on her face. Regulus hadn’t seen Emma since Evan’s funeral. Other than writing her a few times to make sure that she was okay, Regulus had no urge to speak to her. Sending her a few “hey, are you still alive” letters was more out of due to respect for Evan than anything else.

“Emma.”

Emma smiled.

“Hey, I heard you were out of the hospital. What happened to you?”

Regulus didn’t answer immediately. The last thing that he was about to tell her was the truth.

“Stupid accident where I came off looking bad. You can come in, I have something of Evan’s for you anyway.”

Emma smiled and slid past Regulus. She turned as he closed the door and limped back to the couch.

“I haven’t seen you this banged up since that quidditch game in 5th year. Too bad, Y/n isn’t here to baby you...or is she? I heard that Y/n has moved back in and you two are fixing your little relationship.”

Regulus’ eyes carefully rolled up to meet Emma’s face. He had a feeling as to where this conversation was going to go.

“Mhm.”

Emma’s soured a bit.

“I don’t know how you trust her. She turned her back on you to aid your brother and his lot. Now she’s working for the man who put our friend...his own son in prison.”

Regulus felt the annoyance beginning to build in his stomach. He didn’t care for Emma in the first place and was only nice to her for Evan. Now he didn’t have to fool with her anymore or be nice to her for that matter.

There was also the fact that Emma would be so cold toward you. For someone who claimed to “be your best friend” she sure wasn’t acting like it.

“That’s the thing about people in our stories Emma. They are in prison or dead. Y/n was trying to protect me. I trust her.”

Emma crossed her arms over her chest before easing her shirt down a little lower to show more of her cleavage. She was pleased when Regulus narrowed his eyes at her. He didn’t look thrilled but his eyes were on her and that was what she wanted.

“You shouldn’t. Real soul mates don’t do their lovers the way that she has done you. Say goodbye to her Reggie and be the smart man that you are. Find a woman who will support you...someone like me who knows the pureblood ways.”

______

@amelie-black

@truly-insatiable

@realgaytrash

@fandomsxxregulus

@lucasfilms77

@spiderxalmighty

@sunles

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@exhsle

[maraudersbutmuggle]

Like in the movies.

Content Warning: Homophobia.

January, 2014.

Sirius had cornered Regulus on the train back to Hogwarts after Christmas break.

"You outed me in front of everyone while you were drunk?"

"He was actually high on my dad's pills" Barty snorted "I didn't know you you were gay, Black..."

"Shut up, Crouch" Sirius snapped "Move... I want to speak with my brother alone"

Barty hissed and gave Regulus a quick glance before walking to the compartments.

Sirius sighed "Did you mention Remus?"

"How did you know about the speech?" Regulus asked.

"It went viral..." he answered "Specially the part where you talk about me and Lucius Malfoy... There's no surprise about Lucius..."

"I'm sorry! I was drugged" Regulus said "And everyone knew about you anyway. There were rumors after you were disowned. Because of uncle Alphard"

"Yes but not about Remus" Sirius said looking around to make sure they were alone "I'm afraid that father or mother would try to hurt him"

Regulus frowned "They wouldn't do that"

"You talk like you don't know them"

Regulus didn't answer. Orion was capable of everything.

"I have been asked by three people if and I quote "like dicks now"" Sirius sighed "I'm not gay, okay? I'm just trying to figure things out with Remus"

"Don't act angry!" Regulus spat, crossing his arms "I had to get high because I was nervous to give the speech. And I don't want to be the heir"

"Then don't"

"But I bloody have to because you left!"

Sirius was silent for a while. Then he spoke.

"If someone asks, tell them you were drunk or whatever. And that you don't know anything about me or Remus, do you understand?"

"What..."

"You're bloody intelligent, Regulus" Sirius snapped. And started walking away but he turned first.

"And that's speech was brilliant, Reggie" Sirius smirked "I'm actually proud"

And he walked away.

*********************************************

Regulus had tried to do as Sirius told him. Because he cared about him. Regulus kept secrets. He had done it for his mother, after he caught her with one of the Black Empire's young investors. He had kept the secret that his father frequented burdels. So he could keep this secret for Sirius.

But oh boy. Sirius' intimacy seemed to be more interesting than any celebrity. Especially at Hogwarts. Everyone wanted to know about Sirius. And they thought that Regulus was the first one to ask.

Like Lucille, who didn't leave Regulus alone. And the worst part was how he called him.

"Hello Brother in Law...."

She had cornered him again before Chemistry with Professor Slughorn. And her friends were around. Always around.

"Hello Lucille" Regulus sighed.

"Hey, Lu..." Josephine said "You know you and Sirius are not married, right?"

"Shut up, Jo" she put a hand up "We actually never broke up... He's just avoiding me now"

Regulus tried to ignore that. But he kind of felt sorry for her, how could he forget to break up with someone.

"Well you're actually dillusional, because Sirius is gay" Emmeline snorted "Isn't he, Regulus?"

"Again with that" Alice said "How do you know?"

"Because when I hit on Remus, I could see the connection between them"

Regulus panicked.

"They are not together!"

But Regulus was terrible at lying.

"See?" Lucille smirked.

"I was talking with Eddy earlier..." Alice continued "And he said he has an impecable gay radar and Sirius cannot be gay..."

"You talk with Edgar, still?" Emmeline gasped "He's your ex's best friend"

"That's bad..." Lucille shook her head.

"Alice wants to get back with Frank..." Josephine chanted.

"I don't!" Alice blushed "That's over..."

Regulus felt like he was out of the conversation. So he decided to walk away.

"Wait Regulus, we were talking to you" Lucille grabbed his arm.

"You were talking about Alice and Frank" Regulus reminded them.

"There's no such thing as them anymore" Emmeline spat.

Regulus blinked in confusion.

"You need to talk to you brother and ask him about me" Lucille begged "Look..." she touched his shoulder, and Regulus moved uncomfortably "If he officially starts dating me, people will totally forget about the rumors... And that you said bollocks on that speech..."

"And she's in denial" Emmeline shook her head.

"Shut up, babes!" Lucille said "Just because Lupin rejected you it doesn't mean Sirius would reject me"

If only they knew they were actually together.

"I actually don't speak anymore with my brother..."

"Why not?"

"Because he's a twat!" Regulus yelled "Just leave me alone"

Regulus groaned as he sat in his desk next to Barty.

"If only people had the guts to come out as gay..."

Barty coughed.

"Sometimes it's not that easy, Reg"

Regulus snorted "Like you would know that"

Barty rubbed his neck.

"Yeah... I don't...."

**************************************************

March, 2014.

Sirius woke his boyfriend with soft kisses. His temple, his cheek, his lips.

"Happy Birthday to you..." Sirius began singing very lowly. And Remus smiled, still with his eyes closed "Happy Birthday to you... Happy Birthday dear Moony..." he chuckled "Happy Birthday to you..."

Remus began giggling. And he opened his eyes.

"Thank you, love..."

Sirius' heart started beating fast. He secretly adored that Remus called him like that. It was bloody terrified him how much he loved him. Sirius didn't know how to handle it.

"What does it feel being one year older?"

"Like shit..." Remus grinned. And then he yawned. And he looked adorable.

"Look..." Sirius touched Remus' hair "You even have grey hair..."

"No I don't!" Remus protested

"Of course you do. Look at that..." he said "You are full of grey hair" but Sirius couldn't avoid giggling.

"Shut up..."

"It feels like I am dating an older man..."

And Remus shut him up with a strong and desperate kiss. Sirius couldn't avoid responding eagerly.

Sirius thought about the years to come. How he would wake up every morning, and be there for every birthday, holiday or celebration. And how he would get to kiss Remus. Just like this. He was so lucky.

"Please be decent!" James yelled from outside Remus' four poster

And Remus and Sirius were interrupted in their kissing. They smirked. As their friends entered.

"Happy Birthday, Moony handsome!" James kissed his head

"Thank you, Prongsie"

"Happy Birthday Moonymoons!" Peter yelled

"Thanks Wormy"

"Sirius, you're always here now. Are you actually going to use you bed again?"

Sirius smirked "Nah, toss it to the poor! I'm sleeping here from now on!" he said hugging Remus tightly.

His friends laughed.

"What a twat" James shook his head, smiling.

Sirius had been paranoic or something. Maybe that was it. But he heard giggling and murmuring everytime he passed through the halls. And Sirius knew everyone knew. Sirius used to love the image they had of him. And how everyone admired him, or fancied him. He was a star. But now, everything changed. And Sirius didn't want to care. But he cared.

Like that morning when The Marauders went down for breakfast. And Sirius stopped walking when he heard someone whispering.

"Black is a cocksucker" and more giggles.

"Hey!" James turned to the group of boys, they must've been fourth years "What did you say?"

"James, leave it" Sirius said

But James was furious "Did you say anything about my friend?"

The group of boys looked embarrassed. They didn't say anything because James was the headboy. And he could get them into trouble. So they left.

Sirius hated that he listened to all of them. And that their comments affected him.

"Pads?" Remus asked worried "You, okay?"

Sirius faked a smile to his friends.

"Let's get the birthday boy his breakfast"

Peter had prepared cake. And the girls had balloons and a sign that read: Happy Birthday Remus. Remus smirked as he saw everything.

"Happy Birthday, Remus!" Lily jumped to hug him.

"Getting jealous over here" James said. Lily rolled her eyes but kissed her boyfriend.

"Remus baby, you're so old" Mary sighed

"That's what I told him" Sirius added

"Happy Birthday, Remus" Marlene smiled.

"Thank you everyone, this is so cool"

"We wouldn't have done it if Sirius hadn't insist so bloody much" Marlene teased.

Sirius blushed.

"Sirius did what?" Remus raised an eyebrow.

"He was on and on and on about how 'Moony's birthday had to be perfect an shit" Peter explained

"I think he was about to serenade you, mate" James winked.

"Really?"

Sirius blushed even more.

"You're all exaggerating"

"We're just telling the truth" Lily smiled, between James' arms "Sirius is so romantic when he wants to"

"Well thank you for planning all of this with care, Sirius" Remus said amused "I appreciate your concerns"

"I didn't do anything..."

Remus giggled "You're too sweet"

Remus always paused before showing any kind of affection to Sirius in public. Because he knew Sirius wasn't ready to be so open. But then he hugged him, like a friend would do.

And then they heard a loud whistle. And some giggling.

Sirius pulled away immediately. He could feel all eyes on him judging him, insulting him, questioning him. Sirius was tired of living like that. In fear. With paranoia. James had told him not to give a hell what others thought of him. Remus told him so too. All his friends said they didn't care. That they still loved him.

Sirius stared at Remus. He was so brave. All of his friends were brave. Sirius was a coward. And what for? Everyone he cared about accepted him. Remus, James, Peter, Lily, Marlene, Mary, even Dorcas. Even Reggie. And Effie and Monty. Honestly. He didn't need anyone else. He needed to be brave. And fuck everyone else.

He loved Remus. He loved Remus. He truly loved Remus.

So he approached Remus. And his heart was beating fast.

"I'm going to do something stupid, Moony"

Remus raised an eyebrow "What?"

Sirius leaned in and kissed him. In the mouth. In front of everyone in the Great Hall. Students. Teachers. Everyone. And as Remus kissed him back, Sirius felt all eyes on them. And Sirius felt a rush of adrenaline.

And everyone was watching. Dumbledore who was secretly proud of his gay students. Mcgonagall who had a special affection towards them. Mulciber and the Knights who still found it disgusting. Snape who thought they were freaks and hated them more. Regulus, who was smiling pleased, because he was happy for his brother. Lucille and her friends who were shocked, and Lucille who had her heart broken. And finally their close friends who were smiling and gasping.

And finally, James clapped. And he was followed by a large number of students and teachers. With many exceptions of course.

And Sirius finally pulled away. He opened his eyes slowly. And he saw Remus in front of him, all flustered, confused but happy. He even snorted.

While Remus looked around, assimilating everyone's attention, Sirius only focused on him.

"Happy Birthday, Moons" Sirius said. And Remus turned to look at him. "Do you want to get out of here?" he smiled.

Remus smiled back.

"Okay..."

So Sirius grabbed his hand. For the first time in public. With everyone seeing. And he dragged his boyfriend out of The Great Hall. Both of them giggling happily. Sirius felt inside a fucking romcom. Surely this was like in the movies. And he loved it.

[lilacsandwhiskey]

*all pictures owned by original owners*

Chapter 4 - New Friendships

pairing: Drake Walker x Riley Brooks

A/N: Hi friends! Sorry I’ve been MIA, life was super busy and then I went on a much needed vacay but I’m BACK!

Warnings: Mention of death

Tag list:

@marshmallowsaremyfavorite @lovingchoices14 @gkittylove99 @darley1101 @kingliam2019 @tinkie1973 @whiskeyslullabye

*Drake’s POV*

ch 4

*Drake’s POV*

“So you mean to tell me, you’ve never watched Friends?” Riley had her mouth open in a smile, looking offended. “Never. I didn’t watch a lot of television growing up!” “Ugh, the poor life of Drake.” She shook her head, taking another bite of her food.

Riley had invited me into her apartment and as worried as I was about it being awkward, she made conversation so easy. “Alright, let’s get to the deep stuff.” She said. “Tell me why New York.” Unsure how to exactly go about why, I thought for a moment.

“Well, let’s see. I think I was just ready for change. I’m twenty-six. I’ve lived my entirety under the roof of someone else’s home, coming and going as I please. Though Cordonia will always be home, I just needed to get away for a while. I may go back one day, I may not. New York was the place I felt most comfortable with, we’d visited a few times. How about you? Are you from New York?” There was no need to go into depth about the fact that I actually lived in the palace with Liam, but Liam was making steps in his life, he was married, he was king, and it was time for me to take a hold of my own reigns. As much as Liam reassured me to stay, I knew it was time to go.

“I’m actually from North Carolina.” Riley said. “I moved here for college. It was the whole small town girl gets out of town situation. Life was messy, and I decided here. My mom had family here, so it wasn’t like I couldn’t call someone for help if I were in trouble, but I was far enough away to gain independence.” I nodded as she sat back in her chair and played with the place mat on her table. “So you went to college?” “I dropped out, actually.” “Hey, I did too.”

Riley looked at me, questioning. “Did you go to school in the US?” “Yeah, actually. Only for two years.” “I dropped out after two years. Why’d you drop out?” Riley asked. I room a deep breath, recognizing the truth wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense. Maybe too heavy of a conversation for now. Like, hey, yeah, there were some assassination attempts going on and Liam was severely depressed so his brother begged me to come back and I did, just like I always do. “Just realized college wasn’t for me.” I shrugged.

“Understandable.” Riley replied. “How about you?” “Uh, well, my mom passed away. I just couldn’t focus anymore. I got really depressed, stopped going to classes, and made the decision that I probably shouldn’t pay money for an education I wasn’t receiving. So I dropped out.” I studied Riley, noticing tears brimming her eyelids. “Want anything to drink? I’ve got whiskey, wine, water, soda, anything?”

I cleared my throat, recognizing that the conversation did get heavy. “Uh, whiskey, huh?” I asked. “My choice of drink,

actually.” She said with a grin. The tears were no longer in his bright green eyes. “I’ll take whiskey.”

Riley grabbed two glasses out of the cabinet to pour. She turned around to sit down, handing me a glass. “Hey, I know what it’s like.” I finally said. “Hm?” “To lose a parent. I know what that’s like. I’m sorry you had to go through it.” “Thank you. I’m sorry you had to, too.” She gave me an empathetic smile. “To new friendships?” Riley held her glass out. “To new friendships.” I smiled, clinking my glass against hers.

Listening to Riley talk was... comfortable. Watching her eyes widen, talking about things she loved, seeing her shake her head at my inexperience of television shows and movies. She laughed a lot, but her laugh was contagious. “You’re not the brooding man I remember.” She had said. I guess the brooding man was actually enjoying the company.

When Riley asked me to talk, it was hard not to just tell her everything. She laced her fingers around her glass, looked at me, studied me, commented, and just listened. Her hair was pulled back in a loose bun, she was still in her work clothes, but it made me remember her that night.

Thinking of that night sent pings of jealousy through me. I wasn’t angry at anyone but myself. I thought back to how Maxwell said that Riley didn’t want any part of royalty, and how insane it would be for her to go to a whole new country she’d never even heard of and try her hand at running it. I wondered if things would have been different if I had made the move. Would it have been a one night stand? Would it have created a friendship, though that wasn’t the in the rules of one night stands? There was so much left undone and said because I was too much of a coward to say, “hey Liam, can I call dibs?” I felt like a schoolboy even having these thoughts.

As the conversations continued, I caught a glance at the clock on the stove. It was already ten. How did the time go by so fast? “Well, I should probably be heading to bed. Got a long day of job searching in front of me tomorrow.” I said. “Me too, work calls for another day tomorrow.” We both stood up. I grabbed her plate and her glass. “Hey, I can get my stuff. You’re the guest.” “You were kind enough to invite me, I insist.” I walked over to the sink to wash the glasses, but she promptly told me to sit them down in the sink. “Fine, fine. But next time...” I said with a laugh. “So there will be a next time!” Riley joked.

As she walked me to the door, she stopped me. “Wait, give me your phone.” “Hm?” I looked down at her, confused. “I figured my number could be helpful if you need any tips around town or if you want someone to eat dinner with again.” She said with a giggle. “Oh, right.” I handed her my phone as she typed away. “There you go.” “Thank you, Riley. For keeping me company and good conversation.” “I can only thank you too. It was nice to talk to someone instead of stare at the walls while I chew.”

I walked into my apartment, closing the door and immediately falling back on my couch. Oh, Riley, you’re going to be trouble. The vision of her sitting across from me wouldn’t leave my mind. My thoughts were interrupted by my phone ringing. I looked down to see my sister, Savannah, calling.

“Savannah? Isn’t it like 4:30 in the morning there?” I asked. “Yeah, but I’m up with the Bartie and I just wanted to check in and see how things were.” She said. “Hey Uncle Dwake.” “Hey bud.” I smiled at the small voice coming over the phone. “He misses you so much.” Savannah said with a small laugh. “I miss you guys.” “Are you settling in?” “I’m trying. It’s different, that’s for sure.” “You’ll get through it. If I could do it, you can. You know home is always waiting for you.” “I know, Sav. I think it’s good for me though.” “I agree, even if I do miss my big brother. But I’ll let you go. You call me sometime, okay?” “I will. Love you.” “Love you. Talk to you soon.”

I hung up the phone, but immediately searched through my contacts. I typed in R, instantly seeing “Riley Brooks” pop up. So, Brooks is her last name. Do I text her and tell her thank you? Or tell her who’s number this is? Gosh, Drake, you’re like a infatuated ninth grader.

Drake: Hey Riley, this is Drake. Just wanted to thank you again for having me over

I instantly saw three bubbles pop up.

Riley: anytime :) what’s your last name, by the way?

Drake: Now that’s giving away too much information now lol

Riley: that’s where you cross the line? oh how unfortunate!

Drake: I guess I’ll cross it one more time for you. Its Walker.

Riley: goodnight, Drake Walker

Drake: Goodnight, Brooks

I laid my phone face down on the couch next to me, and turned on the television. Back home, we never watched much unless it was sports. I clicked on my new Netflix account and scrolled through the television shows. That’s when I came across what Riley said was her favorite show, Friends. I hovered over it, smirking at Riley’s reaction to me having never watched it.

I clicked on the first episode.