#sirius not recognising Barty | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

thebestofoneshots · 3 months ago

Text

Gilded Constellations | (wolfstar x reader)

Series Masterlist | Previous episode

Pairing: Wolfstar x Reader Word Count: 7.6 K Warnings: none Prompt: What about the rest of the school. This IS a Wolfstar x reader fic, but it's incredibly slow burn. They won't start all dating each other until we're very deep into the story, but I promise the long wait will be worth it. Not proofread

Chapter 59: Break On Through

You stayed like that, being cuddled by your boys for some more time, just basking in the reassurance of their warmth. No one said anything for a while, but the silence seemed to be the perfect way of wrapping up the previous conversation. Eventually, you sighed and looked at the clock.x

“Do you guys think we can still make it to dinner?”

“We can bring you some food from the kitchen,” Sirius offered.

“You can also take my chocolate,” added Remus. “I’ve got some in my pocket.”

“I think I’d rather have dinner at the great hall,” you said. “Besides… we still have some planning to do.”

“What do you mean, Étoile? What planning?”

“Well, didn’t you say we would infest the school with toads back at Prong’s house?” You asked with a smirk.

Dinner went all right, the entire school knew about the fire at Rosier’s Christmas Party, but they had covered their –and in turn your– tracks very well. It was as if only a few people knew about the Dark Wizard convention that it had actually been.

They had published a whole article about the fire, about it being caused by unforeseen causes, and about it being fierce and of dark nature, which was why they couldn’t control it. Your father took back the mention of your implication and ended up saying you ran away because you were upset over your mother’s passing, and that he would give you space.

They’d added an “in memoriam” section in which they remembered all the deceased on the fire, which included the honourable Cygnus Black of the Noble House of Black, your mother Avis, some other wizards that you didn’t recognise but that you were pretty certain had also been dark wizards, and, of course, near the end, there was Frey and Nina Blythe. In the paper, they claimed they had both been invited to the party and that, unfortunately, they had been way too close to the origin of the fire. There was no mention of the other pile of bodies that you’d seen, but if they had all been muggles, it was no surprise.

At the end of the paper, there was a small caption that said: The Daily Prophet sends their gratitude to Arkalis, Orion and Silas for sharing the facts with us, without them we wouldn’t have been able to tell the story of The Great Fire Of Christmas. You took the newspaper, bunched it up in a ball and threw it on the floor, you would have burned it if you didn’t hate the idea of the few eyes that weren’t on you to turn your way.

News really did fly in the wizarding world, the Slytherin table was crowded with students; everyone was trying to talk to the few who had been invited to the party, but none of them seemed to want to speak much about it. Barty was talking about his amazing vacation in Thailand, and Evan was sitting next to him with his mouth completely shut.

Regulus, had almost jumped out of his seat when he spotted you but figured he would have instantly diverted all of the attention on his table towards you and he knew that would be a terrible idea, so instead he sent you a look, you gave him a short nod in response and he turned back to respond a question from a Hufflepuff girl that you recognised as the same who had tried to flirt with Sirius back when you were James, Zia. She wanted to know if he had seen how the fire started, and if you had actually had anything to do with it.

“I was with her most of the night. She wasn’t even close to the ignition point,” he retorted, loud enough for her and about the other half of people loitering next to them to hear. Reggie knew there wasn’t much he could do, but making sure your name stayed out of the school gossip was something that he could manage.

“But why did her father mention that she might have been–” the girl insisted with a pout and a rather petulant tone.

“Don’t you think Chancellor Silas was affected by the passing of his wife while he gave that first interview?” Regulus retorted before she could even finish her sentence. “She’s my friend, and I won’t tolerate people bad-mouthing her for the words of a grief-stricken man.”

“You’re friends with that Gryffindor?” an older Slytherin boy asked.

“And he’s not the only one!” intervened Dorcas, her imposing glare was enough to shut him up. Solacis sent a wink her way and then turned back to the conversation he had been having with Nox.

When Reggie joined the conversation of the two boys (that was thankfully focused on Quidditch since the Cannons were close to winning the championship) the Hufflepuff girl huffed and walked towards Evan and Barty, to see if she could get information from either of them.

You used Remus and Sirius as a shield from prying eyes until you reached your table. “Pete,” you said extending your hands when you spotted the blond and leaned in to give him a tight hug. Peter had read about Christmas in the papers and while he had been queasy, James ’ letters had been enough reassurance, (he had no idea about your fight with Sirius since eveyone had been too wrapped up in themselves to worry about the news, last thing Peter knew was that you were at the Potter’s. “How was your vacation?”

“It was fun,” he said with a smile and leaned in to give a short hug to the two boys flaking you. “I heard you’re in on the prank now?”

You smiled, “I’m always in on the prank. Did you finish your quest?”

He nodded as he patted his bag, “And you two?” he asked as he nodded towards Remus and you.

You both had a good idea of the combination of spells that you wanted to use, you had talked about it, but you had never gotten to the creating/testing part.

“Kind of,” you said with an apologetic smile. “Where are the girls?” You asked as you realized none of your other friends were there.

“They had dinner at the Three Broomsticks,” James said, they said they would stay and unpack, but Wormmy wanted dinner.”

“I was starving!” Peter responded. “My mum wanted to put me on a stupid diet and when I got here, I was–” he looked at you and cut himself off as if what he was about to say was not apt for your ears. If only he knew you’d seen him inside the broom closet in the map, “–active, and then the elves said there would be meat pies.”

“I guess it gives us time to plan things out,” you said as you took some bread from the table and added some butter to it.

“We’re setting it at night, right?” James asked, looking pleased with the fact that you had walked in with Remus and Sirius, with that smile of his that screamed “I know something that the rest don’t”.

“I guess I could come over after unpacking,” you shrugged.

“You can take my cloak,” James said with a nod, he was making himself a very thick sandwich with roast beef, lettuce, tomato and… bacon?

Your mouth watered at the idea of that sandwich, but decided not to go ham with the meat yet (pun intended), not when you hadn’t eaten it in days, it seemed like it could make your stomach upset. You did add a few stripes of bacon to your cheese and veggie sandwich thought. You were looking for something to add as a dressing when you saw Sirius’ hand sneakily cross over to your plate and take a piece of bacon from your sandwich.

“Sirius!” you complained as he plopped the piece onto his mouth.

“Sorry luv, there wasn’t any left on the table.”

You scoffed, and you were about to argue again when Remus took a piece from his plate and placed it over your sandwich, you turned to him with a surprised gaze. “Rem, you don’t have to do that, Sirius and I were just–”

“But I wanted to,” he retorted with a sneaky smile and then gave Sirius a bit of a challenging look, which had the other boy scoff. This was not a contest, but if it had been one, then Sirius was determined to win it. You were eating your sandwich when the main dish turned into dessert, and the table was filled with all sorts of cakes, muffins, scones, meringues, pies and cookies. Sirius grabbed a few of your favourite cookies and dropped them on your plate, about at the same time, Remus had seen your favourite pie, pulled it from the bunch, and placed it on your plate.

They threw each other a look, and in between bites of your sandwich, your plate started to –rather quickly– get filled with all of the desserts you normally enjoyed (not that you ever enjoyed them all at once!).

“What’s with those two?” Peter asked as he leaned closer to James, who just shrugged.

“Haven’t they always been a little crackers?”

You gave James a look and he winked your way. You were on the last bite of your sandwich when Sirius added another cookie to the pile and caused it to collapse over your clothes. Your top getting filled with merengue and bits of lemon curd while Sirius looked at you in shock and Remus threw him a murderous gaze. You picked up some of the merengue and brought it to your mouth, “Whichever of you fools picked the lemon tart was actually brilliant,” you said as you savoured it. Sirius threw a satisfied “I won” sort of look at Remus who just narrowed his eyes even further. “Shame it got all over their face,” you added with a shrug, you got a confused look from Sirius before you took your already messy hand and spread its lemon curd and meringue all over his face.

“Starshine!” he complained with a gasp, which had your smile widening. He brought his hands to his face to wipe some of the meringue from his eyes. “Ugh! You’ve even gotten it on my hair!”

“You got it on my jumper,” you retorted diverted while you took a piece of the cookie stuck in the sleeve and plopped it to your mouth.

“Yours? Since when?” Remus complained. He’d given it to you before you came for dinner since he noticed you were a little cold.

“Well,” you said as you brought your hand back into the mess in the sweater, “I think it was since…” You picked up some of the meringue with your finger and then drew it towards him, but he was quicker than Sirius and grabbed your wrist in the air before it hit his face.

“You were saying?” He asked with an amused face.

You didn’t miss the teasing “Ufffff…” that Sirius emitted from the background.

“I was saying that,” you said as you pulled your free hand towards the dessert pile and tried to dig it into some more pie.

“Careful, little fox,” Sirius intervened as he pulled your hand from the pile before you even managed, you huffed in response.

“You’re no fun,” you added with a pout.

“Oh, we’re plenty fun,” Sirius said as he eyed Remus, silently communicating something. “Aren’t we Moony?”

“Delightfully so,” the latter confirmed.

“We’ll show you just how much,” Sirius added with a confident smile and leaned over to kiss you, making sure to have his face so close to yours that he was basically transferring your previous mischief back at you, all the while he cornered you against Remus. You were laughing and trying to push Sirius away as he kissed you.

“Rem,” you said in between kisses, “help, I’m being attacked,” you joked.

“But you were going to attack me, sweetheart,” he retorted, leaning to the side enough so you wouldn’t actually have an escape route. He then took a napkin and carefully wiped your finger, he had thought of licking the stuff away, and he knew that he’d fluster you if he did, but Peter was already looking at the three of you with a rather shrewd gaze, and he didn’t want to make it too obvious before either of you were ready to tell him about it. Regardless, he did lean over a little closer and whispered, just loud enough for the two of you to hear, “Besides I’m rather enjoying the view…”

You had gotten so flustered after he said it, that you were glad Sirius had spread meringue all over your face, and was still all over you, meaning his hair was covering most of your reaction. Eventually, you gave in and kissed Sirius back, ignoring the sticky meringue and the getting lost on his lips. You were both almost propped on Remus’ lap, and you could feel his hand on your neck, a soft pressure, as it to let you know he too was there, and he was enjoying it almost as much as Sirius was.

James, who knew about the entire drama, was actually pretty happy with the fact that you and Sirius were back together, and while he would have been the first one to complain in a normal situation, this time around he was just sneakily looking at Remus, who was trying really hard not to blush under his friend’s suggestive gaze.

“Get a room,” Peter said after clearing his throat for the fourth time. You and Sirius burst out laughing, and he dug his head into your nack, getting even more meringue all over you.

“Such an asshole,” you said as you pushed him off, and he just kept on laughing.

“As if you didn’t snog Annie Doxon like that,” Remus retorted with a wink.

“Or worse,” you muttered as you looked for a napkin. Remus heard it, and had to hold back a laugh, masking it with a short cough. He took his handkerchief and started wiping away some of the pie from your face.

“But not in public!” Pete retorted with a scandalized tone.

“Remus was shielding us from the public,” Sirius said with a shrug. “And the table, I mean did you see anything other than my hair?”

Remus gave you a teasing look, a small raise of his eyebrows as the two listened to their bittering. He had his hand on your chin and was now cleaning some of the lemon curd on your left cheek. He was clearly enjoying himself.

“But we still knew!” Wormmy argued.

Their little discussion went on for a while. Remus had even finished with his –actually quite slow– wiping off your face and you were both already eating some of the treats while Sirius and Peter kept going on about the do’s and don’ts of PDA. James had actually started paying closer attention to the conversation and sometimes added points for and against their arguments.

“But listen, a small peck is fine, straight-up snogging makes it awkward!”

“Well you could just not watch,” Sirius argued. “You couldn’t even see it.”

“But I could hear it! I cannot imagine how awkward it must have been for poor Moony.”

“Mmmm, yeah, totally awkward,” Remus said with a small smirk, his sole purpose was to piss Sirius off slightly.

“Shut up Moony, you enjoyed it,” Sirius said before turning back to Peter. “I mean, you could just cover your ears.”

Remus leaned closer to you and whispered, “And he doesn’t even know how much.” You turned to him as you almost choked with your own spit. He just gave you a pleased smirk in retort.

“Or use a spell,” James suggested, oblivious to Remus’ teasing, thankfully.

“No. But you don’t get it–” Pete started, clearly exasperated. At this point, you weren’t sure if Sirius was actually in on his point, or he was just getting a kick from getting a rise out of Wormmy.

By the time the dishes disappeared, Sirius and Peter had agreed to disagree. Sirius insisted that PDA shouldn’t be vetoed, while Peter claimed that it wasn’t about vetos, but rather about being empathic of other people.

“They don’t want to see you snogging Vixen, it makes it awkward.”

“Well I think they kind of enjoy it,” Sirius said with a shrug. “No one complains when people snog in movies.”

“For Godric’s sake, this is never gonna end, is it?” Remus said.

You grabbed a piece of chocolate and started munching on it casually as he joined the conversation. “We need to unpack, how about you continue your little snogging or not quarrel in our room.”

“Moony that’s a terrible idea, we won’t sleep if they do,” James intervened.

“The reason we’re not going to sleep, is actually quite different,” you added with a smile.

“That’s what she said!” Sirius teased, you threw him a look and he returned it with a wink.

“Perv,” you joked.

“But Vix is right, if we want our little stunt to be ready by tomorrow, we better get moving.”

You sighed, letting your head lean on Remus’ shoulder. “I should probably unpack too.”

“And see Lily, she was worried,” James intervened.

You picked some of the desserts that had not been squashed and placed them on a napkin so you could snack while preparing the prank (although Peter had also veered off from the rest when he claimed he’d get some more sugar from the elves).

“See you in a bit,” you said as you stepped out of the great hall.

James waited just until Pete was out of earshot before he spoke, “Will you tell him about your thing?”

“Yeah,” Sirius said.

“We’re not sure when, thought,” Remus chimed.

“We’re still figuring our thing out,” you added.

“Yeah? And what is it?”

“Ménage a trois,” you responded James question. “James, don’t you dare laugh!”

“I’m sorry,” he retorted with a smirk, “It’s just, I mean, it works.”

“Indeed,” Sirius said with a proud sort of expression. By then you had already reached the the end of the stairs.

“Password,” the lady in the portrait sang.

“Doodledeefondling,” Remus said confidently and the lady smiled.

“Mr. Lupin. Always knowledgable.” She smiled and opened the door. “It’s nice to see the rest of you troublemakers.”

“Troublemaker?” you said with a scoff as you turned to look at her and got softly pushed by Sirius to walk inside. “I’m not a troublemaker!”

“You kind of are,” James said with a shrug. “You wouldn’t be a Marauder if you weren’t.”

“But Remus gets to be–” you changed your pitch into a higher mocking one– “Always knowledgable” –your tone went back to normal– “And I’m troublemaker?!?”

“To me, you’re a doll,” Remus said with a shrug. You turned to him with shock for like the fifth time that night. You were not used to his flirting, even if you quite enjoyed the flips in your stomach it caused.

James groaned. “Will I now have to deal with the three of you flirting with each other all the time?”

“Suck it up Prongs, it’s better than when we were fighting,” you retorted.

“Yeah, and nous sommes amoureux.”

“That’s ‘we’re in love’,” you said as you leaned closer to Remus since you’d noticed he often felt left out when Sirius did the french thing.

“Yeah, I got that one,” Remus said with a sneaky smile and passed his arm over your shoulder. “Seadh, tha sinn gu cinnteach ann an gaol.”

“I’m going to convince Hope to get me a copy of that fancy dictionary of hers,” you said with a sigh.

“Faodaidh tu feuchainn,” he retorted with a shrug.

You had promised to write Hope, and you had exchanged a few letters while you were at the Potters’, perhaps it wouldn’t be such a terrible idea to actually ask her for a copy of her dictionary –you were sure Lyall would be able to make a copy of it using a simple gemino, although books were a lot harder to duplicate than most things, sometimes the text got messed up and resulted in hilarious (mostly non-sensical) text.

“We’re going to our room,” James said as you reached the stairs, “See you later?”

You nodded. “Try and collect all the s-bombs in one place, I’ll bring the books we talked about,” you said as you looked at Rem. He nodded in return, he was biting his bottom lip as he tried to hold back a smile.

“We really should have seen it earlier,” Sirius said as he looked at the two of you interact.

James, who was looking at Sirius pretty much gawking at you both nodded, “And I’m the extra blind one… Hey Vix,” he called your way, as he pulled the invisibility cloak from his bag and threw it your way, “don’t get yourself in more trouble.”

“Can’t help it,” you said with a smirk as you caught the cloak. “Didn’t you hear Lady MacDougal? She said I’m a troublemaker…”

“Lady McDougal?” Sirius asked with a frown.

“The Fat Lady,” Remus said as he threw him a side glance.

“She has a name?” he asked shocked.

“You thought she was Fat Lady?” you asked with a frown.

James gulped, “Where did you two even learn that? Is it on a book?”

“It’s not on a book,” you said with a frown. Both boys looked pretty shocked still. “Are you telling me, you’ve been living here for almost seven years and you never once thought of asking her name?”

“You did?” Sirius asked.

“Of course I did! I was not going to say ‘Good evening Fat Lady, could you please let me in?’ She would have left me outside!”

“I just say the password,” James said with a shrug.

“And that’s why you’re troublemakers and I’m Always knowledgable,” Remus said with a smile.

You laughed and shook your head as you started to walk up the stairs to the girls’ dormitories. Just before you lost sight of them, you turned around, “I’ll bring the Instant Darkness Powder.”

Sirius gave you a suggestive wink and you were tempted to throw the cloak at his face, but Remus was quick to turn him around and pull him to walk the other way. At least one person has common sense in this relationship, you thought. Huh, turns out we really did need a third one in the end…

By the way, you reached your room, you hesitated at the door for a few seconds. Last time you’d seen –and talked– to any of the girls had been at the party. And while most of them believed you had been “sick” as Effie told everyone, Lily knew –thanks to James not keeping his mouth shut– that you had left his house.

James had sent her a letter asking if you were staying with her or any of the girls (which would have been a way better idea than staying alone in Diagon, you should have thought of that before casting yourself out like you had been exiled from their lives all together). Again, James proved to have way more common sense than any of you did, surprisingly.

You took a deep breath and walked inside. “Hey, Luv!” Marlene said when she spotted you, “Was hoping to see you on the train, everything all right?”

“Yeah,” you replied, a little shocked by her casual tone, but at the same time immensely thankful. Mary came up to hug you after Marlene did. Lily was the last, a little hesitant as she looked at you and then pulled you into a very tight hug.

“We need to talk,” she said sternly as she pulled you to her. You swallowed thickly at her words. There was a lot you had to tell her, and you were immensely glad that you still had friends who cared about you as much as James and Lily did, even if both wanted to murder you for being so stupid. “I’m glad you’re okay. I was scared.”

“I went through a lot,” you whispered back. “But as many sad news I have to tell, there are good ones too.”

Lily pulled back with an arched eyebrow and a hint of a smile. You nodded, and as you looked at your beautiful friend, you noticed that just behind her fiery hair there was something that you had not expected to ever see again. Sirius’ portrait of you.

Lily noticed your lost gaze and turned around, instantly seeing the picture, and then your gaze roaming all over your bed. Your things, everything you had left at your apartment (including the snake plushie from the Slytherins) were neatly placed on your bed, along with a currant-coloured envelope.

“It was there when we got here,” Lily said. “When Marlene saw it was from Silas she was pissed, she almost burst it into flames.”

“From Silas…” you repeated as you looked. Not quite daring to approach it just yet. “He sent my stuff back?”

“And a gift too,” Marlene said with a rather angry tone. “If he really thinks a little something is going to atone for telling the press that you started the fire then he better–”

“Marlene–” Mary said a little sternly. “It’s not your fight.”

“It is! It’s OUR fight, she’s our friend and if you won’t say anything against her piece of shit father then I will!”

You smiled, you saw where both girls were coming from, their personalities shining through their thoughts almost perfectly, and you were glad to have them in your life, “It’s all right,” you said with a small smile. “I understand.”

“Will you read it?” Mary asked as you approached the bed and took the envelope in your hands.

Truthfully, your first thought upon seeing the envelope and the shiny red box behind it was to burn them as well –so much for not being deemed an arsonist– but you had done that to a letter before, and it had only brought you heartache. And while you didn’t expect whatever was in Silas’ letter to be nearly as revealing as Regulus’, something told you it wouldn’t be clever to get rid of it, at least not until you were ready to read it.

“Not yet,” you said as you picked the envelope from the bed. It felt heavy in your hands, even if it wasn’t physically so, it was as if you were holding some type of weapon. You opened a drawer and shoved it to the end of it before closing it with colloportus. Not because you didn’t trust your friends, but rather because you didn’t want to accidentally open it yourself, see the letter and ruin your day. You then looked at the box, and pushed it under the bed before you allowed yourself to fall on the it with a small frown.

“I’ll help you unpack,” Lily said as she opened your suitcase.

“You don’t have to,” you said as you sat on the bed rather quickly. “I was just going to leave it there until I–”

“I’m already done with my stuff, and I think the girls were going down for some refreshments.”

“Tell me if you want it gone,” Marlene said nodding to the drawer you’d placed the letter in. “I won’t hesitate.”

“I know,” you told her. You truly appreciated her support.

“Good,” she said with a smile while Mary sighed.

“Do you need anything?” she asked. “We’re going to see if Ackley has something good. I heard he brought muggle snacks.”

“Can you get us some Oreos?” Lily asked turning to Mary. “Have you tried them?” She added while turning to look at you and Marlene. Neither of you had. “Let’s hope he has some. And milk, we should get our hands on some milk.”

“I think we can transfigure that one.”

“We can?” Lily asked as if surprised by your suggestion.

“I mean, I have the book, you have the expertise.” The three girls laughed after that, and Marlene and Mary left the room shortly after.

Lily’s face quickly turned into one of concern. “What happened?”

You took a deep breath. You weren’t sure you were ready to tell the story yet again, but you thought that perhaps skipping past the worst thing and focusing on the positive side would be a good idea, so you went with that.

“...and now we’re all dating,” you said in the end.

Lily was completely dumbfounded, you had sped through telling the story (especially the part in Gringotts) and she had listened to you quietly, not wanting to interrupt you at all since she was scared you’d just stop talking altogether. So she didn’t say a thing when you told her about running away from the Potters, or when you told her about the chair almost attacking you in the room. She was quiet as you mentioned Gringotts and the mirror, and she seemed truly happy when you told her you’d resolved things with the boys.

When she was sure you wouldn’t be speaking again, she pulled you into a tight hug, “My God, I’m glad you’re okay!” She said as she pulled you closer. “James said he was scared, I read about the party through your letters, and I’ve been keeping up with the newspaper, and I thought– well James was quick to reassure me, I was so happy you were staying with Remus, and then with the Potters but when you left his house, and there were news of other attacks on the Quibbler –that’s a new magazine they’re publishing, the creator graduated last year, and I knew him– I was even more scared for you! You should have sent me a letter or something you idiot!”

“I didn’t want anybody to know where I was,” you said, “I thought I didn’t deserve it.”

Lily sighed closing her eyes and biting her lip at your words, “Nina would have never wanted that.”

Tears prickled your eyes after she said that. “I’m aware,” you said as you looked to the side and tried to blink them away. “She was always there, some part of her at least, and it was… protecting me, in the snow and in the mirror, she–” you bit your lip, and took in a ragged breath.

Lily brought you back into the hug, “If I were her…” Lily started. And the worst part was, that she really could have been. She might have been older, but she was as much a muggle-born as Nina. “If I had been her, I wouldn’t blame you, I’d be protecting you too. And I think you should really continue using her wand.”

You turned to look at it, now lying on the bed, long, thin, and certainly powerful. You would, the painful reminder of her every time you saw it would become the fuel to keep you going and to protect your friends above everything, just like she’d done.

“I know,” you said with a sigh.

“Now, on the other subject…” she said as she pulled back while wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

“Godcric heavens, please no,” you said as you hid your head between your hands.

“Why not? I think it’s nice,” she said with a smile. “I mean as long as you’re actually happy with the result,” she added, looking at you attentively.

You turned to look at her, you’d had plenty of friends before, but never someone as sweet and caring as Evans (unless you counted Remus, but he was your boyfriend now). “Trust me,” you said with as you took a deep breath. “I’m more than happy with the result.”

“Oh, there’s a story behind that,” she said with a smile, shaking your shoulder for you to continue talking.

“Well remember Marlene’s party? The dare?”

Lily thought about it for a second and then straight up gasped. “Oh shut the fuck up, Sirius was into it, wasn’t he? How didn’t we figure this out sooner? We’re supposed to be the clever ones!”

“Blinded by love,” you said with a shrug. “It’s the only way I can explain my stupidity.”

She laughed at your words, mostly because she realised how true it was. The entire thing had started around the same time her relationship with James took off and she had been a little distracted by and with him. Not to mention he was almost always around the other marauders, which meant if everyone was interacting together, Lily wasn’t paying nearly as much attention to the rest of the boys as she would have.

Lily helped you place some of the books from your bag in your desk (as neatly as she had accommodated hers) while you focused on putting all of your clothes back in your trunk and on some of the drawers in the wardrobe you shared with her. She was rather curious about your new relationship and she kept asking you questions about it, a few that you hadn’t even known how to respond, which had made both of you laugh merrily.

Marlene and Mary came back while you were finishing up, their hands filled with all kinds of treats, both muggle and wizard by the looks of it. “They had Oreos!” Mary said excitedly.

“What’s that book you mentioned?” Lily asked while checking the shelf over your desk. “Is it The Transfiguration Tome: From Basics to Brilliance?”

“No, I think it’s on Mastering... ugh…”

“Mastering Metamorphosis: An Advanced Guide to Transfiguration?”

“Yes! That one,” you said excitedly, and took the book when she passed it over, flipping through the pages until you found the right spell, “All we need is a jar of water…”

On it, Marlene said as she brought it over from her bedside table. “Relashio scatere,” she whispered, and a stream of water left her wand, quickly filling the jar. She then turned to Lily with a smile, “Your turn.”

She was reading through the spell with a small frown, “I wonder if an alteration to this one could give us something like chocolate or strawberry milk.”

“I mean if not, we could probably figure out a spell that could.”

Lily did the wand movements without casting the spells a couple of times before she approached the jar “Aqua vertere Lactos,” she said. The water quickly turned into white liquid. The four of you stared at it expectantly.

“Think it worked?” Mary asked.

Lily frowned, “I’m not entirely sure, I fear I might have said something–” Marlene had already taken a gulp, and the expression she made was priceless.

“Sour milk,” she said with that same disgusted frown as she tried to shake away the taste from her tongue. “We made sour milk.”

“Let me check,” Mary said as she pulled the book from Lily’s lap. “I think I known the problem, It’s lactis, not Lactos.”

Marlene gave a look at the two girls, and stood up, taking the jar with sour milk and bringing it along to the bathroom.

“It sounds the same, though,” Lily replied with a frown.

“Is it an i or an e?” You asked.

“An I,” Mary retorted, showing you the page.

“In Spanish, the I sounds like e, maybe it should sound like lact-es? Spanish and Latin are pretty much cousins, right?”

“Well, technically…” Lily started, Latin would be more like the mother of Spanish, but the information felt almost irrelevant at that point. “Actually, never mind, let’s try it that way,” she said in the end.

Marlene had already returned from the bathroom, jar freshly filled and mouth still tasting slightly of that sour flavour that she found particularly distasteful. “Quick, I want to get this flavour off my mouth.”

“Don’t pressure genius,” Mary said as she lightly hit Marlene on the arm.

Marlene was about to retort, when Lily did the spell again “Aqua vertere Lactes.”

The liquid, once again, turned white. Marlene looked at it, but this time she did not go straight to drink it. “Well then, try it,” Mary said as she motioned towards the jar with her head.

“I tried it last time, it’s your turn.”

“But I’m showing you the Oreos, it can’t be my turn!” Mary reasoned. The two girls turned to look at Lily, who seemed mortified at the idea of trying the milk.

“I’ll do it,” you said as you took a small teacup and served yourself some of it.

“So brave,” Marlene said dramatically as you brought the tea to your lips.

“And?” Mary asked as you took the first gulp.

You kept a serious face for a second, and then smiled, “Milk!”

“Yeah?” Lily asked with a satisfied smile.

“I mean, it might be a little watered down, like Low Fat Milk, I think.”

“Wait, really?” Marlene asked and served some herself. “Also a little like Mooncalf milk,” she added.

“Shit, that’s right!” you retorted after taking another sip. “It’s pretty much like Mooncalf milk.”

“Mooncalf milk?” Mary asked with a small frown, “Those things have milk?”

“Yeah,” you responded. “Pretty delicious, it’s good on potions too, though a little expensive since they aren’t all that easy to milk.”

“I’ve heard they use it on sleeping draughts and a Valerian Spring tea with some of that will for sure knock you out. My nan used to make it for me and Margo when we had nightmares.”

“Right, mine did that too, although she never used Valerian Spring, she used Lavender,” you retorted.

“Weirdos,” Mary said as she looked at Lily, they had both also served themselves a cup and were hesitant to taste it. Lily was the first one, and nodded, it did taste like low-fat milk, and she assumed the “mooncalf” taste that you and Marlene found had to do with the tinge of sweetness near the end.

“It’s good, try it,” Lily said as she nodded towards Marlene who was still looking at the milk like it had come from outer space. She eventually did take a sip and seemed pretty satisfied with the taste as well.

“It’s like the milk left after you’ve eaten all the Frosties,” she said towards Lily who nodded.

“What’s that?” Marlene asked.

“Muggle cereal,” you retorted. You had tried it on a muggle hotel once. Silas had encouraged you to try all the interesting muggle food in the buffet. He’d mentioned something about broadening your horizons outside of the Wizarding World. You wondered how someone like him could be both open to the world and a complete bastard at the same time. “So what’s with the Oris?”

“Oreos,” Mary corrected and pulled out a white and blue box with a little yellow “One Pound Size” label at the top, and the name OREO in capital letters with a small dot at the end.

“Oh, they look like Bourbon Biscuits.”

“They don’t have bourbon,” Mary said as she opened the box and laid them out in front of you.

“Well that makes them less cool than Bourbon biscuits,” Marlene said with a pout.

“Shut it,” Mary said and handed over a small plastic bag with round sandwich cookies on the inside, “Only they could compare Oreos to Burbon Biscuits,” Mary said almost exasperated.

Marlene pouted playfully and opened the bag. Lily took a cookie and held it in her hands. “Okay, hear me out, this is how you eat them,” she said before splitting the cookie, licking the inside, putting it back together and dipping it in the milk.

“Why?” asked Marlene with a frown.

“Why?” asked Mary, almost scandalised. “Have I ever asked you why you always put on your left sock before the right one? It’s just because!”

“But is it a rule? Like on the package or something?” You asked next.

“It’s in the commercials!” Lily said, taking the cookie out of her milk, shaking it a little and bringing it to her mouth. Once she swallowed her first bite she seemed genuinely satisfied. “You gotta savour it.”

You shrugged, and muttered a small “well then,” before you took a cookie from the bag and followed Lily’s instructions. The filling didn’t taste like much, but the cookie did become pretty soft once you dipped it in the milk, which you thought was nice. Even after you accidentally left it on the milk for too long and it got so soft that it broke inside your cup.

“What the–” you said. Marlene seemed just as puzzled when hers did the same.

“What?” Asked Mary.

“It broke,” Marlene retorted, trying to fish hers out with her wand.

“Ah, right,” Lily said right after swallowing her cookie. “They are not charmed against getting soggy like wizard biscuits.”

“That’s so weird,” Marlene said as she managed to levitate the soggy cookie and brought it to her mouth, “and mushy,” she added with her mouth full.

Both Lily and Mary laughed, while you attempted to fish the cookie with a small teaspoon.

Mary had also brought some other snacks and you all enjoyed a pretty delicious and fun “Welcome Back” feast of sweets. They had brought other muggle stuff like Walkers Crisps, Flying Saucers, Nice Biscuits and Jammie Doggers. The latter of whichLily seemed to like a lot and neither of you skipped the chance to tease her about. See, Jammie, was just a letter away from Jamie, and when Marlene said: “Don’t eat James yet!” you all bursted out into a laugh.

Lily froze as you said that, completely confused by her words when Marlene pointed at the packaging of the cookies. She did say it was Jammie as in Jam, not as in Jamie, but not even Mary cared about the technicalities and continued teasing her about it.

They had also gotten a few Aero bars, and you asked to keep one after tasting them. You weren’t sure if Remus had tired them but you thought they were pretty interesting with their bubbly texture and whatnot, and since Rem had always been a fan of chocolate –or chocolate connoisseur, as Sirius called him– you thought it would be nice to take some for him.

“I’m so full,” Marlene said as she allowed herself to fall back on the floor. “I might not sleep today.”

“As if,” Mary laughed. “You sleep like a log!” Marlene just answered with a disgruntled groan.

“Shall we fix this up?” Lily asked as she waved her wand over it. The wrappers went straight to the trash while the leftover treats neatly accommodated themselves in a box that Marlene kept under her bed.

“So talented,” you said with a yawn as you looked at her dreamily, she pushed you by the shoulder playfully after that.

“I swear, you two would make a fantastic couple,” Mary said. “If only you weren’t dating two idiots.”

You were about to defend both of your boys when Lily answered for you, “But they’re lovely!” You ended up laughing after that. Not because you didn’t think they were, but because she didn’t even bother to correct her. “Besides, like Holden is any better!” Marlene gasped at that and threw a small cushion on Lily’s face. “Oi,” the latter complained.

Mary yawned after that, “Let’s just sleep!” She said, almost a little petulantly, her yawn had been so contagious you followed right up –not that you could actually sleep.

Marlene pulled the box from the floor as she stood up and left it under her bed before walking to the bathroom, washing her teeth and dropping on the bed. “Are you sleeping here?” Lily asked, almost in a whisper.

“I don’t think I’ll be sleeping much tonight,” you replied honestly. She gasped, eyes wide at the implication that. “It’s not like that!” you rushed out. “We’re planning something.”

“Is it like… Marauders' business?”

“I’ll absolve you of blame by keeping you in the dark,” you retorted. Mary was still in the bathroom, wrapping her hair carefully like she did all the time before bed. It was the only way in which her curls would look as wonderful as always in the morning. Not to mention the potion she had already become a master at brewing.

Lily sighed, “I think Severus is on perfect duty tonight, you should be careful.”

You smiled, “Thank you,” you said. “Not just for this. For everything.”

“It’s what friends are for,” she replied with a smile and a small shrug. “Anything I should know? Things like bringing an umbrella, making sure my clock is set at the right time, staying away from a certain classroom–”

“You like toads?” you asked.

“Only the chocolate ones,” she replied.

You nodded, “Then maybe… don’t leave the room at all,” you responded with a mischievous air and she gasped.

Your full name was uttered in the most cheerful tone you had ever heard, followed by a simple “...what the hell are you planning?”

“Shhhh!” you retorted. “Marlene is asleep.”

“Marlene’s asleep my ass,” she retorted in a hushed tone. “How could you even consider–”

“Evans, stay out of it or I’ll tell James about your dream with him,” you said while raising an eyebrow.

She gasped, “You wouldn’t dare.”

You really wouldn’t dare. But instead, you leaned your head down and narrowed your eyes, “Wouldn’t I?”

She huffed in return, and stood up, walking towards her bed. “Hope you get caught.”

“You don’t, not really,” you retorted with a teasing smile when you noticed the little shake of her shoulders, she was laughing.

“You better keep them away from me,” she retorted.

“I’ll try,” you said after she walked into the bathroom.

“Keep what away from her?” Mary asked as she stepped out and walked inside the room.

“You’ll see tomorrow,” you retorted with a mischief-filled smile.

Glossarie: Seadh, tha sinn gu cinnteach ann an gaol - Yeah, we’re definitely in love nous sommes amoureux - we’re in love Faodaidh tu feuchainn - you can try

BONUS CONTENT

Series Masterlist | Next Chapter

TAGLIST: @rayrlupin @callmelovergirl l @warcelia @ireneop @endversewinchester @moonyunebi @smuttysluttybitch @mazzymoons @drugs-for-memes @sofiacblair @vmpir3lvr @remuslupinisbae @rabluver @willgrahamisalesbi4n @thatobsessedreader @itskailey24 @hell0-kittie-blog @belovedmoony @blacksgarden @loving-and-dreaming @cassie-love20 @starchaser-lily @zucchini-queenie @springflwer07 @sseleniaa @cometsghost @orkwardx0 @imdoingbetternow @sbrewer21 @remuslupinsbae @maxinehufflepuffprincess @wifiatthetrainstation @unstablereader @msblacklupin @oliversaurus @jaylienpotter @remussbitch @hermionelove @izuoyarmin @themarauderswife7 @keira-kaz2y5 @lampthemacarenagod @bugg06 @a-n-1-m-3-f-r-3-4-k @darlingeels @kissmeunicornbaobei @xluansstuff @boo8008 @angelmixer @voteforintensedreams @allons-y-molly @aremuslupinsimp @imaginexred @writingshae @nyanwyn @poetrypirate @crazyhorseforgot @saturnhas82moons @ryeyeyer @mothraantics @maqqiekwon @desikudisworld @pastelorangeskies @barking4you @profoundpidgeon @nagareboshi-chiyo @x4ramyluv

Leave a comment telling me if you wanna be tagged on Gilded Constellations

Want to support me? Like and reblog this post (reblogs are extra nice since they help me get my work to more people), also guys, I absolutely love reading your comments, so do throw them my way if you have any!

Read more Marauders Fiction

167 notes · View notes

starboy-sirius · 6 months ago

Text

may 5 | surface | @jegulus-microfic | 2327 words (this is so not a microfic i do apologise lol)

Regulus is known to be icy cold, his temper like a storm rolling in over the ocean, like rain pelting the ground in frozen bullets. He’s calm and collected, never without a sarcastic remark or a scathing insult. He’s the top of his classes, always found to be studying within the library in a secluded corner surrounded by his snarky friends. Does he get annoyed that Barty messes around, flirting with Evan and asking them bizarre questions and still manages to score Outstandings on all his exams? Yes. Does he show it? No.

(Maybe in the privacy of their dorm he’ll bitch at Barty, who will pull him into his bed and cuddle him like an octopus, arms and legs wrapped possessively around him, until he calms down. Then Evan will join them, he and Regulus on either side of Barty, the latter’s arms around them both as Evan twists his leg to intertwine with Regulus’. Once they’re situated, curled up in the small single bed, Barty’s vowing that he’ll kill for them, defend them until his last breath, and Regulus will tease the shit out of him, whilst Evan smirks and trails his fingers teasingly up and down Barty’s stomach.)

Regulus eats in the Great Hall like everyone else, but his manners are impeccable. He eats all his meals with the correct cutlery, making sure not to take too much on his fork at any time as to appear greedy or slovenly. He chews his food an appropriate amount so that it will digest properly and he never speaks with his mouth full, no matter how much Evan ribs at him to make him break the habit.

He speaks politely to his professors and amicably to those he has to work with in lessons. He always completes his homework on time and sometimes he even asks for extra work, taking on advanced topics typically taught to those in the year above.

He’s the model student and the perfect heir to the Noble and Ancient House of Black, far better than Sirius would have ever been, or so Walburga spits at the dinner table, Regulus eating his food quietly like the dutiful son that he is.

He’s the perfect heir, indeed. Never going against the wishes of his parents and doing everything he possibly can to fit in with the image of pureblood heir.

Until he sees James Potter down by the lake, an arm thrown carelessly around some Gryffindor halfwit that Regulus recognises as one of the twins. He hates him. Potter hasn’t seen him. No, he’s too busy laughing and teasing the blushing boy sitting next to him, far too distracted to notice the way Regulus’ eyes burn into him.

Barty, Evan, Pandora and Dorcas are at his side, all watching him with varying levels of amusement on their faces.

“Why, that’s an angry face. Something the matter, Regulus?” Evan teases, following his eye line to where Potter has now placed a hand on the twin’s thigh.

“You know, I think it might have something to do with Potter over there. Just a guess though,” Dorcas snarks, a grin as sharp as a shark’s on her lips.

“I hate him,” Regulus swears, never taking his eyes from Potter and the bumbling twin.

“Of course you do,” Pandora says kindly, patting Regulus on the shoulder with eyes full of doubt.

Barty moves around so that he’s standing behind Regulus, bending down a little so that his mouth is by Regulus’ ear, one hand coming up to rest on the curve where his neck meets his shoulder. “Go do something about it, Reg.”

Regulus is silent for a beat before he quietly mumbles, “I can’t.”

“Why can’t you?” Barty asks, just as delicate.

“You of all people know why I can’t.”

He’s not wrong, of course, Regulus rarely ever is. Barty has the same expectations loaded onto his shoulders as Regulus does. Be the proper, respectable heir and marry some other proper, respectable heir and make proper, respectable heirs of their own. And do so all while maintaining their good name.

It’s bullshit, if you ask Barty. Regulus silently agrees with him.

“You want him?” Barty asks, turning Regulus to him.

Nodding subtly, Regulus whispers, “More than anything.”

Barty gestures to Potter with his head. “Then go get him.”

Regulus’ eyes turn pleading and desperate, a rare look for him who is always collected and firm. “I can’t. My family will never allow it. They’d sooner kill me than let me be with another man, you know this.”

“So would mine,” Barty confesses before looking at Evan and confessing some more. “But I’m starting to realise that what my parents want isn’t what I want, and that I deserve much more than that. And so do you.”

Regulus looks between Barty and Evan, the latter of which is grinning slyly at Barty with a pretty blush on his cheeks. Barty winks at him before returning his gaze to Regulus. Pandora is cooing, skipping over to Evan to wrap her arms around one of his, congratulating him. Dorcas rolls her eyes, muttering an about time before the pleased grin breaks out on her face.

“They’ll kill me.”

Thunder rolls over Barty’s face, a dark shadow casting over his expressive eyes. They promise pain unlike anything anyone’s ever known. “I won’t let them. I didn’t lie to you when I told you I’d kill for you. If you want Potter go and get him, but you better do it quickly because it’s getting a little too comfy over there.”

At that, Regulus snaps back round to face Potter and his irritatingly blushy companion. He’s removed his hand from the other boy’s thigh but they’re sitting a little closer together than they were previously and Regulus snaps.

You see, Regulus is a performer. Yes, to anyone else he’s the perfectly calm and dutiful heir and model student, but those who know him best know that it’s all a front to hide the beast that lurks beneath the surface.

Regulus Black is a powerful and forbiddable wizard, with a tongue as sharp as a razor blade and a mind that’s proficient as it is deadly. He has a fiery temper so hot that it burns bright blue and sears through everything he gets too close to. He’s a Reducto blasting through the walls of the castle, he’s the master of his sail, and at this moment he’s going to bring the tide up the beach to strange James Potter.

So he storms the distance between them, eyes solely focused on the boy with the messiest godsforsaken hair he’s ever had the displeasure of seeing, ignoring the stares and shocked chatter from those watching him. They’ve never seen Regulus Black look so out of sorts, so furious, and they’re about to see so much worse.

Sirius looks up from where he’s sat playing with Remus’ hair, conjuring daisies to put in his caramel brown tresses as his boyfriend reads a book Regulus presumes is Muggle from the way he doesn’t recognise it. Some lady called Jane Austen.

His brother’s eyes light up as he looks at him, waving a hand in greeting but Regulus ignores him. Sirius rolls his eyes and waves him off, but he glances wearily between his little brother and James, whom Regulus hasn’t stopped glaring at.

“Oh, boy,” Peter winces. “He doesn’t look happy. What the fuck have you done now, Pads?”

“I haven’t done anything!” Sirius protests, placing the last daisy in Remus’ hair and beginning to roll a cigarette.

Remus, intrigued by this, puts his book down with a smirk as he watches Regulus advance towards them like a storm, moving with care as to not jostle his boyfriend’s work with his hair. “Oh, this should be fun.”

Sirius turns an accusing look towards him as he licks the paper to form the roll up. Remus watches his tongue move skillfully, his eyes darkening and his mind wandering elsewhere. Sirius smirks. “What do you know that I don’t?”

Remus’ eyes flicker from his mouth to those grey-blue eyes and grins. “Oh, I know so many things, sweetheart. You will soon, just wait and watch.”

Regulus, unaware of their conversation and frankly not giving a fuck, storms past them and up to Potter and his companion. He coughs loudly and waits for him to turn around. When Potter does, his face lights up in a blinding smile. “Regulus! Hi.”

Regulus ignores him and casts a scathing look at the twin. “You’re done here.”

The boy flinches but doesn’t back down. “Excuse me?”

“Yes, you’re excused. Leave us.”

Potter looks between the two of them, eyebrows furrowing as he tries to decipher what the hell is going on. “Um, Reg? Is everything okay?”

Regulus turns the glare on him. “I don’t know, Potter. Why don’t you use those eyes of yours, as blind as they may be, and tell me if everything looks okay to you.”

Potter, clearly taken aback, rushes to stand and place both his hands on Regulus’ cheeks. The younger boy bats them away instantly and brings one of his own hands to clasp around Potter’s throat, the other one down by his side toying with his wand.

Potter lets out a strangled groan. “Regulus.”

The twin stands up and looks at the two of them with outrage all over his face, red splotches forming as he splutters. “Hey! Let go of him! We were in the middle of a conversation.”

“And now that conversation is over,” Regulus replies shortly without ever taking his eyes from Potter.

The twin, whose name Regulus will never bother to learn, clumsily reaches for his wand and Regulus is hitting him with a Everte Statum before the boy can blink. He’s thrown backwards with an alarming amount of force, crumpling in an undignified heap on the floor a good few feet away.

Regulus never takes his eyes away from Potter. The latter whines softly at the display of raw power. “Oh, fuck.”

He jerks Potter forward by his throat, relishing in the way the older boy’s eyes go hazy as he looks at him and no one else. He hasn’t even bothered to look to see whether the twin is okay and victory snakes itself around Regulus’ gut.

“You listen to me very carefully, Potter,” Regulus says the words softly yet firmly onto Potter’s lips. “You are mine. No one else’s and certainly not that sorry excuse of a wizard’s, got that?”

Potter is nodding before he can finish his sentence and it makes Regulus feel warm, the way the older boy just gives in so easily. “Yes, Merlin Regulus, yes.”

“Say it for me,” Regulus whispers, his lips caressing Potter’s as he squeezes his throat gently.

“Yours,” Potter whispers back.

Humming, Regulus brings his lips to Potter’s, biting at his bottom lip and curling his tongue into the other boy’s mouth when he dutifully opens it for him. Potter groans and grasps at Regulus’ hips, his grip bruising as he brings Regulus closer towards him so that their bodies are flushed together. Distantly, Regulus is aware that people are gasping and talking furiously to one another about what they’re witnessing. They’re no doubt wondering how the strict and uptight heir of the House of Black ever got involved with the school’s resident popular boy and general sunshine, and Regulus doesn’t care. He only slides his hand into Potter’s hair and brings the other one up to his jaw.

When they pull away Potter is looking at him with wonder. “Reggie? What about your parents?”

“An incredibly dull and mostly stupid person told me that I deserve better than them,” Regulus says, ignoring Barty’s protest in the background. “Better than what they’re trying to force me into and I agree. What I want is you, James.”

The smile that breaks out on James’ face is breathtaking and Regulus can’t help it when a matching one lights up his own face. James is pulling him into another passionate kiss before he knows it and he goes willingly.

“Godric, I think I’m going to throw up.”

“It’s not that bad, Sirius. You’ll get over it.”

“Moony, I love you but this is the worst thing ever. They’re going to be so gross now. I can’t believe you orchestrated this.”

Remus looks at him with wide eyes full of affection and disbelief. “You do realise you just told me you love me for the first time?”

Sirius, determined not to let the impromptu confession throw him off balance, huffs and says, “Yes. I love you, Moony, and I thought it’s about time I told you.”

Smiling coyly and feeling stupidly happy, Remus pulls Sirius closer to him on the blanket, the boy now leaning back on his elbows as Remus, situated on his side, leans over him. “And you thought this would be best said as we watch your brother snog our best friend?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Remus. Would you rather I blast a spell at someone and then possessively declare that you’re mine?”

“Well,” Remus considers. “Maybe not—”

“Sorry, Pete,” is all Sirius says as he casts Everte Statum and Peter goes flying backwards towards the water.

Remus fails to smother his laughter as he brings a hand up to Sirius’ cheek and caresses it. Sirius is grinning as he leans into the scarred hand, eyes going soft as Remus whispers, “I love you.”

The two are kissing, Sirius pulling Remus into him as they lay on the blanket, wrapping one of his legs around Remus’ waist. He hums and bites possessively at Remus’ lip. “Mine.”

“Salazar, they’re actually disgusting,” Regulus wrinkles his nose, he and James sitting back down, Regulus in the spot the twin had so ungraciously vacated. James rolls his eyes at him and pulls him into his chest.

Leaning into Remus’ body as his boyfriend gropes his arse, Sirius mumbles to his brother, “You’ll get over it.”

95 notes · View notes

saintsenara · 1 year ago

Note

You mentioned fanon turning barty crouch jr. into an uninteresting character. I don't know much about what the new fanon characterisation has really done with him, but I'm curious for your thoughts on why he's a canonically interesting character. I agree that he is, but it sounds like you might have some interesting thoughts on it that are already fleshed out.

thank you for the ask, @jamesunderwater, and i'm sorry for taking so long to drag myself around to answering this.

as you may have gathered if you’ve read my views on jegulus or wolfstar, the common fanon interpretation of marauders-era characters and i don’t really get on.

this is not a new development - me and goofy fanon sirius have been beefing for over a decade at this point, i fear - but our enmity has taken on a new form since [roughly] 2020, when the emergence of what we might call the modern marauders subfandom brought with it a whole series of expectations about characters, ships, personalities, and appearances in first war stories which - let me state my position immediately - have absolutely nothing to do with the characters as they are in canon.

i could talk about sirius or regulus or james or snape or lupin until the cows come home - as, i’m sure, could many of us - but i also dislike the expectations the marauders subfandom has around its supporting cast. these characters - who largely fall under the categories of women, slytherins, or both - have names that we might recognise from canon, but they are - to all intents and purposes - original characters.

to do some marauders fan defending, i do understand the rationale behind this. hogwarts is a school, and it needs to be filled with the sort of incidental characters that lightning-era writers can pull from the canon text [shoutout to ernie macmillan, the mvp]. if you’re writing about lily, then she needs friends - why not have them be alice, marlene, dorcas, emmeline, pandora etc.?

[well, because dumbledore isn’t running a child army. it makes no sense for the entire order of the phoenix to be in the same school year - and the idea that alice is probably around ten years older than lily, that pandora is around the same age as narcissa malfoy and isn’t a pureblood, and that marlene, dorcas, and emmeline are hard-nosed ministry bitches in their fifties who can have mad-eye moody quaking with just a look is something which can be prised from my cold, dead hands.]

and if you’re writing about the epic highs and lows of high-school football going to school during a sectarian conflict, then you need some antagonists. which is to say, you need some slytherins.

the issue i have is that the three key slytherins who seem to have been elevated to principal cast in the marauders pantheon - regulus black, barty crouch jr., and evan rosier - get what can only be called the smol bean treatment. that is, that three teenagers who all canonically join a terror organisation are turned into soft and tiny babies who thought lord voldemort was just feeling silly when he said, "my aim is the eradication of the muggleborn population through violent means."

and even fics which do acknowledge that the three willingly become terrorists often go out of their way to provide justifications for this which don’t contextualise their decision [something which is important - you can’t write about snape becoming a death eater without acknowledging the way that poverty, loneliness, and a sense of hopelessness make someone an easy target of radicalisation] but which minimise it. sometimes, their violence is turned into romantic vengeance - i’ve seen a fair amount of suggestions that barty goes to torture the longbottoms because frank was the auror who killed evan. sometimes, authors imply - or even outright state - that there’s no need to see these boys as aspiring villains: voldemort is right; the class system is good and should be maintained; and purebloods [usually james, sirius, regulus, barty, evan and maybe a token woman or two] should stick together while the half-breeds and the mudbloods go hang.

this - like all aristocracy wank in this fandom - annoys me enough with regulus and evan. but it’s particularly grating when it comes to barty crouch jr. because - unlike evan, who is literally just a name in the text, and regulus, who isn’t much more - he actually has a canon personality.

and it’s fascinating. indeed, i would even go so far as to say that barty crouch jr. is the greatest villain in the harry potter series.

[my apologies to lord voldemort.]

after all, even though he’s been imprisoned under the imperius curse for over a decade, barty is still so lucid and powerful that he is able to:

produce magic capable of tricking the goblet of fire, which is treated by all the adult characters involved as unprecedented.

pull off a year-long impersonation of a man whom dumbledore evidently knows extremely well without being clocked until his mission has been successful, even though his opportunities to observe the real moody can have been virtually non-existent. he is in character within seconds of his ambush on moody’s home - after the intruder-alert dustbins are set off - and is able to persuade ministry personnel who can be presumed to have met moody personally [including both amos diggory and arthur weasley, who appear to know him not only personally, but well] that he is the real deal. he maintains his performance even under close scrutiny from the teaching colleagues he has to interact with daily at hogwarts, despite the fact that he presumably can’t get a great deal out of the real moody, since he’s having to be kept deliberately weak and docile under the imperius curse.

manipulate multiple people into become accessories to his crimes, without ever being suspected of doing so. with the hindsight of knowing who he is, the first defence against the dark arts lesson in goblet of fire, in which "moody" deliberately distresses neville by using the cruciatus curse directly in front of him, before swooping in to be the person to cheer him up so that he can plant information which will help harry win the triwizard tournament and deliver him to voldemort, is chilling. he just gets unlucky that harry has the biggest martyr complex in human history.

commit murder on hogwarts’ grounds without ever being suspected of wrongdoing.

execute lord voldemort’s plan to kidnap harry and use him in his resurrection ritual flawlessly. the plan itself may be convoluted - but dark lords are allowed to have a flair for the dramatic, as a treat - but, crucially, it works, and barty succeeds in every respect.

but, i concede, we’re talking about the adult barty here. perhaps he was once a sweetheart who went unfortunately off the rails after his father sent him to prison and then - in effect - drugged him for years. that wouldn’t be a ridiculous suggestion.

except for the fact that - canonically - the teen barty was just as clever, sly, manipulative, and - above all - ardent in his support for voldemort as his adult self.

at his trial in the early 1980s, young barty gives the performance of a lifetime. he screams, he shakes, he looks terrified of the dementors, he is pale and weak and harmless-looking, he begs his mother to help him, he pleads with his father for mercy, he maintains his innocence as he's dragged off to his cell. he gives off the impression of simply having been in the wrong place at the wrong time so well that harry is almost certain that his conviction is illegitimate. so too, it is implied, is dumbledore.

indeed, barty plays the part of the wrongfully imprisoned so well that - as canon tells us - he not only influences public opinion to be broadly in favour of his probable innocence [or, at least, his diminished culpability - sirius suggests that the widespread view was that he was probably there, but that he only ended up involved in what was clearly bellatrix’s idea because of his father’s failure to relate to him properly], but also changes public opinion against the government’s anti-death-eater strategy entirely.

following his imprisonment, his father - a man who never met an extrajudicial punishment he didn’t like, and whose ruthless approach to dealing with the death eaters in the first war [such as his use of internment for suspected terrorists and his order to aurors to shoot to kill] was, we are told, enormously popular with the wizarding public - is forced to resign in disgrace from his role as head of the department of magical law enforcement. crouch sr. is quietly shuffled off into a boring bureaucratic position, his ambitions to be minister in tatters, and his only way forward to free his son from the prison cell where he is languishing for the crime he very literally did.

[as an aside, i do think that we are supposed to read bellatrix as the ringleader of the torture of the longbottoms. but, all too often, that gets reduced to her doing everything while rodolphus, rabastan, and barty just stand there gormlessly. they were clearly performing the curses too!]

now, barty’s unusual cunning can - of course - be explained by narrative reasons. the text needs to conceal that he’s the villain [since, as with philosopher’s stone, it wants to imply that the dark lord’s faithful servant at hogwarts is snape] until the very end - and this naturally requires dumbledore to not think too hard about whether his good judy alastor is behaving even more strangely than usual.

the text also needs to suggest that he's innocent in order to properly stick the landing on the narrative role of his father - barty crouch sr. as with dolores umbridge in order of the phoenix, crouch sr. exists to show harry [and the reader] that the rot in the wizarding world was not caused by - and will not stop with the defeat of - voldemort. his ruthlessness and inflexibility, his lack of respect for due process, his astonishingly cruel treatment of winky [brutal beyond even the standard way in which wizards abuse their enslaved elves] all serve to teach harry that the anti-voldemort cause can become just as easily corrupted as the disillusioned young men in voldemort’s orbit. the suggestion that crouch sent his own son to azkaban without good reason, simply because he would not deviate from his beliefs, is an important lesson to harry about what "justice" actually means.

but, despite this, barty is also able to pull off his deception because he’s spectacularly talented. it’s not all just narrative.

and his talents are caused by characteristics which aren’t good or bad in and of themselves. he’s clearly very intelligent [he got twelve owls, the series’ benchmark for genius]. he’s hyper-observant, creative, adaptable, good under pressure, and possessed of nerves of steel. he shares these traits with other villains in the series - voldemort above all - but he also shares them with plenty of the heroes. harry, for one.

which is to say that all of his personality traits could be put to non-criminal uses. but - as with harry, who is capable of being quite sinister when he wants to be [for example, when he manipulates slughorn into giving up the horcrux memory] - they would give a non-criminal barty an edge. and this doesn’t seem to be present in his standard fanon persona - as sweet and goofy as all marauders-era men - to any great extent.

finally, there is another aspect of barty’s character which is absent from his fanon version - that he clearly has some sort of childhood trauma, but that this does not excuse any of what he does.

even though crouch sr. is right to send him to azkaban, he was clearly also a cold and distant father, who had absolutely no idea how to relate to his son.

[as another aside, this emotional negligence is bad enough without it needing to be written as having been accompanied by extreme physical and/or sexual abuse. there seems to be a real tendency in fanfiction - not only in marauders-era stuff, although the exaggeration of orion and walburga black into despotic villains is one example of this - to make childhood misery "worse", in order to justify a character’s later actions.]

voldemort demonstrably uses barty’s terrible relationship with crouch sr. [and his absolutely flagrant daddy kink] to groom him into taking the dark mark [not least because there’s otherwise no explanation for why he cheerfully informs him that he too is named after his dad], which he may very well end up taking when he’s still at school. my reading is that he’s recruited to inform on his father - since voldemort would undoubtedly wish to keep the head of the department of magical law enforcement under constant surveillance - and that this is why the dark lord pays him the attention he is so obviously lacking.

but, as with snape and regulus and draco malfoy and all the other young death eaters, barty also colludes in his own radicalisation. voldemort is a master at ensnaring recruits, sure, but he’s also a busy man. he only bothers to make the effort because the clever, creative, cunning, manipulative young man - who wishes to avenge himself on the father who never paid him attention [sound familiar?] - he finds before him is very much determined to become a spectacular part of his terrorist organisation. and stories which feature him owe it to him to give him that dark complexity of character

show the series’ best villain some respect.

#asks answered #asenora meta #barty crouch jr

311 notes · View notes

kawaiibarty · 29 days ago

Note

uhh the dartagan thingy🙏🙏🙏

rosekiller or bartylus, or just any barty ship

bartylus headcanons:

started off as a fwb thing. regulus wanted to explore his sexual identity with someone he trusted and barty... barty is a horndog okay?

i really like the idea of one sided bartylus but i can never decide on whose part the infatuation is.

if it were regulus he would love in silence. he wouldn't say anything because he'd want to protect their friendship and the situation would end as quietly as it started. he didn't want to lose someone he loved so dearly for something as mediocre and fleeting as an emotion. he could end up dying alone but if barty was happy than so was he. regulus would die for barty

if it were barty he would love with rage and passion. he'd do anything for regulus to notice him, and maybe regulus did but it seemed he'd never acknowledged it. he loved potter more anyway, right? he'd make sure he was the one who would be there for regulus and he didn't care how much it affected any of regulus's other relationships, he needed regulus to know that he was the only one who could love him the way that he did. regulus could try and distance himself all that he wanted but barty would always find a way to see him just one last time. barty would kill for regulus

rosekiller headcanons:

bonded over their desire to murder their parents. while regulus was an apologist and tried not to badmouth his parents (this was when he was still too young to recognise the abuse for what it was) barty and evan found comfort in the knowledge that they weren't the only children in the world who had a shitty life.

barty learned resilience from evan and evan learned patience from barty

i believe your best traits are ones shared in bonding with people who help you love yourself, and they helped each other realise that loving yourself, and other people, is possible (even if its in their own fucked up, non-conservative way)

their romance was gradual and took years for them to come to terms with. the problem with being born into conservative families is that you find it difficult to realise the feelings that you have are not evil.

barty was the first person (that wasn't pandora) to tell evan that he was proud of him for his achievements

evan was the first person to tell barty that he was loved since his mother had passed.

they fought for each other.

bartylily:

an unassuming relationship borne out of boredom and shared knowledge of medieval diseases.

they dated briefly, less than 3 months but they were the It Couple.

lily showed off her hot boyfriend at every chance that she got just to rub it in james's face that she COULD and WOULD date WHOEVER she wanted WHENEVER she wanted. barty was just basking in the attention and reveling in the hot and angry stares from sirius and james. especially james. because james is hot. no. he's not. he's a stinky gryffindor (lily is the only non-stinky gryffindor)

they were fifteen and incredibly stupid

do i hear pregnancy scare?????

no real romance. just for shits and giggles

pulled the most insane pranks and the marauders got jealous real quickly.

broke up via fake argument through howlers sent over the span of 2 weeks because they were bored.

remained good friends, surprising everyone.

deathstar/bitchkiller whatever you wanna call it:

midnight hookup after a gryffindor party where everyone got sloshed out of their minds. really not much to say here but the gossip

oh the

TEA

for weeks after that. they definitely fake dated for at least a week or three 👀 for the gossip okay??? those two love being in the limelight.

sexy estranged washout x sexy estranged washout ???? the TEA

sunkiller:

some more hookups????

my sideysenses are tingling and they're telling me they hatefucked at least seven times

they could never last in a relationship, let's be so fr. they're too alike

they're too different

they're too sexy for each other

oh and they both like regulus

they hatefucked because they both liked regulus

other than that, chill vibes ig. they did zaza together maybe twice. they apologised profusely then.

that's about it. like and subscribe for me i mean more.

30 notes · View notes

lulublack90 · 4 months ago

Text

Prompt 3 - Boggart

@jegulus-microfic July 3, Word count 527

CW - Dead bodies but they're not real.

Regulus cowered on the floor. His entire body was shaking as he looked in horror at what lay before him. James’s body, dead on the floor.

He held his wand tightly, a sob escaping his lips.

“R-r-riddikulus,” He stuttered and James’s body disappeared, replaced by Sirius’s. “No!” He wailed he couldn’t think of anything to make either of his worst fears funny. “Riddikulus!” He screamed at the boggart. It spun into a blur, Sirius’s body disappearing like James’s did. He couldn’t see where it had gone, or what it was.

A creak in the shadows alerted him that this time the boggart was something that moved. He squinted into the gloomy corner and it took a step. He’d recognise the sound of those heels anywhere.

He pushed himself as far into the wall as he could as Walburga Black strode towards him.

“Regulus Arcturus Black, how dare you bring dishonour to the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black?! You are a disappointment. Even Sirius wasn’t this much of a letdown. We should have kept him and thrown you out instead. Hmmm, perhaps I’ll do to you what I did to him. Perhaps then you’ll be half the heir Sirius was.” He watched as she raised her wand. “Crucio!”

“Riddikulus!” He bellowed just before she finished the spell. The boggart swirled above him again, but before it could take the form of his next fear, Barty came bursting in. He jumped in front of Regulus and the boggart locked onto him.

Barty Crouch Sr materialised in front of them. But before the boggart Crouch could even open his mouth to hurl abuse at him, Barty lazily drawled out.

“Riddikulus,” Boggart Crouch was suddenly dressed in Azkaban robes and Barty let out a truly manic laugh as the boggart exploded before them.

“Thanks,” Regulus croaked, as he wiped the tears and snot from his face. It had been a long time since he’d allowed himself to think about James or his brother and it had felt like someone had dropped an overflowing cauldron on his chest.

He stormed out of the room and apparated to the flat he kept in London that no one knew about. He allowed himself one hour only to think about them. The last time he’d glimpsed James he’d been walking down the street holding Lily Evans's hand and it had broken his heart all over again. He shook his head and thought of their time together in secret at Hogwarts. Even Sirius hadn’t known. He wondered if James had told him now.

He ducked under his bed and pried up the floorboard. He took out the only item hidden in the gap beneath. He looked at the photograph. The only proof that James Potter had been his. He smiled as the sixteen-year-old Regulus snuggled closer to seventeen-year-old James as they lay cuddling together on James’s dorm room bed, James pressing a kiss to his lips before the magic reset the photo’s movements.

“I’ll always love you,” He whispered to it as he laid back in his bed, placing the photo on the pillow beside him and letting his bittersweet memories flood his mind.

93 notes · View notes

mourningliliesmorningglories · 6 months ago

Text

Marauders as things I've written

James: Two lives cannot overlap - one must be forgiven to forge the other.

Sirius: It’s haunting to know that you still cry for something today that you also cried for 15 years ago.

Remus: It is strange to cling onto remnants of someone who is no longer there.

Peter: In every story, someone has to leave. This is not a burden taken lightly, nor is it one that can be shared.

Lily: The sunflowers turn to the light, but the sun will never recognise their presence.

Regulus: One day we all realise that the first thing we lose is ourselves.

Pandora: Nobody talks of death lightly. Nobody talks of what it tends to leave behind.

Evan: He carried on with his journey but made time to be part of mine.

Barty: You can love something that does not exist anymore. Something that has never existed cannot be loved.

Dorcas: All prior things are made of shards, of tatters. All prior things look different in the daylight.

Marlene: One day I will sit in an urn, and I too will be smaller than the day I arrived.

Mary: I wonder if forgetting is betrayal or if it’s a favour, a privilege of rest.

Andromeda: We learn that just because one person escapes the inevitable, the other does not.

Narcissa: Love is always a choice, even when we make the wrong one.

Bellatrix: Sometimes, it feels like I have been exiled from my life and no one has thought to tell me.

If you'd like to know more about why I chose each of these quotes, please refer to this ask here!

#harry potter #marauders #marauders era #sirius black #remus lupin #regulus black #james potter #barty crouch jr #evan rosier #bellatrix lestrange #narcissa black #andromeda tonks

45 notes · View notes

themoonandstarsss · 29 days ago

Text

Regulus Black, Remus Lupin & Lily Evans

They don't have much in common, really. A pureblood, a half-blood and a muggleborn. Sure they're all smart, they all have a desperate need for academic validation. Sure, they can empathise with eachother for having a bad homelife.

But the reason why they are such close friends is not any of that, but because they recognise eachother's loneliness.

James Potter & Sirius Black. Barty Crouch Jr. & Evan Rosier. Dorcas Meadowes & Pandora Lovegood. Marlene McKinnon & Mary MacDonald. Peter Pettigrew & Sybill Trelawney.

They don't fit into that equation, no matter how hard they try. And so they have each other.

thats it. thats the post.

#remus lupin #dead gay wizards from the 70s #dead gay wizards #marauders #marauders era #the marauders era #wolfstar

21 notes · View notes

del-stars · 3 months ago

Note

Now I’m curious. Which current nepo-baby would match with the marauders?

i believe this ask is inspired by this post from @s3raphinaa !!

based purely on vibes and things that celebrity said one time:

stretching the definition of current to say that sirius black is y2k paris hilton/kim k. just famous for no particular reason and proud of it. people ask him why he's famous and he'll say something along the lines of i'm pretty, everyone wants to be me, etc. etc. he definitely also leaked his own sex tape

james gives me lily-rose depp vibes very specifically for that quote where she's like 'i actually work really hard so calling me a nepo baby is really unfair.' just positively tone-deaf. he definitely does something with his nepotism like acting or music, but he's just far too out of touch to realise that it's because his parents are globally famous

for no particular reason i am saying remus is maya hawke. does pretty decent for himself, definitely booked and busy. like he's trying to make his own money so he is clocked in, but definitely recognises/acknowledges that a lot of his opportunities are due to nepotism

peter is clairo. for the reaction that i'm sure some people just had: what, she's a nepo baby? peter is a grand-slam indie bedroom pop artist, captures the feeling of being the isolated, awkward kid in a way that the internet just devours, but yes, his dad owns top golf

marlene is zoe kravitz. daughter of two really fucking cool parents who ended up also being really fucking cool in her own right. definite trendsetter, fashion icon, and stunningly gorgeous but that's just my opinion

lily and her sister are elle and dakota fanning, that sort of sibling nepotism. petunia gets famous as a child actor, when lily is much younger, and then lily grows up and eventually becomes more beloved than her. you see the parallels here

regulus. regulus is bella hadid. definitely got where he is because of his head start in life, but also really good at what he does, and also we are all so sorry about your mom. the constant comparisons to his sibling, their distance in the public eye, and the superseding parental fame by just staying booked and being iconic.

pandora and evan are willow and jaden. i dont know if i need to explain this at length, they just are. crazily famous parents, but they strike out on their own and do a little bit of everything

barty is hailey bieber very specifically when she wore that 'nepo baby' t-shirt, but it goes over much better when he does it. just does not give a fuck. yes, he's a nepo baby, he only sort-of works, but he's definitely got his own very intense fanbase

#i ran out of iconic nepo babies #my apologies to dorcas and mary #del answers #marauders #sirius black #remus lupin #james potter #peter pettigrew #regulus black #lily evans #marlene mckinnon #pandora rosier #evan rosier #barty crouch junior

44 notes · View notes

marlsswrites · 4 months ago

Text

Summer camp AU, part 12!!

July 12th <3

Gate - @jegulus-microfic words: 854

First part Previous part

Regulus finally let himself relax, he sat outside the cabin scanning his eyes over the soft still water, the sunrise reflecting and bouncing from the water and shining onto his face. His legs were tucked into his chest, his half steaming hot coffee on the floor at his side, he picked the cup up and cradled it in his hands, blowing on it gently and watching the steam dissolve into the crisp morning air.

He inhaled once, feeling the fresh air kissing his lungs before exhaling. It was early, unusually early for Regulus to be awake actually. He picked his phone out from his pocket, checking the time, smiling at the photo of him and Pandora on his lock screen.

5:05AM... he normally doesn't get up this early, but his head was running around and around and spiralling him into circles, so he thought he'd try and wind down outside.

After a few moments, he felt his phone buzzing in his hands. Odd, anyone who would phone him would certainly not be up right now, if they were, he should probably send help. Especially Barty, he's an actual demon before 9AM. Regulus can't say much, if anyone were to wake him up this early he'd probably insult them, hit them, and go back to sleep.

It was a random number, one he did not in fact recognise. He pressed answer reluctantly, maybe someone had changed their number, and he also was not awake enough right now to think about who it could be.

"Hello?" He chewed on his lip and let out the mumbled word into his phone.

"Reg!" The relieved and excitable voice of James rang into his ear.

"When the fuck did I give you my number?" Regulus sighed out.

He heard a hearty laugh. "I nagged Sirius to give it to me in case I couldn't find you."

James couldn't see him right now, but yet he still rolled his eyes and felt a twitch of his lips at the care the older boy gave to him, it was nice. It felt sweet, promising, it also made his heart do that fluttery thing and his hands fiddle nervously on the hem of his baggy sleeping shirt.

"On that note." James added. "Where are you? You weren't here when I woke up."

"Outside the cabin, you idiot."

Laughing, he swore he heard James release a loud breath that sounded like he'd been holding it in all morning, before the sound of the cabin door opening then the fence gate swinging open and shut sounded in his ears.

Now is when he actually became very aware that he was wearing a massive t-shirt that dropped off one shoulder and long black boxers, his hair was an absolute mess and his cheeks most definitely bitten by the cold air and flushed pink. He promptly shifted on the bench and gave a wary look to his side when he felt the warmth of a figure slump next to him with the huff of a breath.

"Hi." The brunette gave a toothy smile. "I-" He cut himself off and his eyes seemed to widen to the size of tennis balls. Regulus felt a strange wave of nerves wash over him as James just stared at him, his gaze flicking up, down, left, right, and back to Regulus eyes, his smile wobbling and his eyes glowing with something unplaceable to the raven haired boy.

"What?" He felt tiny under James' eyeline, shrinking down further into his loose shirt.

"Nothing." James shook his head, but it clearly wasn't nothing, the way his face morphed into different emotions and how his eyes grew wide and lustful, that wasn't nothing.

He gave a hard blink of his eyes, swallowing his doubts and looking back up to see James smiling at him yet again, but a concerned glint passed though his eyes.

"You look freezing." He tutted.

Regulus immediately went to protest, but he in fact was getting quite cold and the hot coffee he was holding moments ago only did so much to warm him up.

Swiftly, James took his dark jacket off, revealing a maroon jumper underneath, and he draped it over Regulus' bare pale shoulders. "There, can't have you being cold."

He should've taken it right off, shoved it in James' face, and waltzed back into the actual heat of their cabin, to preserve his feelings from being shredded to pieces when he realised James was just trying to be nice. But the coat smelt like James, pine wood and strong cologne, the warming smell of fruit tea and the soft collar that brushed against his neck. It made him feel safe, like he was in James' arms, this is the closest he would ever get to that anyway.

He purposely ignored the adoring looks he was getting from the boy next to him, even though he could feel it shooting right to his stomach and fluttering like a hundred butterflies nipping at his insides.

So who was Regulus to deny the swallowing warmth and safety of James Potters jacket, the smell and the way he drowned in it in the best way possible.

Next part

#my black cat decided roll over my laptop when I was writing this #I think she likes jegulus #she also ended up deleting half of it SO.#marauders #jegulus #james potter #regulus black #james x regulus #jegulus microfic #sunseeker #jegulus fic #regulus x james #starchaser #writers on tumblr

100 notes · View notes

suzieloveships · 3 months ago

Text

Jegulus Batman au

So last week I wrote post about how Bruce and Harley are Regulus and Pandora variants and now I can't stop thinking about Jegulus Batman au

Regulus as Bruce Wayne, but more like Battinson!Bruce instead of comics!Bruce. In the day time he is Regulus Black, awkward rich orphan who looks like he wants to kill himself everytime he steps outside. By night time he becomes Batman, a mask vigilante, who fights criminals of Godric's Hollow, the most corrupt city in all of England. It's his way to repay for his parents' sin, part of Hollow's corruption. His only help is a family butler, Kreacher, who really wishes Regulus finished the med school instead of running around in bat suit

James as the Cat, a professional thief with a heart of gold whom Regulus keep failing to catch. He won't admit it but there were few times when he let James escape. Mostly because James often steal from people that deserve it but also because he loves the thrill of a chase. Overtime the two of them start working together on few cases and slowly fall in love

Pandora as Harley Quinn, once a young psychologist turn a henchwoman of Regulus's biggest villain, Tom Riddle, turn an anti-hero who help Regulus, James and their allies fight evil. Her biggest strength is psychoanalyzing her enemy and getting inside their heads. She and Reg went to med school together before he dropped out, years later while working together she conected the dots and realised that this grumpy bat and that grumpy boy from med school are the same person. Arguably Reg best friend

Lily as Poison Ivy, an ecoterrorist with a power to control plants and Pandora girlfriend. Regulus often lets her and Pandora escape as they most attack factories that pollute the environment

Sirius is both Dick, Jason and Kate. Regulus older brother that after a death of their parents abdicated from a role of a Black family heir and started a life for himself outside of Hollow. He came back to Hollow after seeing Batman on the news an immediately recognising his little brother. Was killed by Tom Riddle, but resurrected but whoever is Al Ghul in this au, I haven't decided yet. He return to Hollow as Red Hood, mad at Reg for "replacing" him and not killind Riddle. It took a while but eventually they startes working together again because at the end of the day they are family

Emmeline as Red Robin, Sirius "replacement", a smart girl that figured out Regulus secret identity and girlbossed her way into becoming his new sidekick (not my joke)

Remus as both Barbara and Renee, the only good cop in an all of Hollow. Later he ends up resigning from the force and starts working for Regulus but hacking into city cameras and becoming his eyes and ears

Mary as Spoiler, daughter of a minor villain name Cluemaster. He was a terrible father so Mary decided to help Batman take him down. Now a member of the batfamily, Emmeline's girlfriend and Regulus's biggest bully (affectionately)

Barty as the Riddler, arguably the smartest man in all of Hollow who loves creating chaos and asking people riddles. Luckly for Regulus Barty is also an attention whore that needs everyone to know that he is the smartest person in the room so he often leaves clues for Regulus to follow

Evan as Penguin, the biggest kingpin, started out as a son of a poor housemaid and climp his way into becoming the most powerful mobster in all of Hollow. For some reason Barty is the only person he really trust in this world (he has a massive crush on him)

Dorcas as Scarecrow, a scientist fascinated by fear and the only person in the world with enough brain power to keep up with both Pandora and Barty

Marlene as Firefly, purely because I think Marlene deserves a flamethrower

Peter as Two-face, Reg's best friend turn enemy with half of his face burned

And Narcissa and Alice as Green Arrow and Black Canary

Harry as Helena and Luna as Lucy

Also Xeno as Rick Flag because I love both of them so much <3

27 notes · View notes

ashesandhackles · 1 year ago

Text

Goblet of Fire Reread (Part 2)

Chapter 17,18,19, 20,21,22,23

"It struck him how very tall all of them were" Harry thinking this about the champions one moment and then being angry at being called "a little boy". Accurate teenage boy behavior.

Snape stepping in to stop Karkaroff and Maxime insulting Dumbledore by insulting Harry instead, "Don't go blaming Dumbledore for Potter's determination to break rules" XD

Fleur really cares about the honour of representing her school.

Hints of Barty Snr under Imperius: both in his behaviour + imagery (skull like appearance in the darkness)

Violet, the witch painting went up to Fat Lady to gossip. We shall hear of this friendship again in HBP.

I really really love Hermione's insight into Ron's feelings here, because the implication here is that she noticed that he doesn't talk about it. "He's always shunted to the side when people see you, and he puts up with it, never mentions it" and how she contextualises it with how he feels around his brothers. She has an understanding and kindness about this that is very sweet.

Fleur flirting with Cedric while some creepy paunchy man watching her. Damn, what it must be like to be sexualised every moment of your life and what harmful ideas have you internalised?

Harry noting that Fleur was part Veela to tell Ron only to remember The Great Tragedy that Ron isn't speaking to him.

weighing of wands chapter to set up the priori Incantentem at end of book, to remind us of Harry's connection with Voldemort's wand.

Hermione trying to force Harry and Ron to talk to each other, poor thing. I can really feel her anxiety building over this and she is so impatient, "you miss him, he misses you". Hermione on Ronarry agenda. She even tries to sneakily make him meet Ron in Three Broomsticks and then Harry cottons on. And then her getting irritated, Harry having to resist the urge to poke Ron is peak trio content.

Harry getting cheered up by the fact that Cho wasn't wearing a support Cedric badge. Also, it's a nice shade to her character - she is nice. She recognises the badges for what it is and doesn't take part in it.

his face breaks into the first smile in days cos of Sirius and Sirius redirecting attention away from himself and focusing on Harry - "never mind me, how are you?" Harry is so vulnerable with him that he talks about Ron with him.

Sirius' respect for Moody is very interesting, he displays more of this in Padfoot Returns chapter where he talks about how Moody captured DEs and not killed them. I believe @leogichidaa and @artemisia-black have had a tumblr discussion on this.

Ron doesn't come up to bed after Harry lashes out at him for interrupting his conversation with Sirius. Poor bean - wondering how things got this bad between him and Harry.

BCJ is so chilling on reread- essentially admits that he is keeping track of real Moody via the Foe Glass. "I'm not really in trouble until I see the whites of their eyes. That's when I open my trunk."

BCJ talking about Maxime and Karkaroff but also himself - 'They want to win. They want to beat Dumbledore. They'd like to prove he's only human'. And he laughs.

Ron catches Harry's eyes, but Harry is too resentful to care. Ron trying, in his own awkward way, to let Harry know that he is on Harry's side again.

Harry not needing to hear Ron apologise to forgive him. Clearly Hermione feels the same as I do, because she burst into tears, hugs them both and goes off to cry alone LOL

I saw this tumblr post about how Fleur dealt with the dragon was the most compassionate one - trying to put it to sleep - that she and Charlie would get along cos of it. Cute hc.

Pigwidgeon falling 12 feet down before flying with the letter is so funny. Also how cute that Harry's letter to Sirius had a "blow by blow" account of how exactly he swerved, circled and dodged the Horntail. Sirius would have found that very endearing.

LOL at Dean drawing Cedric with his head on fire for party banners. (apart from drawings of Harry dodging Horntail)

Harry calling out Hermione for bending of rules is so cute. When she says, "he is supposed to work out the egg on his own" when Lee picks up the egg, and Harry reminds her in undertone that he was supposed to work out the dragon alone too, and she "grins guiltily"

I am very disappointed in Dobby, whose political consciousness that shone and drove the plot of CoS is done to "acceptable" levels of radicalism. He tried to save Harry, explicitly against harry's wishes, because of his idea that Harry is a symbol of hope to the "enslaved dregs of the magical society, who are treated as vermin" and that defeat of Voldemort ensured that his kind are treated better. (he is still endearing, but speaks to the message of the books - he can be radical but cannot question the existing institution too much)

Winky's loyalty to Crouch is treated as pitiable, while Hermione's overzealousness with some gentle ribbing because JKR seems to find it endearing. We will probably get into white saviorism later, because I have THOUGHTS.

Ron and Harry sword fighting with fake wands, which are tin parrot and rubber haddock respectively, is hilarious. (Ron's parrot got the haddock's head)

Cedric telling Hufflepuffs to leave Harry alone. Looks like he was so grateful for Harry's tip, he steps in on the bullying.

Cho's words about who she is going to the ball with echoing with each step Harry took. Peak teenage experience. End of the world your crush has been asked out by someone else.

so funny that Ron keeps trying to ask Hermione who she is going to the ball with at unexpected times to surprise her into answering

love that Hermione was simultaneously appalled by fake-Moody making Malfoy a ferret while also not above referencing that incident to get Malfoy off her back. ("twitchy little ferret, aren't you Malfoy")

Ron notices Hermione's teeth is no longer the same. And Hermione is all sly and mischievous about the fact that she let Madam Pomphrey carry on a bit.

ok this is such a cute description: Hermione sitting to watch Ron and Harry's chess match which had recklessly brave pawns and a violent bishop

Dobby gets socks as presents from both Ron and Harry (reminder Ron also puts socks over his dead body) and Ron's Christmas jumper.

Dumbledore referencing Room of requirement. (he makes a joke that makes Harry snort and Percy frown- I guess he thinks the joke isn't appropriate for international magical cooperation?)

Parvati goes off with a Beauxbaton boy because Harry wasn't paying attention to her. She also lead him while dancing -so much so he felt like a show dog. Love how alpha she is xD

Percy glances at Harry about "hitch with Goblet of Fire" : indication of his coming arc where he doesn't believe Harry. (Also, while Percy is socialising with Bagman, he chooses to sit with Harry and Ron, which is indicative of how awkward he feels i think)

Snape and Karkaroff's conversation will get referenced in Prince's Tale, where Dumbledore grants him -"i think we sort too soon".

the image of Maxime storming away with fairies parting bushes is a very striking.

Chapter 24, 25, 26,27,28

Hermione drops key family history for Harry without either of them realising it: she used Fleamont Potter's Sleakazy's. Also at the implication that Harry asked about her hair LMAO.

Ron and Hermione reaching an unspoken agreement about sidestepping the big fight which involved FEELINGS.

the unicorn preferring a girl's touch is tied around the myth of pure creatures comfortable with "pure souls". I am really not sure how to read the gender politics of this book using this aspect of mythology.

lol, at Parvati being very "cool" towards Harry since the ball. Her retort actually makes him reflect - "perhaps I should have paid her more attention" and then, "ah well, she had a good time anyway". Honestly, stan Parvati.

Harry's so suspicious of Bagman offering him help, and rightly so. I love him putting Bagman on backfoot with his questions.

really curious about goblins and their hierarchy in the wizarding world. they are the marginalised who "fight back".

Rosmerta looking at James Potter, "who used to make her laugh"'s son yelling at a reporter in the middle of her pub XD

Love that Gryffindors get food related passwords like "banana fritters" and poor Ravenclaws have to solve a riddle every time they need to get in.

Where is the fanart of Snape with long grey nightshirt? Where?

Snape shutting Filch up when (in his mind) Moody came in, BCJ using Moody's distrust to check his office. Excellent stuff. My favourite part of the scene is Snape angrily declares Dumbledore's trust in him, and BCJ reminds him of "spots that don't come off". And Snape clutches his Dark Mark (and immediately hates himself for doing it xD)

Okay, Snape conceding power to Moody in this scene is so interesting. When Snape tries to look for Harry, BCJ makes him back off by saying "meaning Dumbledore is very interested to know who's got it in for the boy!" and Snape answers in a forced calm.

the tension between Snape and fake Moody can be cut through with a knife. Love how menacing the scene makes Moody, with Rowling using visual pictures of Moody's scars in the darkness

Lmao, Neville sending Professor Flitwick flying across room in class. And the description of "Professor Flitwick went whizzing resignedly past them" when the trio are talking. The implication that Flitwick just let Neville do his thing… XD

Hermione answering Harry's grim dark joke seriously. Nerd XD so much so the next time she takes Harry's joke seriously, he had to tell her that he is joking lol.

Harry goes off food when he is stressed or upset: a hangover from Dursley days when punishment is "no food".

"Your Wheezy, sir, your wheezy - the thing Harry Potter sir will miss the most!" LOL. The way this book is designed for Ronarry feels.

Merpeople have pet Grindylows. (also the chief is a woman)

Harry actually tries to yank the spear away from merman when they refused to help him, and hits Krum when Krum failed to realise that his shark teeth would hurt Hermione. My little feral boy.

Percy, "who looked very white", splashing out to meet Ron <3

Poor Krum - he is trying to engage Hermione and she is too busy either asking Harry about his task or cheering him for his marks to listen.

I love how much Harry gets so cheered by Sirius' letters. And even as he is tense that Sirius would get caught, he enters Potions classroom happy XD

'Scarlet woman'. It speaks to the generation Molly comes from that she has these ideas, and that Ron has noticed and picked it up.

Hermione, being also aware that Ron's regard for her is less than platonic, "determinedly avoiding Ron's eyes" when she mentions Viktor did invite her. (Also funny that Hermione is trying to puzzle out how Rita heard her, and Ron is like, "nvm, what did you say about Viktor's invitation?" lol)

@urupotterwrote a nice meta about how Snape was deliberately provoking Harry (after harry moves tables) to read his mind. Right when Harry angrily looks up, Snape's eyes bore into him to check if he had broken into his office.

Sirius made them climb a mountain for half an hour lol. He believes in outdoorsy kids.

Sirius having a fuller face, and looking like he is taking care of himself when Harry met him at the fire - but now he is back in his prison robes, his hair is longer and he is thin again. When Sirius broke into the fire, he was clearly at a place where he could hide better and take care of himself. He is living off rats.

And he notices the anxiety on Harry;s face and explains why he is here (he is very good at reading harry's face and just answering his thoughts. He does it again later in the scene). He is worried about how fishy things look, and it is clear one of the reasons of his lack of care for himself is hyperfixating on Harry's safety and circumstances surrounding the tournament. (he also moves a lot when he is thinking - it's part of why he makes for such a strong scene presence. There is either note of how he takes space, or his eyes)

Sirius backs Hermione here about Barty Crouch Snr's treatment of Winky ("if you want to know what a man's like.."). This is important for Hermione's complicated feelings about him in the next book. He was the only adult on her side - even Hagrid, who she counted on, didn't agree with her.

Sirius projecting all his family issues over Barty Crouch Jnr.

Sirius' description of Azkaban is just extremely solitary and drenched in death, and suffering. He can see and hear things that are near his cell or out of the window (he could see Dementors burying who he thought was BCJ outside the fortress). Speaks to the immense violation Barty Crouch Snr has committed by sending him there without a trial. (There is also the fact that Azkaban is horrible, and no one deserves it)

Snuffles, enuff said. He also allows them each to pat them on his head before they leave. how cute.

"If he thought we are standing in way of his career"..ah, seeds of Percy arc of OOTP. Hermione believes in him while Ron doesnt lol.

I haven't mentioned in my notes because it would get too long - but Sirius' exposition about the First War, I think, is important for the atmosphere that leads to friends turning on each other.

also, I really love the note of Sirius, as always, admiring the morals of Mad Eye Moody for trying to bring Death Eaters alive, versus his condemnation of Barty Crouch Snr's methods. This shade of him - combined with the fact that he would have absolutely killed Peter after Jily death if he had the chance, or even the previous book. @artemisia-black wrote about her interpretation of it in this meta.

House elves should be "seen, not heard" philosophy, where they have internalised that anything showing discontent from where they are is undesirable.

Hermione pulling a Blinky episode here XD if the worldbuilding wasn't so shitty, I would actually enjoy a critique of Hermione's impatience here because it is very in line with steam of young activists finding roadblocks within the very people they want to help.

Chekhov's gun: the eagle owl Harry observes flying over Hagrid's hut - the same owl we see in Harry's dream with Voldemort later.

Maxime is apparently trying to make up to Hagrid - she watches Hagrid's class and even tries to engage him in a conversation prior to this. Maybe she feels sorry about how the story about Hagrid's mother come out in the Prophet and wants to bond? What did Maxime face because of her parentage?

Ron being upset that the gold he paid Harry back with vanished, and how he hates being poor and how both Harry and Hermione don't know what to say: Hermione tries to cheer him up by saying she will get him a Niffler for Christmas, how cute.

harry regularly sending Sirius food and little notes with them. I CANT. they have my heart, they are everything.

love that Fleur and Cedric are apparently friendly enough that she keeps going on about underground tunnels to him, and how Fleur beams at Harry when he comes.

Harry and Cedric being jocks, and how they are less than happy with the state of the Quidditch pitch lol.

Dumbledore uses the Patronus to summon Hagrid. A known method of communication between the Order. ("a ghostly bird")

love the dynamic of Fred and George arguing: George seems to be the more cautious one of the two, saying putting something like that in writing is blackmail, while Fred is like, "You're not going to complain once we get the pay off, would you?" But the moment Ron asks what's up with them, George backs Fred and sends the letter himself.

I also really loved the moment of the trio confronting the twins. It was hilarious. it shows all their priorities - both Fred and Ron with confrontational and surprised, "what are you doing here?" and Harry and George on defensive, "sending letter?" and both Fred and Hermione with a suspicious, "What, at this time?"

Hermione still uncomfortable with the idea of breaking laws: "This isnt some silly school rule, it's the law". Given where they all end up in DH (honestly even OOTP), this is interesting. She even advises Ron to reach out to Percy to stop whatever the twins are doing, and Ron's like, "Are you mad? He would probably do a Crouch and turn them in!" XD

Harry being annoyed at Sirius being an Overbearing Dad XD "Who is he, to lecture me after all the stuff he did at school?"

Chekhov's gun: insect buzzing somewhere behind the curtain. Rita Skeeter.

Also seeing Crouch Snr struggle against the Imperius put on him by Voldemort tells us how incredible it is that Harry throws it off in the graveyard

Harry connecting the magic of Pensieve with the diary through means of his experience. Could be a cool worldbuilding detail if we want to think about how Tom preserved his "memory" in the diary, along with it being a container for his soul.

important to understand how Voldemort operates: he alone knows who works for him, and others get exposed to each other via shared jobs or connections. This adds to what Sirius says in Padfoot returns chapter.

Mulciber specialised in the Imperius, as per Karkaroff's testimony. Could he have done something in similar vein to Mary MacDonald? It could also be talked of as a "laugh" since students do find Moody's control of the spider in Unforgivables class darkly funny.

"He is no more a Death Eater than I am": Dumbledore's vouching of Snape is strong. I would love a fic that explores Snape and Dumbledore's equation in First War, and how Dumbledore sees bits of himself in a young man who also thinks he is brilliant, and wants power, but ends up hurting the person he loves in his blindness.

The trial essentially feels like a gladiator ring, with the accused chained to the chair. (Of course, Bagman doesnt get chained to the chair due to the relative popularity with the jury)

Ah, BCJ. His reaction here depends on how you read his involvement with Longbottoms - whether he actually did it, or whether he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course, the book, with Cruciatus scene with spider, heavily suggest that he was indeed guilty. So, it is interesting to see his terror here - he is genuinely terrified of going to Azkaban, but he is also using his genuine terror to appeal to his parents, to get out and be free. (He does similar things throughout the book - use his real dislike of Malfoys, Snape but misdirect you about his motivations). It's a nice manipulative streak.

"You're no son of mine!" "Take them away, and may they rot there." I need a Crouch family deep dive, because it is essentially a version of Walburga burning her son's name off after he ran away. which is: "I want to pretend you don't even exist."

a very astute reader pointed out on reddit how Moody is not present for the Longbottoms trial (and his eyes were intact on both trials before). So the hc is that Bellatrix took out Moody's eye and he was recovering in the hospital at the time.

#hp reread #goblet of fire #harry james potter #barty crouch jr #barty crouch junior #sirius black #hermione granger #ron weasley #percy weasley #moody

127 notes · View notes