fic: Just a Rat for lostlikealice
Title: Just a Rat
Author/Artist: wook77
Giftee: lostlikealice
Rating: PG
Word Count(for fic): 2234
Characters/Pairing: Regulus Black/Barty Crouch Jr.
Warnings:
Author/Artist's Notes: Many thanks to my betas, Fiona_fawkes, ficlette.
Summary: Regulus killed. Regulus planned. Regulus betrayed (but the reasoning for his betrayal has never been revealed).
Regulus killed. This wasn't the first time that he had taken a life. No, that had been the Muggle he'd been gifted with at his initiation to the Death Eaters. This was, however, the first time he had killed another Wizard. That the two bodies in front of him were his cousins registered in his mind even as the conversations of his compatriots faded to a buzz around him. They looked almost serene in death, their faces frozen in a calm expression that belied the pain that they'd suffered previous to the Killing Curse. The slight trickle of blood out of their noses was the only sign that Fabian and Gideon Prewett were once alive at all instead of mock-ups arranged in repose.
"It's my first too." The voice in his ear startled Regulus from his contemplations.
Regulus turned to see a young man that he’d never met before.
"Your first?" His response was only an abashed grimace.
"I've not killed before…know them?" he said, indicating the bodies before him
At their mention, Regulus looked to the bodies of the Prewetts once more. They'd never met; his mother would never have allowed it. That didn't stop Regulus from wondering about their names stitched on the tapestry in the library.
"I've never met them." But he'd wanted to, was left hanging there, unspoken. Whether it was rebellion against his parents or a desire to see what was so attractive about "the other side" that Sirius would leave everything for it, Regulus had wanted.
"I knew them." The admission was low and, for a moment, Regulus wasn't sure that he'd heard properly.
Before he could respond, though, Antonin Dolohov approached and ordered them to disperse even as the Dark Mark wound itself through the air.
~~**~~
Regulus watched. He couldn't understand why but he continued to look for that stranger at each of the meetings that followed that night. The searching was in vain as the young man didn't show up again. Worse, every person that had been present pretended that they didn't know whom he was asking about. Dolohov, especially, had growled when he'd asked after the stranger.
After a few months, he had just stopped asking.
~~**~~
Regulus answered. He'd been summoned before Voldemort but Regulus didn't feel fear. He entered Malfoy's study with a swagger. It was time for Voldemort to see just how committed the House of Black was to Blood Purity.
"Welcome, Regulus." Voldemort's hiss echoed in the room but it wasn't he that Regulus focused on. Instead, it was the man standing next to Voldemort. The stranger.
"We have much to discuss." The Dark Lord beckoned Regulus closer.
"I am honoured, my Lord." Regulus nodded and then approached. He stood close to the stranger.
"You've met before." It wasn't a question but Regulus nodded in response.
"I hear that you are quite curious about him." Another statement and Regulus nodded once more. "This… is Barty Crouch, Jr," he said, indicating the man standing next to him.
Regulus barely controlled his intake of breath. It was no secret that Barty Crouch Sr. had been adamant about tracking down all the Death Eaters. Instead of fearing him, the Death Eaters mocked how close to them he really was.
"I am not my father," he said, as if he were reading Regulus’s thoughts upon his face. Barty stared at him, and he could feel the heat in that look.
"Of course." Regulus bowed slightly before looking back to Voldemort. "The mission, my Lord?"
"You are both to go to Gloucester and find some documents for me…"
~~**~~
Regulus advanced. His rise through the ranks of the Death Eaters was quick. That mission's success had led to more missions for the two of them. Regulus wasn't sure when his intrigue had turned to fascination, but it had. He found himself watching Barty, not because he wasn't sure how committed he was but because of the way he walked, gestured, moved.
He had a grace in movement that Regulus admired from afar. There was a purpose to his steps, a vitality that Regulus found himself lusting after.
It was that lust that gave Regulus pause. He wasn't a ponce. He'd dated beautiful women and had never even been interested in a man before. Barty, however, was so very different. The timbre of his voice, the predatory nature to his step, the knowledge and power that he held - it all attracted Regulus to him.
Barty must have noticed Regulus's contemplations because he was staring at Regulus with an indiscernible look. When Barty stalked closer, Regulus found himself holding his breath. It rushed out when Barty put a hand on Regulus's cheek. As he leaned in just a bit closer, there was the familiar burn of the Mark.
The moment was gone before it had could become real as they both Apparated back to attend to their Lord.
~~**~~
Regulus looked. He wasn't supposed to. He'd been ordered not to, actually, but the book was there and Regulus had always been curious.
Horcrux. It stared at him off the first page. So this is what Voldemort was doing; why he kept sending Barty and Regulus out to find various documents and statues and an assortment of knickknacks.
Hearing footsteps approach, Regulus softly shut the book and made his way towards the door. As he reached for the handle, it opened to reveal Barty.
"Have you found what we came for?" he questioned in a whisper. Regulus nodded, watching as Barty stepped closer - too close, really. "It won't be long before we're discovered,” he whispered. “The Anti-Apparition wards are still in place so we'll have to make our way outside."
Regulus nodded and Barty grabbed his arm, pulling him quickly through the hallways of the library. When Barty stumbled on the stairs leading outside, Regulus caught him- pulling him up from his fall and back against his chest, holding him just a moment longer than was necessary. But Regulus’s mind was not on his feet. When he tried to step down, he lost his balance, falling forward and pulling Barty along with him. They both went tumbling to the ground, twisting so that, somehow, they landed chest to chest, Barty on top.
The tension between them had been growing ever since that last mission. Regulus wasn't sure what to make of the look in Barty's eyes, but he knew well what the racing of his heart and the heat pooling low in his abdomen all meant. There had been hints that Regulus had not picked up on until right now, but with Barty's lips so very close to his own, they were now impossible to ignore.
Leaning up, Regulus brought his lips close enough to feel Barty's breath upon them. He had just decided to close the distance between them when Dolohov kicked him. "You fools,” he spat. “Move. The Order is coming."
~~**~~
Regulus feared. Every mission since he had opened Voldemort’s book on the Horcruxes had made him fear just a bit more. This latest search for a certain wand had struck Regulus as particularly wrong.
Judging from the nervous glances that Barty had been shooting across the room, Regulus wasn't the only one to question and wonder.
"Do you think that maybe the Dark Lord has…" Barty's voice trailed off.
"Gone too far?" Barty's eyes went fearful and Regulus chose his words after that with more care.
"I've not said that," Regulus insisted. When Barty strode closer, Regulus's breath caught in his throat. The look on Barty’s face was unreadable and it stirred in Regulus fear and respect and something less familiar to him.
"But that's what you meant, wasn't it?” Barty was invading his space- looming over Regulus and making him sweat. “You see what I see. You know where this madness is going, just as well as I do." Barty was so close to him. Regulus could smell the brandy that lingered on his breath from their meeting with Voldemort hours ago. "The Dark Lord has gone beyond Pureblood rights. He's pushed too far, hasn't he, Regulus?"
Regulus shivered as Barty kept pressing in upon him.
"You're afraid of him, aren't you?" Regulus tried to nod in response to Barty's question but was far too fixated on the lips in front of him, so very close to his own.
A pop echoed in the tense moment. "Mistress has requested Master Regulus's presence,” the house elf announced without decorum. Barty stepped smoothly away from him and Regulus cursed Kreacher in his head.
~~**~~
Regulus planned. It took him valuable time but he knew, for both his safety and Barty's, that the plan had to be perfect. They had to get out from under the Dark Lord.
Their latest mission had been to a series of caves that had left Regulus unsettled. Barty's fear was almost palpable. They were very rarely allowed together alone as they completed their assigned tasks for Voldemort.
It was in these caves that Regulus found the key to their escape. Slytherin's locket. A piece of the Dark Lord's soul would certainly insure their safety once they escaped, but Regulus told no one this part of the plan. He didn't want to leave it to chance that the information would not get back to the Dark Lord.
"What was that?" Pretending to hear a noise, Regulus looked to a dim corner of the cavern the Death Eaters were in. Lucius Malfoy glared towards the corner before ordering Regulus and Barty to explore the hallway that branched off of it.
They soon found themselves out of sight of the rest of the group. Before he could react, Regulus was trapped against the dark stones by Barty.
"Have you thought of how we're to escape?" Regulus nodded, standing chest to chest with Barty. "Tell me."
"In two days, meet me at the stone circle we explored three weeks ago. I've already made the arrangements. We shan't last for much longer under the Dark Lord. I fear for his sanity,” Regulus paused. “And my own."
Barty's triumphant smile transfixed Regulus so that he forgot to give the rest of the plan. Instead, he stared at the lips that were so very slowly approaching his own.
"Was there anything?" Lucius's voice interrupted just at the wrong moment and Barty leapt backwards.
"Just a rat," He said, shooting one last look at Regulus before leading the way back to the group.
~~**~~
Regulus waited. Barty wasn't coming. The realization wormed its way through Regulus's mind until it finally ate into his soul. Five more minutes became ten as he waited. Ten became fifteen before he stood and started to leave the ruins.
"Wait." The softly spoken word and the hand on his shoulder stopped his exodus.
When he turned, Barty stood there, a pack slung across his shoulder. The relief swept through him as Regulus stepped closer. Within two steps, they were close enough that their chests brushed as they breathed.
His hands shook as he reached out and cupped Barty's cheeks. Torturously slowly, Regulus moved his face in until their lips pressed together. It felt like coming home. It was need and safety, want and happiness, all rolled in to one kiss.
That first tenuous touch of lips drifted into a soft exploration until, needing more, Regulus pulled Barty in closer while Barty's hands dug into his back. Tongues brushed against each other while the stubble on their chins and cheeks burned as the taste of one another swept through them, feeding the want and need.
When Barty swung him around and started moving him backwards, Regulus went along with it, pushing against clothing with one hand while his other hand never strayed from the cheek under his hand. Even has their mouths shifted frantically, trying to get closer and closer, they backed up.
The roots underneath their feet had Regulus stumbling from the speed that they were backing up. Uncaring that he could trip, he continued to push because cloth was a hindrance. When Barty fisted into the fabric against his chest, Regulus moaned at the slight pressure against a nipple. It was amazing and overwhelming.
A sharp pain erupted between his shoulder blades as he was pressed against the stone. The rock was cold even through his shirt. There was a trickle of dampness along his spine that barely registered as Barty pulled back.
When he continued moving backwards, Regulus started to follow until he realized that he was trapped against the stone. The pain between his shoulder blade spread until it felt like a fire was under his skin as he shifted.
"Did you think you could leave us so easily, Regulus?" Barty stalked back to Regulus so quickly that Regulus barely registered the movement until Barty was nose to nose with him. "I knew, from the beginning, that you weren't meant for us but your name saved you, protected you while others worked and struggled to make up for ours. It took me some time to arrange to meet you again. You were weak and there is no place for weakness among the servants of the Dark Lord."
Barty leaned in and pulled Regulus's lower lip between his teeth before biting down. The pain barely registered before Barty pulled Regulus from the stone.
By the time he hit the ground, thoughts stopped. There was no time for regrets.
Author/Artist: wook77
Giftee: lostlikealice
Rating: PG
Word Count(for fic): 2234
Characters/Pairing: Regulus Black/Barty Crouch Jr.
Warnings:
Author/Artist's Notes: Many thanks to my betas, Fiona_fawkes, ficlette.
Summary: Regulus killed. Regulus planned. Regulus betrayed (but the reasoning for his betrayal has never been revealed).
Regulus killed. This wasn't the first time that he had taken a life. No, that had been the Muggle he'd been gifted with at his initiation to the Death Eaters. This was, however, the first time he had killed another Wizard. That the two bodies in front of him were his cousins registered in his mind even as the conversations of his compatriots faded to a buzz around him. They looked almost serene in death, their faces frozen in a calm expression that belied the pain that they'd suffered previous to the Killing Curse. The slight trickle of blood out of their noses was the only sign that Fabian and Gideon Prewett were once alive at all instead of mock-ups arranged in repose.
"It's my first too." The voice in his ear startled Regulus from his contemplations.
Regulus turned to see a young man that he’d never met before.
"Your first?" His response was only an abashed grimace.
"I've not killed before…know them?" he said, indicating the bodies before him
At their mention, Regulus looked to the bodies of the Prewetts once more. They'd never met; his mother would never have allowed it. That didn't stop Regulus from wondering about their names stitched on the tapestry in the library.
"I've never met them." But he'd wanted to, was left hanging there, unspoken. Whether it was rebellion against his parents or a desire to see what was so attractive about "the other side" that Sirius would leave everything for it, Regulus had wanted.
"I knew them." The admission was low and, for a moment, Regulus wasn't sure that he'd heard properly.
Before he could respond, though, Antonin Dolohov approached and ordered them to disperse even as the Dark Mark wound itself through the air.
~~**~~
Regulus watched. He couldn't understand why but he continued to look for that stranger at each of the meetings that followed that night. The searching was in vain as the young man didn't show up again. Worse, every person that had been present pretended that they didn't know whom he was asking about. Dolohov, especially, had growled when he'd asked after the stranger.
After a few months, he had just stopped asking.
~~**~~
Regulus answered. He'd been summoned before Voldemort but Regulus didn't feel fear. He entered Malfoy's study with a swagger. It was time for Voldemort to see just how committed the House of Black was to Blood Purity.
"Welcome, Regulus." Voldemort's hiss echoed in the room but it wasn't he that Regulus focused on. Instead, it was the man standing next to Voldemort. The stranger.
"We have much to discuss." The Dark Lord beckoned Regulus closer.
"I am honoured, my Lord." Regulus nodded and then approached. He stood close to the stranger.
"You've met before." It wasn't a question but Regulus nodded in response.
"I hear that you are quite curious about him." Another statement and Regulus nodded once more. "This… is Barty Crouch, Jr," he said, indicating the man standing next to him.
Regulus barely controlled his intake of breath. It was no secret that Barty Crouch Sr. had been adamant about tracking down all the Death Eaters. Instead of fearing him, the Death Eaters mocked how close to them he really was.
"I am not my father," he said, as if he were reading Regulus’s thoughts upon his face. Barty stared at him, and he could feel the heat in that look.
"Of course." Regulus bowed slightly before looking back to Voldemort. "The mission, my Lord?"
"You are both to go to Gloucester and find some documents for me…"
~~**~~
Regulus advanced. His rise through the ranks of the Death Eaters was quick. That mission's success had led to more missions for the two of them. Regulus wasn't sure when his intrigue had turned to fascination, but it had. He found himself watching Barty, not because he wasn't sure how committed he was but because of the way he walked, gestured, moved.
He had a grace in movement that Regulus admired from afar. There was a purpose to his steps, a vitality that Regulus found himself lusting after.
It was that lust that gave Regulus pause. He wasn't a ponce. He'd dated beautiful women and had never even been interested in a man before. Barty, however, was so very different. The timbre of his voice, the predatory nature to his step, the knowledge and power that he held - it all attracted Regulus to him.
Barty must have noticed Regulus's contemplations because he was staring at Regulus with an indiscernible look. When Barty stalked closer, Regulus found himself holding his breath. It rushed out when Barty put a hand on Regulus's cheek. As he leaned in just a bit closer, there was the familiar burn of the Mark.
The moment was gone before it had could become real as they both Apparated back to attend to their Lord.
~~**~~
Regulus looked. He wasn't supposed to. He'd been ordered not to, actually, but the book was there and Regulus had always been curious.
Horcrux. It stared at him off the first page. So this is what Voldemort was doing; why he kept sending Barty and Regulus out to find various documents and statues and an assortment of knickknacks.
Hearing footsteps approach, Regulus softly shut the book and made his way towards the door. As he reached for the handle, it opened to reveal Barty.
"Have you found what we came for?" he questioned in a whisper. Regulus nodded, watching as Barty stepped closer - too close, really. "It won't be long before we're discovered,” he whispered. “The Anti-Apparition wards are still in place so we'll have to make our way outside."
Regulus nodded and Barty grabbed his arm, pulling him quickly through the hallways of the library. When Barty stumbled on the stairs leading outside, Regulus caught him- pulling him up from his fall and back against his chest, holding him just a moment longer than was necessary. But Regulus’s mind was not on his feet. When he tried to step down, he lost his balance, falling forward and pulling Barty along with him. They both went tumbling to the ground, twisting so that, somehow, they landed chest to chest, Barty on top.
The tension between them had been growing ever since that last mission. Regulus wasn't sure what to make of the look in Barty's eyes, but he knew well what the racing of his heart and the heat pooling low in his abdomen all meant. There had been hints that Regulus had not picked up on until right now, but with Barty's lips so very close to his own, they were now impossible to ignore.
Leaning up, Regulus brought his lips close enough to feel Barty's breath upon them. He had just decided to close the distance between them when Dolohov kicked him. "You fools,” he spat. “Move. The Order is coming."
~~**~~
Regulus feared. Every mission since he had opened Voldemort’s book on the Horcruxes had made him fear just a bit more. This latest search for a certain wand had struck Regulus as particularly wrong.
Judging from the nervous glances that Barty had been shooting across the room, Regulus wasn't the only one to question and wonder.
"Do you think that maybe the Dark Lord has…" Barty's voice trailed off.
"Gone too far?" Barty's eyes went fearful and Regulus chose his words after that with more care.
"I've not said that," Regulus insisted. When Barty strode closer, Regulus's breath caught in his throat. The look on Barty’s face was unreadable and it stirred in Regulus fear and respect and something less familiar to him.
"But that's what you meant, wasn't it?” Barty was invading his space- looming over Regulus and making him sweat. “You see what I see. You know where this madness is going, just as well as I do." Barty was so close to him. Regulus could smell the brandy that lingered on his breath from their meeting with Voldemort hours ago. "The Dark Lord has gone beyond Pureblood rights. He's pushed too far, hasn't he, Regulus?"
Regulus shivered as Barty kept pressing in upon him.
"You're afraid of him, aren't you?" Regulus tried to nod in response to Barty's question but was far too fixated on the lips in front of him, so very close to his own.
A pop echoed in the tense moment. "Mistress has requested Master Regulus's presence,” the house elf announced without decorum. Barty stepped smoothly away from him and Regulus cursed Kreacher in his head.
~~**~~
Regulus planned. It took him valuable time but he knew, for both his safety and Barty's, that the plan had to be perfect. They had to get out from under the Dark Lord.
Their latest mission had been to a series of caves that had left Regulus unsettled. Barty's fear was almost palpable. They were very rarely allowed together alone as they completed their assigned tasks for Voldemort.
It was in these caves that Regulus found the key to their escape. Slytherin's locket. A piece of the Dark Lord's soul would certainly insure their safety once they escaped, but Regulus told no one this part of the plan. He didn't want to leave it to chance that the information would not get back to the Dark Lord.
"What was that?" Pretending to hear a noise, Regulus looked to a dim corner of the cavern the Death Eaters were in. Lucius Malfoy glared towards the corner before ordering Regulus and Barty to explore the hallway that branched off of it.
They soon found themselves out of sight of the rest of the group. Before he could react, Regulus was trapped against the dark stones by Barty.
"Have you thought of how we're to escape?" Regulus nodded, standing chest to chest with Barty. "Tell me."
"In two days, meet me at the stone circle we explored three weeks ago. I've already made the arrangements. We shan't last for much longer under the Dark Lord. I fear for his sanity,” Regulus paused. “And my own."
Barty's triumphant smile transfixed Regulus so that he forgot to give the rest of the plan. Instead, he stared at the lips that were so very slowly approaching his own.
"Was there anything?" Lucius's voice interrupted just at the wrong moment and Barty leapt backwards.
"Just a rat," He said, shooting one last look at Regulus before leading the way back to the group.
~~**~~
Regulus waited. Barty wasn't coming. The realization wormed its way through Regulus's mind until it finally ate into his soul. Five more minutes became ten as he waited. Ten became fifteen before he stood and started to leave the ruins.
"Wait." The softly spoken word and the hand on his shoulder stopped his exodus.
When he turned, Barty stood there, a pack slung across his shoulder. The relief swept through him as Regulus stepped closer. Within two steps, they were close enough that their chests brushed as they breathed.
His hands shook as he reached out and cupped Barty's cheeks. Torturously slowly, Regulus moved his face in until their lips pressed together. It felt like coming home. It was need and safety, want and happiness, all rolled in to one kiss.
That first tenuous touch of lips drifted into a soft exploration until, needing more, Regulus pulled Barty in closer while Barty's hands dug into his back. Tongues brushed against each other while the stubble on their chins and cheeks burned as the taste of one another swept through them, feeding the want and need.
When Barty swung him around and started moving him backwards, Regulus went along with it, pushing against clothing with one hand while his other hand never strayed from the cheek under his hand. Even has their mouths shifted frantically, trying to get closer and closer, they backed up.
The roots underneath their feet had Regulus stumbling from the speed that they were backing up. Uncaring that he could trip, he continued to push because cloth was a hindrance. When Barty fisted into the fabric against his chest, Regulus moaned at the slight pressure against a nipple. It was amazing and overwhelming.
A sharp pain erupted between his shoulder blades as he was pressed against the stone. The rock was cold even through his shirt. There was a trickle of dampness along his spine that barely registered as Barty pulled back.
When he continued moving backwards, Regulus started to follow until he realized that he was trapped against the stone. The pain between his shoulder blade spread until it felt like a fire was under his skin as he shifted.
"Did you think you could leave us so easily, Regulus?" Barty stalked back to Regulus so quickly that Regulus barely registered the movement until Barty was nose to nose with him. "I knew, from the beginning, that you weren't meant for us but your name saved you, protected you while others worked and struggled to make up for ours. It took me some time to arrange to meet you again. You were weak and there is no place for weakness among the servants of the Dark Lord."
Barty leaned in and pulled Regulus's lower lip between his teeth before biting down. The pain barely registered before Barty pulled Regulus from the stone.
By the time he hit the ground, thoughts stopped. There was no time for regrets.