I Will Follow You Into The Dark || Jegulus

27. Father

"James, he's a death eater."

The line kept repeating in James's head. How could he be one? He's too young, and too caring. He loved his friends, he loved Sirius, he loved potions. Regulus wasn't a death eater. He couldn't be. He was too compassionate. But what did James know?

James decided to go visit Barty and see if he was alright. Evan was in the hospital wing, still sitting by his side when James arrived.

"Rosier... how is he?" James asked.

Evan jumped, ready to pull out his wand. "Look, whatever you want from Regulus, you're not getting." He glared.

"I don't want anything from him. Or Barty for that matter. I just care about them. Barty has helped me a lot actually." James looked over to Barty's sleeping form. "Is he conscious?" He asked. Evan nodded.

"They managed to get the potion brewed this morning, but when he woke up he was in hysterics, begging to see me or Reg." He muttered. "All that energy output knocked him out before I could get here, and he's been asleep since." Evan was holding Barty's hand tightly.

"Are you doing alright? I mean I don't know everything going on, but Mulcuber-" He paused. "It seemed like him telling your parents was a threat... if you're in danger is there anything I can do?" James whispered.

Evan shook his head, tears welling up in his eyes. "Stop being so nice, I'm supposed to hate you." He sniffled. "I'll be old enough to move out in June. If my father doesn't pull me out of Hogwarts by then, I'll be fine, but my sister..." He trailed off.

James held his arms out, offering a hug, which Evan took.

"Woah what did I miss?" Evan practically screaming upon hearing Barty. He practically jumped into Barty's arms and cried. "It's alright. I'm alright." Barty said.

"We were so worried." Evan mumbled, still holding onto Barty as if he could disappear any moment.

"Alright Ev, let go I can't breathe." Evan loosened his grip and let Barty sit up in the bed.

"Thanks for being here. Where's Reg?" He asked.

"He was just here, but had to go talk to Dumbledore. The professors are questioning everyone in our house and I think our parents will be summoned once they confirm who was involved. Once they get conformation from you it's over. Maybe they might expel Mulciber finally." Evan said.

"Hopefully, but... I don't know If my dad would even bother to show up." He frowned

"We'll figure it out." Evan said.

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When Regulus got to Dumbledore's office, his mother was there, as well as professor Slughorn.

"Regulus black I thought I taught you better. What did you do?" Walburga sneered, wand already in her hand.

"Walburga." Dumbledore said calmly, making her lower her wand. "Take a seat Mr. Black. We just need to know what you saw last night. As you know, someone injured your roommate, Mr. Crouch." Dumbledore explained.

Regulus nodded. "When I got back to the common room last night, I saw blood on the floor, and noticed my roommates weren't in our dorm. Snape came up to me and told me that him, Mulciber, and Avery fought him. From my knowledge he wasn't involved in the physical part, but he brewed the potion they used." Regulus explained.

"I see, and you believe that Mulciber and Avery physically harmed Mr. Crouch?" Dumbledore questioned.

Regulus rolled his eyes, "yes, that's what I just said." Regulus said.

"And why would nobody have stopped them?" Dumbledore asked. Regulus was seriously starting to get pissed off at Dumbledore, he hated the man. 

"Because Avery and Mulciber have their ways. They intimidate people, anyone who got in the way would probably have gotten drowned in the lake. And frankly, people in Slytherin just do not care, do you know the amount of fights that happen? And Slughorn does nothing about it." Regulus glared. Slughorn still had his innocent face on, but how could he not know about all this?

"Well if I haven't been summoned for any specific reason, then I must be going." She said. "Regulus. Be good." She said before standing up and straightening her dress. To any outsider, it would look like a normal mother saying goodbye to her son, but  to Regulus, it had a deeper meaning. Voldemort was almost always at either Malfoy manor or Grimmauld. He had eyes everywhere and Regulus could not risk getting involved in the wrong things. And if things went badly, he was dead.

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When Dumbledore found out Barty was awake, he was summoned to his office immediately. Barty could barely walk, and needed Evan's help to get up the stairs to the headmasters office. Inside was Mulciber, Avery, Snape and their parents, Evan's parents, Pandora, and surprisingly enough, Bartemius Crouch Sr.

"I see you're awake. Perfect timing." Dumbledore said. "Is it alright if I ask some questions about what happened last night?" He asked as Barty took a seat next to his father.

"Last night before curfew I was heading to my dorm. The common room was empty, as it was already late, but it wasn't usually that empty, but then Avery, Mulciber and Snape surrounded me. They took my wand and tried to blackmail me with information that isn't true." He explained, then took a deep breath. His father was here, he had to retain his composure. In this moment, Barty was a politician, not a human being. No emotions allowed. "They cast a body binding spell on me and started hitting and kicking me, then used the cruciartus curse on me until I passed out." He finished.

Mulciber tried to cut in but his father shushed him. "Mulcuber, Avery, may I see your wands?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"Are you alright boy?" His father whispered. Barty knew that question had layers. His father didn't actually care about him, it was all about keeping up appearances. 

"I'm alive." Barty whispered, watching Dumbledore cast a spell on the wands individually.

"Mulciber was saying some things about you and that Rosier kid, your roommate. It better not be true."

Barty shook his head, "not in any universe." It hurt. The truth was that he would never change, not in any universe. He would always choose Evan.

He looked over to see Evan getting scolded by his father. He wasn't sure what was being said, but he could tell when Evan was hiding his emotions.

"Mr. Mulciber, Mr. Avery. It seems that you both have cast unforgivable curses in the past, and we have enough evidence against you to put you on trial to go to Azkaban." Dumbledore said

"You can't do that. You know the influence our families have." Mulcuber's father said.

"Correct, but Mr. Crouch senior is with the ministry, and knows your loopholes. However I could let the boys off easy, of course I will have to expel the both of them, but as long as there is no future issues, I won't be saying anything to the ministry, is that alright Mr. Crouch?" He asked Barty's father, who nodded.

Barty frowned. "You can't do that. You have to send them on trial. They broke the law!" He said, but his father placed a hand on his shoulder, signaling him to shut up.

"Mr. Snape, I will have to give you detention until the end of term due to your involvement, I know the severity of your actions was not at the same level as Avery and Mulciber, but you were still there, and you still contributed. I think we are done here." Dumbledore finished, sending an arguing Avery and Mulciber, plus their parents out the door.

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raaahh

I rlly am just spoiling y'all with chapters these past few days. I'm gonna make this another double upload bc I want to. We got some good relationship progression between James and Evan,  gotta love seeing it. Dumbledore is a little bitch omg, like im not even trying that hard, this is just what hes like