Merry Christmas!
A/N: Diagon Alley here, back this year with another amazing collection of Christmas stories to share with you. The members of Diagon Alley II have written some Christmas fics to share with you, forming part of the DAII Secret Santa Gift Exchange 2016. We hope you enjoy these; author's names will be revealed on January 1st when the guessing competition finishes (and the final fic/chapter is added). Merry Christmas!
A/N: Here's a Barty x Regulus for The Crownless Queen, from your Secret Santa. It's a tale of a far-from-perfect Christmas, but I'm not sure how much that matters when they have each other :) I really hope you enjoy! -Laura (SableSupernova)
Note: the song lyrics that bookend this piece are from Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight) by The Ramones.
Where is Santa at his sleigh?
Tell me why is it always this way?
Where is Rudolph? Where is Blitzen, baby?
Merry Christmas, merry merry merry Christmas.
December 25, 1978
Regulus kept his eyes shut as he came to, as if he could will himself back to sleep. The room was still dark beyond his eyelids, but the shortest day of the year wasn't far behind, so the lack of sunlight didn't tell him much. His body felt heavy like it had stayed still for too long and needed moving. His mind buzzed to attention. With a groan, he opened his eyes.
It was then that he saw he was alone. The covers on Barty's side had been pushed back without much care hours before and still showed the signs of where his body had been. The memories of being half asleep watching him leave came back to Regulus. His heart sunk. He remembered it was Christmas Day today.
He wanted to go back to sleep now more than ever, to sleep through the whole day if he had to, just to pass the time without remembering it until Barty came home. If Barty came home. That would be a Christmas present, wouldn't it? he thought bitterly. A funeral to plan. He wouldn't even be able to grieve properly, not with his family or friends. Barty would have died for the cause, so everyone would have to be proud of him. No one even really knew that Regulus and Barty were much more than friends.
No, he wouldn't think about that. He wouldn't let his mind run away with itself. Just because he didn't know, that didn't mean the worst had happened. He pulled himself out of bed and reached for his jeans, half-dressing before he headed for the kitchen. He needed a nice cup of tea to settle his thoughts.
Once the kettle was full and the mug was sat waiting with its teabag, Regulus had to wait for the water to boil. He leant over the unit, arms fully extended, shoulders high and palms digging into the edge of the unit top.
The trouble was he didn't know where Barry was. He didn't know anything of the plan. They'd heard a rumour a week ago about a Christmas Day mission, but no detail. The two of them had thought it unlikely, at the time. They heard rumours of missions and attacks and that sort of thing all the time, and most of the time they were wrong. Something about this one had felt like that, too.
They'd talked about it that evening. Half laughing at it, half terrified of the prospect. They talked about it, Regulus thought, just so they could dismiss it. An attack on Christmas Day was an attack on families wasn't it? It wasn't just about the individuals who stood in opposition to them. It brought the old, the sick, the frail, the young all into the fray. They didn't deserve to be in the fray, did they? And then, Regulus remembered Barty saying, once you've attacked their parents, and grandparents, and children, you're just asking them to come after yours, aren't you? Even though Regulus didn't really mind the thought of anyone going after his parents, he still didn't think it was a good idea. There were new born children and new families in both sides that were surely best left out of things.
But the Dark Lord thought differently, and what the Dark Lord thought was what happened.
The kettle boiled and Ref poured it out into his cup, added some milk, and headed for the living room. Settling into the sofa, he saw the Christmas tree, magical lights twinkling like stars, and sighed. The presents were all underneath it. Yesterday, they'd seemed enchanting, enticing. Today, they just looked like things, like stuff. He saw the present he'd wrapped for Barty, in white paper with Father Christmases strewn all over it in garish reds. It looked pathetic next to Barty's present for him, a box wrapped in plain green with a white ribbon bow. Regulus hadn't even thought about putting a bow on his.
He put his cup of tea down on the coffee table and went over to the cupboard they kept in the living room, them one with a few glasses and bottles of alcohol for when they were entertaining. Regulus pulled out a tumblr and a bottle of brandy. He didn't like brandy all that much, but as they'd bought it for Christmas, it was right at the the front of the cupboard.
He poured himself a large measure and sat back down, leaving the lid off the bottle beside him.
He hoped a drink would calm his nerves a little, make his thoughts a little less clear, his imagination a little less vivid. He felt the same as he had all morning after emptying the first glass so he poured another.
It wasn't long before he poured another.
Time passed that way for what must have been hours. Regulus forgot to eat anything. He just sat there in a relentless rhythm of pouring and drinking. Occasionally, he found a cigarette and lit the end with his wand, pulling the smoke deep into his lungs until the heat almost hurt. He didn't even notice the noises from the door.
Footsteps, the jangling of keys, one being pushed into the lock. The handle was being turned before Regulus' brain caught up with his ears and he realised he could gear something. He tried to turn to face the door, to see who it was, but he noticed there were three doors. He wasn't sure which one was the real one. None of them would stay still either. They kept moving off to the right before jumping back to the right again and then moving back.
A blur walked into the room. It was vaguely man-shaped. Regulus willed his eyes to focus, but it took them a while before he recognised the person as Barty.
Barty. Barty was home. Regulus grinned. Barty was supposed to be home and that was a good thing and that made Regulus happy. Yes.
"Have you been drinking?"
The words were loud and cold and Regulus didn't like them. His smile faded.
"Bit," he said, looking away.
"A bit? Are you kidding me? It's Christmas Day, Reg! I've been inches away from death too many times to count today already and you've been sat there working your way through a bottle of whiskey? Merlin's beard, it's just gone one o'clock!"
There was silence for a moment in which Barty breathed loudly, waiting.
"S'not… it… not whiskey. Brandy." Regulus picked up the bottle, holding it to his face and peering the glass. "Gone."
"Bloody brilliant."
Barty threw his arms up in defeat and turned as if to walk into the house, away from Regulus.
"No!" Regulus shouted before jumping back in his seat as if scared by the volume of his own voice.
Barty sighed. "Why not?"
"It's Christmas. Don't wanna fight." Regulus said, looking at Barty as best he could with triple vision, sincerity lurking in the depths of his unfocused eyes.
The fight dissipated from Barty's muscles.
"I was scared, Barty. Thought… thought you were dead. Saw you… in my head. I just… I wanted to make it goway," Regulus admitted. Barty stood still and staring as Regulus pulled himself to unsteady feet and staggered towards him. As Regulus wrapped his arms around Barty, Barty didn't resist. He found his own arms lifting without his consent and wrapping around Regulus in return. "I love you," Regulus finished.
Barty closed his eyes as he loosed a shaky breath. "I love you too."
I love you and you love me
And that's the way it's got to be
I loved you from the start
'Cause Christmas ain't the time for breaking each other's heart