[summary] – Stay Out of the Basement: Barty's plan to get Regulus to explore his own home backfires spectacularly.
"You live here and you've never been into the basement?" Barty asked incredulously, staring at Regulus as though he were the insane one.
"It just… It isn't a good idea," Regulus muttered, refusing to make eye contact with his friend.
"Why not?" Barty asked, completely unfazed.
"It's not a… normal house," Regulus whispered, eyes darting around the room as if he thought someone might be listening. Barty scoffed at that.
"C'mon," he said, grabbing Regulus' wrist and dragging him to the top of the stairs. "You've lived here your entire life. If there was something bad in there, you'd know it by now." Regulus shook his head slowly, trying to come up with a way to convince Barty that they should leave the room alone, but his friend was already climbing down the stairs.
"We really shouldn't be doing this," Regulus whispered, but he was forced to follow due to the firm grip Barty still had on his wrist.
"It's just a bit dark, is all," Barty said. The basement was flooded with light. "Thanks," Barty said when his vision finally cleared.
"That… that wasn't me," Regulus stuttered, torn between turning back and staying close to the only other person in the house.
"Oh. Are they automatic, then?" Barty asked, reaching the bottom of the stairs and looking around the room. It was surprisingly clean for a room so rarely used. There wasn't a single cobweb – the old furniture (most likely a relic from the previous occupants of the house) wasn't even dusty – but that wasn't what drew Regulus' attention.
"No," Regulus whispered.
"Then what–" Barty cut himself off mid-sentence, his eyes finally registering where Regulus was looking.
In stark contrast to the room, the boy was unkempt, looking like he hadn't showered in weeks. Maybe longer. His hand was still on the light switch.
He stared at them in silence for a moment, grey eyes calm, before giving an exaggerated pout.
"I don't like people in my room," he said.
The lights cut out.