Barty stared up at me, the sadness in his eyes pulling at my heart. I reached up, cupping his cheek tenderly. His now wide eyes softened and he actually blushed as I leaned up on my toes to kiss him. He had always been the one to start any sort of affection, not me.
"Hermione?" I smiled as a 17 year old boy stared back at me. Not the Death Eater, not the slightly disturbed boy who would kill any one in his path, and relish in doing so. The teenager Barty Crouch Junior smiled almost kindly before increasing his hold on my waist. The short, tender moment between us was destroyed quicker than it was made.
"You're whipped by a fucking skirt. How fucking hilarious! I never thought that I'd see the day. Congratulations Granger, on succeeding where so many have failed." I squeezed Barty's hand encouragingly, and he simply scoffed.
"Just like a Black. Fucking coward. It was obvious that you belonged to me the minute you fell from the heavens into my lap."
"He's your best friend!" He laughed spitefully.
"Slytherins don't have friends. You are not to talk to him."
"You can't just bloody order me around like a dog!" He chuckled darkly, nibbling and sucking on my earlobe harshly. I shivered.
"Just watch me, vixen."
The massive rift between Barty and Regulus seemed irreparable. This caused the entire Slytherin House to be torn in two, divided down the middle as each Slytherin was forced to pick their own side in their own bloody House. That in turn affected me, as one of them was my self-proclaimed boyfriend, who was just as irritable as he was that afternoon, and the other was someone whom I had grown increasingly close to over the short period of time that I had been there. Slytherins were even worse when it came to their own bloody pride. In the past, I would've secretly reveled in the fact that the Slytherin House was getting their just desserts, but now, it hurt. I may have not been in the past for long, a little under a month, but I could see how it was affecting everyone. The Gryffindors were of course happy, as their rivals were experiencing disaster within their own sanctuary, making it a battlefield. My House could be so bloody stereotypical at times, unwilling to let go of past prejudices. It was horrible, as I had grown so close to both Regulus and Barty, but Barty never let me out of his sleep now until we were asleep.
"This is getting ridiculous!" I huffed, refusing to touch or even talk to Barty until he had matured enough to go work out a truce with Regulus after a week of walking on eggshells around Barty, trying not to invoke his anger by speaking to or about Regulus. I could only be so accommodating for so long. When I told Barty what I thought, Barty wasn't very happy with that, or me.
"You're being an idiot, Hermione. I refuse to apologize for his faults. Why should I?" Barty clarified arrogantly. I stared at him in shock and disbelief.
"I'm being an idiot?! You're the one who made that stupid promise in the first place! My body is none of your business! You can't just bargain it off to any one who comes along because you need them to co-operate with you! I'm my own bloody person, not your toy to pass around! By doing so, you've treated me like a whore, and I'll die before I become one!" I shouted at him, turning on my heel and taking sanctuary in the library. I couldn't stand being around him right now.
Finding a secluded area in the library, I opened up my books and begun reading, trying to quell the anger rising from the pit of my stomach. I had enough of spats like this in my own bloody time line. I supposed that no matter where or when you are, things like this always happened, but it didn't mean that they had to be so damned pig-headed about it!
"Bloody men." I hissed softly, glaring at the words on the page as if they had committed the crime themselves.
"I don't think glaring at the book is going to help your problem, sweetheart." I snapped my head up to see a boy in Gryffindor colors standing before me. He reminded me of a rather young version of David Bowie, with his hair and eyes.
"Shouldn't you be hating me?" I asked rather bluntly.
"Pardon?" He seemed a bit confused.
"The rest of our House hates me, so why are you here? To try and taunt me for having a relationship with the enemy?" He scoffed lightly and stepped forward. I tensed up immediately, more than slightly apprehensive. He chuckled and stole my book from my lap, waving it around in front of my face. I rolled my eyes at his antics, wanting to retreat back into the safe haven that my book offered.
"Dumbledore's wary of you, did you know that?" I was the confused one now.
"Me? Why? I haven't done anything to make it so."
"You're engaged to a Slytherin. And not just any Slytherin, but Crouch Junior. What more is there to it? He's the worst of the lot." I narrowed my gaze sharply. I felt the need to protect Barty, even though I knew that it was fairly true.
"He's not as bad as everyone thinks." I muttered. It was so cliché, but I felt like spouting 'he's just a victim of his environment, that's all'.
"Clearly, if he got a bird like you…" He muttered under his breath. My cheeks flushed and I frowned, stealing my book back from him.
"I'm not a bird, so don't call me one." He held his hands up in defense. I laughed.
"There we go, isn't that better?"
"Who are you?" I asked stridently. He seemed taken back by the sharpness of my question, but answered any way.
"Gareth Kingsley. Nice to meet you." He said with an over dramatic bow. I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to my book. I looked up over my book at the boy who seemed determined to destroy my silence. He seemed a little miffed being ignored like that. I smiled mischievously.
That's what he gets for interrupting me. I'm sure that he deserved his ego to be taken down a few pegs or so.
"Hermione!" I looked up to see Barty standing at the doorway with an entourage of Slytherins behind him. Barty smirked arrogantly at Gareth and slid an arm around my waist casually. I rolled my eyes in annoyance at Barty's never ending need to be possessive over me. Especially since Barty and Regulus's fight.
"Why are you here? Is it too much to ask for some peace and quiet?" I snapped, pushing Barty back and placing my hands on my hips defiantly. Barty's eyes darkened and I snorted. Of course he'd be turned on by my anger. Typical Dark Wizard. Barty licked his lips eagerly, and chuckled. My cheeks flushed.
Damn him.
"Yes, why are you here, Crouch? We were having quite a, stimulating conversation…" Barty's nostrils flared angrily at the not-so-hidden innuendo and raised an eyebrow at Gareth as he saw me roll my eyes again. These two brought out it out of me quite a lot.
"Is that so, Kingsley? By the look on Hermione's face, I am disinclined to believe that."
"She's a girl, she doesn't know anything." Barty inhaled sharply, staring at Gareth with a cheeky grin.
"You truly are an idiot." He commented rather happily as my anger consumed me and was directed at Gareth. The fear in Gareth's eyes was so obvious that it just wasn't funny.
"Just because I'm a girl does not mean I am some bumbling bimbo with nothing in my head but air." I growled, my wand hand twitching by my side. If I yelled at somebody, it wasn't that serious. But right now, I was positively enraged! I whipped out my wand and began flinging spells at him, leaving the rest of the Slytherins in awe of my magic. Barty just grinned.
"Chauvinistic pig!" I hissed, an almost evil smirk lighting my face as I observed the aftermath. Pimples and boils riddled his skin, which was now a bright shade of red combined with gold.
"House colours." A Slytherin laughed as Gareth tried to stand up, but the tripping hex combined with a sticking charm prevented it.
"Y-you're just a fucking whore who'll spread her legs for any thing with something between their legs!" He screamed. I froze. I could take anything except that. Insults, hexes, hell, even the Cruciatius Curse. But not being called a whore. Barty gripped my wrist, stopping me this time, instead of the other way around. He pulled me in, stroking my hair softly.
"I'll deal with him." He murmured, his voice so calm that it scared me.
"Don't kill him." I whispered. He tilted my chin up.
"He called you a whore…" He said, his tone almost sad. No not sad, pleading. He wanted to kill him. He was pleading with me to let him kill him.
"He doesn't deserve it." I murmured before burying my face in his warm chest. He held me tight, turning his wand on Gareth. I didn't want to hear anything that happened. I didn't want to hear Barty torturing him. I didn't want to hear Gareth's endless screams of pain. Barty gave me this one solace. He picked me up, treating me more fragile than I actually was. He turned to the Slytherins.
"Deal with him, but don't kill him." He ordered, his voice steely.