- Day 50 of 366 Days of Writing Challenge:

Sadness

- The Emotion Challenge: Sad

- Hogwarts Funfair/Carousel - Car 4, Seat 3: (plot point) somebody takes an exam

- Hogwarts Funfair/Horse Race - Marauders Era

Pairings/Characters: Regulus, Barty

Word Count: 387


Ancient Runes

I want my cake and I want to eat it too, I want to have fun and be in love with you.

Regulus buried his head in his arms, trying desperately to ignore the sounds of everyone else's quills scratching their parchment. It was the third OWL that he had taken, and so far, it was the worst.

Why had he even picked Ancient Runes as a subject, anyway? He never paid attention to the silly little squiggles that had apparent meanings. He had no interest in their unique code and language. All he wanted to do was play Quidditch.

A familiar cough sounded somewhere in front of him, and he peeked through the gap in his folded arms. Barty sat a few seats diagonal from him, his quill moving rapidly across his page. Him. He was the reason that Regulus had chosen Ancient Runes. Picking that subject meant that he had just a bit more time to spend alongside him.

He sat up straight, resisting the urge to groan out loud. The first question still sat empty in front of him, and he wished with all of his might that he could take a look inside Barty's mind for just a second, so he could get at least a couple of the answers right.

It filled Regulus with sadness to know that Barty hated his intellect. He was a subject of bullying, which of course was a reason for him to dislike his advanced brain, but he had so many options ahead of him. Barty had the opportunity to be anything he wanted, and Regulus couldn't even get past the first question on his test.

He sat back sadly, looking down at the page. The rune on the first question did look familiar, somehow. A series of straight lines, connected in the right places. He glanced again over at the back of Barty's head, wishing more than anything that he could just spend a few minutes alone with Barty right now. He didn't care if it was to fool around, or whether they actually did some studying. He just wanted a moment to talk to Barty.

He loved him.

Regulus blinked. Love.

That was the rune on question one.

He grinned, allowing his quill to fly across the page. Finally, he was getting somewhere.