Word Count: 391
Written For:
- September Event, prompt: (object) Dormitory
Bruises & Bitemarks
If time stood still I'd take this moment, make it last forever.
After Slytherin had won the Quidditch Cup, the party in the common room went on for hours. So long in fact, that Seeker Regulus Black almost forgot about his best friend. Almost.
He slipped out of the party when Beaters Avery and Mulciber had finally stopped throwing him in the air, and hurried to the sixth year boys dormitory. He was pretty sure that Barty would be in hereāhe hadn't been in the stands during the Quidditch match, and he was pretty sure that even Barty wouldn't spend a Saturday evening in the library.
As soon as he reached the dormitory, he heard it. The quiet sound of sobbing, muffled by a blanket. When the door to the dormitory creaked upon Regulus's entry, the sobbing abruptly stopped, but Regulus had already heard it.
"Barty?" he called into the empty dormitory.
"Go away," came the thick reply. Regulus ignored the command and headed into the dorm, bypassing his own bed until he came to Barty's which had the curtains drawn around it tightly. He seemed to sense Regulus's presence. "I said, go away!"
"What's the matter with you?" Regulus peered through the curtain and observed the figure that was hunched up in the duvet, curled up in a foetal position. Barty threw the covers back angrily and glared up at Regulus.
"What did I just say?" he hissed, his dark brown eyes glittering angrily.
Regulus blinked down at Barty. There was something marring his usually peaky complexion. A dark purple bruise, just below his left eye. "What happened?"
"It doesn't matter." Barty made to pull the duvet back over his head, but Regulus grabbed hold of it. He ducked behind the curtain and slipped into the single bed with his friend, pulling the covers over both of their heads.
"Did someone hit you?"
Barty was silent, but Regulus saw him nodding in the dark.
"Who was it?"
"Avery."
Now it was Regulus's turn to be silent. He knew all too well what Avery was like, and he would've had little reason for punching Barty. "Come here," muttered Regulus, extending his arm so that Barty could scoot in for a cuddle.
Regulus wasn't much of a fighter, but he vowed to make Avery pay for hurting Barty.
