Hello everyone! Sorry for taking so long, and sorry that this is just a filler chapter.

As an excuse, I've been overwhelmed with essays to write for school, but it should ease up pretty quickly from here on out!

Lily Greene, Teddy2104, One Smart Waffle, Sam, Cae-Leigh Anne, rosaruna3713, 19irene96, Idigloett, lizyeh2000, Nik1804, thank you so much for your thoughtful comments. If I haven't replied to you yet, I will during the week.

Everyone else, thank you for being so patient, and sorry the chapter's so short!

'You know, this really explains why he got so upset when the girls were all over him last year,' Emma said at last, absently twirling her wand around in her fingers.

Rabastan said nothing, head between his hands, elbows propped on his knees. Lucinda sat next to him on the sofa, an impressed look upon her face.

They were back in the Slytherin dungeon, having let Barty and Fenwick off with a few deducted points and an embarrassing scolding. Thoughtfully, they had let the two boys sort out their respective cover stories by themselves rather than march Barty down to the dungeons.

'I still can't believe it,' Rabastan shook his head, staring at the roaring fire. 'Our Barty? Fraternising with the enemy?'

Just then, the secret wall slid open to reveal Regulus enter, his expression warring between self-satisfied and angry. He immediately joined Emma in standing by the fire, rubbing his hands together before the head.

'Merlin, has no one ever thought of placing Heating Charms in the dungeon corridors? It's freezing out there. I swear I even saw an icicle in one corner,' he complained, uncharacteristically not noticing the atmosphere.

Rabastan immediately rounded on him.

'Did you know?' he demanded.

'Know what?' Regulus asked turning to warm his back and cocking an eyebrow at his friend.

'Know that Barty Crouch is dating bloody Benjamin Fenwick,' Rabastan exclaimed, unable to contain his outrage.

Lucinda hushed him, looking around, but everyone had retired to their dormitories. It was, after all, a Wednesday night - no one could be bothered to summon the energy to stay in the common room. Even Lucinda had fallen asleep on the sofa, as was her habit whenever a member of their tightly-knit group hadn't returned in the evening.

Quickly, Emma cast Severus's useful Muffliato spell to prevent further outbursts.

'Of course,' Regulus replied. 'We are quite good friends after all.'

'And you never thought to inform us of that fact?' Rabastan pressed.

'Why would I?' Regulus asked casually, turning as if he were on a spit in front of the fire. 'I thought Lucinda knew, hence that you knew as well.'

Rabastan turned his accusatory eyes on Lucinda, who quickly threw her hands up in protest.

'Hey, don't look at me, I had no idea!' She exclaimed. She turned to question Regulus, but a frown stole its way across her face and she revised what she was going to say. 'Wait a minute. The love potion that Rabastan and Emma made… I was going to find a way to use it on Fenwick, and Barty was going to help me. You don't mean...'

She looked ill.

'Barty decided to take it upon himself to strike up a romance,' Regulus finished for her. 'A love potion, after all, is pretty unreliable. If we didn't administer it in regular doses, then he might realise something.'

'That's just wrong,' Lucinda said vehemently. 'I thought Barty was better than that. Taking advantage of someone's feelings like that? Pretending he liked boys just so that he could get closer to Fenwick?'

'That's where you're only half right, Lucy,' Regulus corrected. 'Barty does like boys; I thought you knew, because you invited one of his boyfriends to Rabastan's New Year party.'

'Mulciber Junior?' Emma asked, scrunching her face up in recollection. She vaguely remembered a fourth year playing chess with Barty that evening.

Lucinda had other priorities.

'One of his boyfriends?' she asked, astonished. She blinked her large blue eyes, as though she had never even considered the possibility.

'Well,' Regulus amended. 'He's been casually dating a few people. He thought that Mulciber Junior - as Emma so kindly called Eric - might need to take his mind off the raid.' He grimaced, lowering his voice respectfully. 'With reason, it turns out.'

There was a short silence, as the four of them contemplated Mulciber's fate. Emma couldn't honestly say that she was going to miss him, or that the world was worse off without him, but his family didn't deserve for him to die so young.

'So, let me get things straight,' Rabastan started up the conversation awkwardly. 'Barty likes guys, is going out with Fenwick in order to…what? Does he fancy him? Is there a chance that he's in love with him? Do we need to give Barty the love potion?'

Regulus started in alarm, realising that he hadn't explained properly. 'Look, this is really something Barty should explain...'

As if on cue, the wall slid open a second time and a tired Barty Crouch stumbled down the entrance corridor. He glanced up and heaved a sigh upon seeing the four of them.

'I suppose it was too much to hope that I wouldn't have to deal with this until morning,' he stated simply.

Without waiting for a response, he threw himself into the armchair nearest to the fire, rubbing his eyes wearily. Emma repositioned herself against the wall, observing Barty from another angle. A thousand questions rose to her lips, but she suppressed them. Barty would be able to explain better if he was left to his own devices.

'I'm guessing by now you realise that I'm gay,' he said simply, looking around to judge their reactions. Nobody moved. 'I met Benjy before I knew he was fishing around for the Death Eater stuff…I don't even know if he suspects me, I might have let a couple of things slip.

'Anyway, when we found out that he was probably part of Dumbledore's order, I decided I'd do a little fishing myself. Don't worry, I'm not falling for him or anything,' Barty hastened to add, when Rabastan opened his mouth. 'I know clearly where my loyalties lie. I would kill him in a heartbeat if he found out about any of us.'

He paused and sighed again, adding frankly. 'It's just nice to date someone who's intelligent, for a change. With any luck, I'll be able to convince him of my point of view, you can all meet him properly and Rabastan can wipe that scowl off of his face.

'Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed. I'm sure Regulus is capable enough of fielding any further questions.'

His piece said, Barty threw himself out of the chair as quickly as he arrived and true to his word, disappeared into the sixth year's dormitory.

Emma blinked several times, admiring the ruthlessness of the younger boy. She believed him when he said he'd kill Fenwick without a second thought, but not when he said that he hadn't developed feelings. If he hadn't, then he wouldn't have been so matter of fact. In fact, he would have revelled in the opportunity to be of use to the Dark Lord in a way the rest of them couldn't.

She turned to Regulus, but found that she had nothing to ask. Instead, she straightened up from her slouch against the wall.

'I'm off to bed too then,' she announced, leaving the three behind them.

Lucinda joined her shortly afterwards, leaving Regulus to convince Rabastan that Barty wasn't a security threat.

'Honestly James, I'm pretty sure that all of this is just some kind of misunderstanding,' Lily sighed, as James paced back and forth in front of the fire, stomping loudly with every footfall.

The Gryffindor common room, as usual, was packed. At ten o'clock on a Wednesday night, most of the upperclassmen were up planning their weekends or just chilling out on the squishy armchairs. Nobody took Thursday classes seriously, anyway, and everyone needed a break halfway through the week.

Sirius had unceremoniously tipped the redhead lounging in front of the fire out of his chair, the other students around giving him dirty looks as he settled himself into the coveted seat. Remus politely asked if room could be made on the sofa, and Peter had joined them soon afterwards, along with Marlene, Lily's best friend. Lily herself was standing at the other end of the sofa, watching her boyfriend with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

'What's going on here?' Marlene asked, tossing her mane of ringlets over her shoulder as she sat down, careful not to lean on her hair.

James gave a huff, Sirius gave a groan, and Remus sighed at his friends antics.

Shaking her head for the umpteenth time that day, Lily took it upon herself to explain. 'James thinks his sister is engaged to Sirius's brother.' Acknowledging the squeak from the armchair with an eye roll, she carried on. 'Apparently, Hestia heard it from…some kind of gossip grapevine.'

'She heard it from Amy Macmillan, who heard it from Helen Burke, who heard it from John Langley, who heard it from Benjy Fenwick, who heard it from Barty Crouch! Get your facts right, woman,' Sirius admonished.

'As if anyone would remember such a string of useless information but you, Sirius,' Lily flared up.

They had a habit of getting into arguments, mostly from Sirius's provocations. He had decided that although he could accept Prongs getting a girlfriend, he could not accept the fact that Lily Evans was calming down.

Remus intervened before they could properly get into the fight.

'That's gossip that's travelled across a lot of Houses,' he remarked. 'I don't really see Regulus Black broadcasting this kind of information for the world to hear.'

'That's because he knows I'd beat him up,' Sirius growled.

Everyone turned to Sirius in curiosity. The animosity between him and James's sister was legendary, their tempers having translated into duels more than once. If anything, they would have expected Sirius to be angry with Emma Potter, or even happy that it was one more link between him and Prongs.

'Bloody Death Eater,' he added.

Suddenly everything made sense.

'Now look here, Sirius,' Marlene said, half rising from her sitting position, her eyes flashing dangerously. 'Just because you don't like your brother, you don't have to pretend he's a Death Eater. That's a really serious accusation. Might I remind you of the damage it caused my father?'

James stopped his pacing - Marlene never talked much about her family. A blush grew on Remus's cheeks - he had never been more embarrassed of Sirius's crazy theories than then. Peter stayed as quiet as a mouse, fitting for Wormtail. Lily crossed the sofa to put a comforting hand on her friend's arm However, Sirius was not deterred.

'He is, and I can prove it.'

'Here we go again,' Remus closed his eyes. 'Sirius, drop it for tonight, will you?'

'I think we're getting off topic here,' James agreed. 'How are we going to find out if he's engaged to my sister? She's too young!'

'I think you'll find that your sister can decide for herself,' Lily replied drily, but inwardly she was thankful for the change in the mood.

James seemed more interested in finding out if the information was true or not, rather than angry at Regulus. She didn't know him very well, but he seemed like a pretty nice guy to her - quiet, polite and respectful of authority figure. Although, she mused, that last conversation I had with him made him seem… intense. As though he had witnessed too much for someone of his age.

She banished the thought. Of course he had witnessed too much, his father had died young. That much, Sirius knew. Besides, there was a war going on outside. None of them were safe. From what Sirius had said, their mother was a fervent supporter of Voldemort. Maybe Regulus was worried that he would get pulled into becoming a Death Eater after graduation. She didn't know much about pureblood society, but from what James said, it seemed as though parents exerted a lot more influence on their offspring than those in the Muggle world.

As she mused upon the vague idea that she could know a potential Death Eater - though she thought it unlikely, since the word brought sadistic megalomaniacs rather than seventeen year old Hogwarts students to mind - Marlene's voice attracted her attention.

'Purebloods often have long engagements,' she was saying, gesticulating to make her point. 'A lot of the time, engagements are made when we're young, take Sirius and me, for example. A contract is made, and most children go along with it to make their families happy. Of course, there's also the advantage that you can almost be sure that your blood isn't too linked, otherwise you end up with... Well...'

'You can say it,' Sirius said grumpily. 'I know my parents were cousins. There's a certain pride in the fact that the Blacks are inbred. There's a mad one in every generation. Luckily for me, Bellatrix drew the short straw for mine.'

'You're related to Voldemort's right hand woman?' Lily exclaimed loudly. She felt her face redden as there were a few winces that went around. 'Sorry everyone… Muggleborn. We're unused to the thing about the name.'

There was a pause in the conversation as they waited for the surrounding conversation to start up again.

'But Emma doesn't have a marriage contract,' James said, frowning. 'Our parents didn't believe in all of that.'

'Aha, but see, you're both still at Hogwarts, James,' Marlene nodded knowledgeably. 'Your contracts are probably held with your closest relatives until you're both out of school. You're still technically children in the eyes of this kind of contract. If you find out who holds the contracts, you'll find out who had to approve the engagement, if there is one.' As an afterthought, she added. 'You might want to see if there's one for you too. Fresh meat, after all.'

This time it was James's turn to squawk. 'How am I supposed to know who that is?'

'Dorea Black,' Peter said suddenly, drawing all of the attention to himself.

'How in the name of Merlin's saggy buttocks,' Sirius said evenly, 'do you know that, Wormtail?'

'I, um...' Peter turned red, squirming in his seat, his eyes flitting from person to person. Lily watched him sympathetically; he had never enjoyed being put on the spot. 'I heard Wilkes and Mulciber talking about it before Christmas in Herbology,' he admitted.

'What?' James roared, throwing his body across the room to land on top of Marlene.

She wriggled free with a disgusted expression, but James had already turned to face Peter, even going to take a hand with both of his own. His face took on a pleading look.

'You have to tell me, Wormtail,' James said doubtfully, as though he didn't want to know the answer. 'Why in Merlin's name would they be talking about who my closest living relative is?'

'Because,' Wormtail replied unhappily, obviously fearing his friend's wrath. 'Wilkes applied for a marriage contract. And it wasn't for you.'