[Regulus/Barty] Implied romance if you squint.
"I really hate you sometimes," Regulus whispered, doing his best to express his glare in his voice.
"I know you do." Regulus' glare darkened upon hearing the smirk in Barty's voice. "Now, if you don't want to get caught, I suggest you shut up."
Barty turned his attention back to the front entrance, peering through the gap in the banisters, and, after a brief moment of hesitation, Regulus did the same.
"Should we really be here?" he asked tentatively, looking away from his friend.
"We have to see who's here," Barty whispered. "You said you used to do this all the time, anyway. I don't see what the problem is."
"With my brother, when we were children," Regulus hissed. "When, if we got caught, the worst that would happen is a missed meal and a sore backside."
"Well, what's the worst that could happen now? We'll be fine if you just stopped talking."
"What's the worst that could happen?" Regulus repeated incredulously. "Have you met my cousin?"
"It doesn't matter. I just want to know who's here, and then we can go."
"Is this the only reason you wanted to visit my aunt with me?"
"No, of course not." Barty flashed a smile in Regulus' direction. "I just wanted to see, that's all. There's no harm in it, is there?"
"Unless we get caught," Regulus muttered.
.oOo.
"Yaxley was there," Barty hissed, pulling Regulus' attention away from his Transfiguration essay.
"Where?"
"That meeting. At your cousin's house. He was there."
"So?"
"So, we should-"
"Wait, meeting?"
"Yes, meeting. You can't honestly be that oblivious, Regulus," Barty scoffed. "Now, since I highly doubt you'd be willing to ask Bellatrix-"
"No one's stupid enough to call it a meeting, Barty, and I'm not as oblivious as you would believe." Regulus turned his attention back to his homework.
"Then what do you propose we do?" Barty snapped, clearly irritated now.
"We're still at Hogwarts. There's not much we could do for the cause." Regulus replied blandly.
"Our families have connections, we could-"
"There are people with connections that are just as good - some even better - than our families could provide."
"So, what? We're useless?"
"Weren't you listening? I said there wasn't much we could do. But what separates us from everyone already recruited?"
"I… I don't know. We're just students…" Barty trailed off, frowning.
"Exactly. We have easy access to Hogwarts." Regulus set his quill aside.
Barty's eyes widened, grin spreading across his face.
"So we should talk to…" he questioned.
"Narcissa."
"Narcissa?" The grin fell from his features almost comically quickly. "What good will she do?"
"She can talk to Lucius," Regulus explained slowly.
"Why can't we go to him?"
"He'll be much more agreeable to Narcissa."
"Why not just ask Bellatrix?"
"No. The woman's clearly insane. Or getting there, at least."
.oOo.
"What changed?" Barty asked, nearly a year later, lying back on Regulus' bed.
"What do you mean?" Regulus asked, glancing at Barty over the top of his book.
"You were so worried before. Scared of getting caught. What changed?"
"I just don't see the point in taking needless risks when there is an easier solution." He turned his attention back to the yellowed pages.
"So why didn't you just tell me that you had a better idea?"
"I wanted to see how long it would take you to figure out."
He shut Magick Moste Evile loudly, setting it on his nightstand with a sigh; it wasn't what he was looking for.