Written For:
- Flying Lessons #7: Write about an obstacle affecting your pairing. It could be at the start, someone unable to forgive and forget or it could be halfway with someone struggling in the already established relationship. There are so many possible obstacles, and there are so many ways to use them; just know, a negative impact should be caused but your pairing must get over it! / Prompt used: (action) a kiss
- Gringotts Prompt Bank/Secret Diary: (plot/action) Having neck and shoulders massaged, (dialogue) "I'm unpredictable like that.", (plot/action) Stripping off completely to go to sleep, (plot/action) Rubbing hair dry with a towel, (word) Lovely, (dialogue) "Hurting people is a very special talent.
Word Count: 2,028
Chapter Seven
Talent of Pain
When Barty and Luna arrived back at the hotel room, Barty ignored Regulus completely. Luna shot Regulus an apologetic look as Barty barged straight past him and started gathering belongings together.
"What are you doing?" Regulus demanded to know, narrowing his eyes as he observed his best friend. "Barty? Answer me!" He strode over to Barty, grabbing his wrists to stop his actions. "Why is there blood on your hand?"
Barty snatched his hand back, glaring at Regulus, and wiped his knuckles on his jeans. When he continued to ignore him, Regulus turned to Luna. "What happened?"
Luna released a breath. "Ralph was out there, looking for you."
"For me?"
Luna nodded. "He was being very sarcastic, suggesting that he was going to come up here to...what was the phrase..."
"Get lucky," spat Barty. Regulus shot a glance in his direction, but returned his attention to Luna.
"He was getting to Barty," she continued. "So he punched Ralph in the face. It knocked him out."
"You did what?" Regulus yelled. "Barty—he's our friend! How could you do that?"
"He is not my friend!" yelled Barty. "He is not Luna's friend! And he is not your friend!" Barty took a breath. "Why can't you see it? He likes you! He wants...he wants to be with you, or something!"
Regulus's lips curled back in a snarl. "Well, what would it matter? It's not like anything makes sense anymore!"
"What are you talking about?"
Luna crept past Regulus to sit by the beds, which just so happened to be very close to where Barty was standing.
"This is what I'm talking about," Regulus gestured a hand between Barty and Luna. "What is this? What are we doing? It was just you and me—but then it's suddenly you, me and Luna. And more often...you and Luna." The shadow of a downcast expression flickered across Regulus's face, but was gone almost as quickly as it had appeared.
"Regulus," Luna spoke, blinking rapidly. She had never intended to come between them. In fact, she never knew that Regulus had a problem with her involvement in their relationship—he had always appeared to be happy with their arrangement. "I'm sorry. I didn't...I didn't realise..."
"You wouldn't realise," Regulus continued, and it was in that moment that Luna looked across to the vanity table, noticing several opened liquor bottles. Regulus was drunk. "You're so wrapped up in Barty all the time, that you don't think about the third wheeler. Same for you," he snapped, nodding at Barty. Barty remained silent, though he looked quite shocked.
"It's not like that," Luna continued. "I like...I love you both," she whispered. Regulus folded his arms.
"One day, you're going to have to choose between both of us," he said quietly. "And if you don't pick, he will have to pick between you and me." Before Luna could reply, Regulus grabbed his jacket from the hook on the back of the door, and stormed towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Luna quipped, hurrying after him.
"I'm going to check that Ralph is alright!" Regulus yelled. "Seeing as the pair of you thought it was okay to leave him passed out on the grass. It's freezing cold out there." He paused looking back before closing the door behind him. "Don't expect me to come back here tonight. I want some time to myself."
The door closed sharply, and Luna stood behind it, looking crestfallen. She turned to Barty, and opened her mouth to speak, but he got there first. "Don't bother going after him, Luna," he muttered. "He meant what he said."
"Barty...he was right about everything," she murmured, crossing the hotel room and sitting down on the single bed, putting her head in her hands. "How could I be so selfish? I've let myself be drawn into the pair of you, and I've undoubtedly come between your relationship. I've ruined it."
Barty sat on the bed beside her, and placed his hands on her shoulders, rubbing them gently. She relaxed at his touch momentarily, but immediately stiffened up. "You're not selfish," Barty whispered. "You're lovely. This is Ralph's fault. We were having a great time before we came to this hotel."
"Maybe Ralph was just the excuse Regulus needed to admit his insecurities about us three," she replied in a hushed tone. She looked at Barty, her wide eyes swimming with tears. "I can't stand the thought of hurting him."
"Hurting people is a very special talent," Barty said. "Believe me, it's not one of your talents. Regulus loves you. He's just...I don't know. Things are still confusing."
oOo
Luna came out of the bathroom a few hours later, rubbing her damp hair dry with a towel. Her mother had always told her that a long bath was the best way to soothe a day full of troubles, and surprisingly, Luna did feel a lot better with clean hair and a clean body. She entered the bedroom just as Barty was stripping out of his clothes, and she turned around suddenly, before she could see him completely nude. "Why are you getting naked?" she questioned, facing the wall.
"I'm getting into bed," he replied, and she waited until she was sure he was safely under the covers, before turning around to face him.
"You don't normally get undressed to go to sleep," she commented. Usually he at least kept his underwear on, if not a t-shirt.
Barty shrugged. "I'm unpredictable like that. Come on, don't be such a prude." Luna raised her eyebrows, shrugging it off. Boys were weird, at times.
She switched off the bedside lamp before climbing into the cold sheets beside him. Deep down, she felt a little too aware of his nakedness beneath the sheets, but she managed to shake off her stiff composure and eventually settle down, facing away from Barty. The evening had been difficult for everyone involved, and she was ready to face the next day.
It seemed that Barty didn't really have an interest in sleeping. He nestled closer to Luna, winding an arm around her waist and burying his nose into her damp hair, inhaling deeply. She closed her eyes as his lips connected with the sensitive skin on her neck, feeling shivers run down her spine at the sensation. Any thoughts about his nakedness under the covers were suddenly forgotten.
"It's nice having you all to myself," he murmured, his breath hot by her ear. He pulled the lobe into his mouth and proceeded to leave butterfly kisses along the space behind her ear. She sighed in bliss, relaxing into his touch.
Before long, she had turned around to face him, wrapping her arms around his neck and threading her fingers through his hair. He kissed her mouth warmly, passionately, and she pressed her body against his, feeling comforted just by his solidarity. She might be living in the past, but this was real; he was real.
oOo
When Regulus had ventured outside to search for Ralph, he'd been momentarily confused when no one laid sprawled out on the grass. If Luna was right, then Ralph should still have been passed out—but no one was there. He shrugged, assuming that the receptionist must have just woken up and headed inside, probably to get an ice pack for his bruise.
He slipped into the reception building quietly, noticing that the desk was empty. That was unusual—even when Ralph finished working, there was usually someone who followed his shift. He leaned against the desk for a moment, wondering if Ralph was just in the bathroom—after all, not many people came into the hotel so to check in or out.
He was about to tap the little bell on the desk, when he noticed something unusual. There was a small, neat stack of parchment paper on the desk, which wasn't strange for a reception—except that the top parchment had Regulus's full name printed on it, along with a small, old photograph. Regulus felt a shudder of panic creep up his body as he grabbed the stack of paper, taking a closer look.
The photograph of him could only have come from home. It was a photo that had been taken of him and Sirius, but Sirius had of course been snipped straight out. It couldn't have been taken any more than about three years ago. The parchment held some more details on Regulus's appearance, what he was wearing when he left King's Cross station—
'What I was wearing at King's Cross,' Regulus thought suddenly. He flipped through the papers quickly, noticing a similar profile on Barty, though of course, there was no photo of Luna. Her name wasn't there either, just a hastily scribbled description of her appearance. When he got to the last page, he saw his mother's signature inscribed neatly at the bottom.
Regulus carefully placed the papers back down where he found them, shock radiating through his body. 'My mother hired Ralph to track me down,' he thought avidly, as the pieces suddenly came together. That was why Ralph was so intent on befriending them. That was why he tried so hard to come between the three of them. He was under Walburga's orders.
Regulus tried to remember when he first saw Ralph, desperately hoping that he was wrong. He hadn't been the one who had first greeted them when they first came to this hotel. Ralph had shown up maybe one or two days later, and they hadn't even thought about it. Receptionists came and went at all the hotels they stayed at.
But it made sense now. Ralph had obviously found them and probably used magic on the owners to give him a job there—or worse. Regulus shuddered, wondering if Ralph could be the kind of person who might have used dark magic on the owners of the hotel.
There was a door behind the desk, and even though Regulus wanted to do nothing more than charge back to the room and get Barty and Luna out, something drew him to the door. He sneaked behind the desk, and grasped the door handle, pushing it open slowly.
What he saw confirmed everything he had suspected about Ralph. A middle aged Muggle woman, probably in her early sixties, was sitting with her back against the tiny room, which was a cupboard of some sort. From the deathly still manner in which she sat, with her head flopped to the side and her brown eyes wide open, Regulus knew immediately that she was dead.
'We have to get out of here.'
He shut the door quietly and jumped over the desk, just as he heard rustling coming from the breakfast room. Ralph was coming. Without waiting to make sure, he charged out of the reception and over to the hotel block, rushing up the stairs and banging on the door of their room.
Barty answered after a minute of knocking, dressed in nothing but his underwear. His cheeks were flushed and his lips were swollen, but Regulus didn't care. He pushed past Barty, slamming the door shut behind him, gasping for breath.
Luna rushed forward, looking equally dishevelled. "Regulus?" she gasped. "Are you okay?"
"We have to go," he panted, glancing between Barty and Luna. "I'll explain later—you were right about Ralph," he added, looking at Barty. "I'm sorry. He's—he's a jerk. He's got...files on me and you. He's killed the lady who owns the hotel!"
Luna clapped a hand over her mouth, but sprang into action immediately, throwing their belongings into their bags and bringing a t-shirt and jeans to Barty.
As he dressed, Regulus continued to watch him. "I'm really sorry, Barty," he apologised, cupping his cheek as Barty finished dressing. "I didn't mean to go off on one earlier." He looked over at Luna. "I really didn't mean it."
"It's okay," Luna replied breezily as she hurried towards Barty and Regulus with their bags. "Lets just get out of here."
Regulus leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Barty's lips, before turning and pressing one to Luna's as well. "I'm sorry," he said, for the third time. "Lets get out of here."