Chapter Text
Barty scanned the room, looked at the people laughing, the people dancing, the people having the time of their lives at this end of the year party he organised. Well, not just him. He had had some help.
'I think we were quite succesfull tonight, Mr. Crouch jr.'
Barty turned to Sirius and debated scolding him on specifically adding the jr. but instead a grin spread widely on his face.
'I think we were indeed, Mr Black.'
Sirius was looking quite smug, before he set off towards his best mate and baby brother on the opposite side of the room. Barty rolled his eyes before turning his gaze back to the people before him. He didn't exactly know how they had done it but after suggesting a momentary collaboration that was reluctantly accepted, for the sole purpose of Sirius Black not being able to refuse a party, the two of them had actually managed to plan and host the party within a week. Sirius and his mates had taken care of the snack situation, where they had gotten so much candy and other stuff Barty didn't know but he was glad he had put them in charge of it. Sirius had taken care of the music too, while Barty, together with Dorcas, had provided the booze and had asked the lovely Pandora to arrange some pretty party decorations for them. The Slytherin common room was offered, mostly because the Slytherins refused to show their faces in the red house and the Gryffindors in return were a lot easier to convince going to the dungeons was a quest to be conquered. Besides only the tolerable ones were present now anyways, the ones that made his fellow Slytherins smile with loving heart eyes and maybe a few more for good measure.
'Bartyyyy!!!'
He turned his attention to a fully inebriated Dorcas, who put a lazy arm around his waist. 'Hello Cassie, what's up?'
'I told you, no Cassi-'
'-Cass, did you give it to him, did you give it?'
Dorcas' blonde paramour was jumping up and down as she came close, high on a sugar overdose.
'Was about to.' Dorcas grinned and then held up a small jewelry box to Barty.
'Merlin, Cassie, are you.. proposing?' Barty dramatically put a hand to his chest. 'I don't know what to say, it's all so unexpect- Ouch!'
She has pinched his arm and amused, she watched him recover from his dramatics. 'Will you just open it, you tosser.'
He grinned and grabbed the box from her, excitedly opening it up and gasping at its content. 'You fucker, I knew you had it.' In the box, was the necklace he had lost beginning of the school year. The one Dorcas had supposedly not stolen.
'Oi!' She pinched him again and he recoiled. 'I did not have it, you wanker. It was under the bloody couch. I found it last week, when I dropped my ink down there and had to clean it up. Obviously you still bloody lost it yourself at the start of year. I figured however, that you may want it back.'
Barty wasn't entirely sure he believed her but it didn't matter anymore. It was back, his Evan necklace. He took it out and gasped again. 'You changed it?' It was clear. The snake was now circling itself around a stunning small rose.
Dorcas grinned and shrugged. 'Thought it seemed more fitting for you and your Roseeeee. I can change it back if you want, it's simple magic but I-'
'No. It's perfect. Thank you, Ca- Thank you, Dorcas.'
She smiled fondly and patted his cheek. 'Very welcome, love. Thank me by sending me nice gifts this summer.'
Barty chuckled as she walked away and then quickly put the necklace on. It fell in its place as if it had never left and he knew that he couldn't have received a better end of year gift than this. Perfection.
As the night went on, slowly people started disappearing back to their own house, wandering the halls past curfew or back into their dorms. Sirius had left the party with the tall boyfriend trailing behind him, more important things on their minds. James and Regulus were sitting happily together, no traces of the grumpy, nasty Regulus left. He fully acceted enjoying their last weeks and as far as Barty understood it, the two of them had some sneaky plans about meeting in Hogsmead every now and then, outside of the weekends that Hogwarts itself planned. Good on them. They really did belong together. Dorcas was in the big chair, her girlfriend in her arms as they were giggling and talking about the appartment they were getting together after school. They were happy. The world might be a bit fucked but they were happy right now and Barty felt they'd be alright.
Barty himself was sitting next to his Evan, with the lovely Pandora on his other side. The red-haired Gryffindor girlfriend and them had parted ways for now and Pandora was simply relaxing, leaning their head on Barty's shoulder. After a little while of them just being, they got up and said their goodnights to the rest, excusing themselves back to the Ravenclaw dorm. They walked around the couch and when they saw Barty stare fondly at Evan, they leaned over it, bringing their mouth closer to his ear.
'I told you, you would fall in love with him.'
He chuckled and turned to them. 'Yeah yeah, well you were very right, Pandabear.'
They chuckled and finally left with a wave at the rest.
Evan turned to him. 'What was that about?'
'Oh,' Barty started nonchalantly, 'Panda told me, that I would fall for you like a while back... I did not understand it correctly back then, but I guess they were right.'
'You guess?'
'Okay I know they were. Cause here I am, in love with you.'
Evan smiled. 'I like hearing you say that.'
'Do you now? Well,' Barty got up and coughed loudly. He saw Evan roll his eyes with a smile on his face and winked at him before shouting. 'Attention! I am in love with Evan Rosier.' The few remaining people hardly looked up and he heard Marlene shout back.
'Good on you, Crouch!'
He grinned and extended a hand towards Evan. The music was still playing but everyone was sitting on the couch and he was feeling something else.
'Dance with me, Mr. Rosier?'
'Absolutely not.' Evan put on a scowl as he looked around the room and saw that no one else was dancing.
'Oh come on, please?'
Evan shot him a look and Barty chuckled. 'Alright, fine.' He shrugged and felt the unease in his body, he really wanted to dance. He smiled then as an idea formed. 'I'll just dance with someone else then.' He scanned the remaining people and when his eyes moved to James, Regulus' immediately shot daggers at him.
'Don't even, Crouch.'
This made Barty burst out into a laugh, until he heard Peter's warm voice and saw the boy get up from the couch.
'I'll dance with you, Crouch.'
Barty turned to Peter and smiled, holding out his hand with a flair. 'Mr. Pettigrew, I would be delighted.' He shot a smug look at Evan and then moved Peter to the more open space, pulling him into a dance.
Evan merely rolled his eyes at first but as the actual dancing started, Barty was very aware of them being trained on both of the boys constantly. Barty made a point of not looking back at him and instead focussed on the fact that neither Peter, nor himself really knew how to dance. Barty was just kind of spinning the boy around a little, in between swaying to the music. They both laughed as Peter commented on the clumsy way his feet moved and to Barty's delight, the two of them were actually enjoying themselves. Pettigrew was a funny lad. At some point, Peter moved himself a little closer and when Barty raised a questioning eyebrow at him, he was a taken man after all and no offense but he wasn't about to mingle with the Gryffindor house as well, Peter just shrugged with a whispered 'You're welcome.'
Welcome? Welcome for what? A hand on Peter's shoulder made Barty stop dancing and look into Evan's eyes, who was standing behind the boy.
'Afraid I'm going to have to tap in Pettigrew, if I may?'
Peter smiled at the Slytherin's overly strained yet polite tone. He nodded, gently letting go of Barty so Evan could take his place. Clever Peter. Barty smugly looked at his boyfriend and tried not to laugh as he saw the annoyance in the boy's face make way for satisfaction as he grabbed Barty's waist.
'Got jealous there, love?'
'Definitely not.' Evan stated as he smoothly pulled Barty into the right position and started leading him into a dance on the music. 'Someone just had to teach you how to do this dancing thing properly. Seeing you fumble it, was getting pretty painful.'
Barty raised an eyebrow and then smiled as he followed Evan's perfect leading. Of course Evan knew how to dance like this, probably courtesy of his family. Why was Barty even surprised?
The music slowed and Evan pulled Barty even closer, laying his cheek against Barty's while lifting his own head, thereby bringing his mouth near Barty's ears. 'Alright, perhaps I was a tad jealous, Darling.'
Grinning, Barty teased. 'Were you now?'
'Mmhmm,' Evan's voice was low and their moment felt intimate, sending good shivers down Barty's spine. 'Guess I don't like seeing someone else's hands on what's mine. Not when it could be my hands on you instead.'
Barty moved his head slightly, so that his lips could travel over Evan's jawline. 'Guess I don't like having someone else's hands on my waist, when they could've been yours, either.'
He saw Evan had his eyes closed, while he only slightly swayed them to the music now. In doing so, Barty took the opportunity to softly kiss the boy's cheek, before letting his mouth roam down to the lad's neck. He was about to place his lips in the crook of it, when a loud cough interrupted their moment.
'Oi, no dirty stuff on the dancefloor.'
Barty looked up at Dorcas with a laugh. 'What do you mean, Cassie? That is the absolute best place for dirty stuff.'
Evan seemed to get pulled from whatever trance he was in and turned his head towards her as well, not letting go of Barty in the slightest. 'Meadowes, the amount of times we caught you and McKinnon snogging in full sight is beyond counting. We owe you some public displays of affection.'
Dorcas rolled her eyes but then continued to blush, as said Gryffindor whispered something in her ear. 'Alright,' She started with a dopey grin. 'You boys are forgiven, we will be leaving now.' She got up more than quickly and pulled a laughing Marlene along towards the stairs of their dorms.
Gladly, Barty returned his attention to the boy in his grip. He moved his hands to Evan's face, holding it like it was the most precious thing in the world. Quite honestly, it was. Evan was the most precious thing in his world.
'Alright. Time for us to leave too.' Regulus got up from the couch and pulled a rosy-cheeked James along with him. 'You two stay out of the dorm for while longer.'
The two of them left and Peter coughed, excusing himself from their dorm with a grin, mumbling something about checking if the Hufflepuff's still had some sort of party going. This meant Barty and Evan were now alone and softly, Evan started swaying the two of them to the lingering music again.
They stayed like that for a while until Evan stopped and gently pulled Barty back to the couch where he took place beside him. He moved and as he was now comfortably leaning against Barty, the both of them stared at the remainders of Pandora's burning, mesmerizing, green lights. It was just the two of them, the firewhiskey on the table and the rummage of a party still evident around the room. It was calm and perfect. Barty turned to Evan and studied his face, before the boy looked at him in return.
'What is it?'
Barty smiled. 'Nothing. I'm just happy.'
Evan's eyes sparkled and he smiled. 'Me too, darling. Me too.'
Reaching out a hand, Evan stroked his thumb over Barty's cheek, making him lean in to the touch.
'I cannot believe it's the end of the year already.' Barty sighed. 'So much has changed from when it started.'
'Mm, indeed.' Evan's eyes unfocussed as he recounted the events of the year that lead them there.
'Don't know if I'm ready for summer.' Barty interrupted his thoughts.
Evan returned to him and smiled encouragingly. 'You're still coming along to mine, yes?'
Barty nodded enthousiastically. 'Yes, definitely. I only have to say a quick "hi" to my mother, piss off my father with my presence and the fact I was born in the first place, and then, after the one single day I will need to do both of those things, I will be all yours for the rest of the summer. The rest of the next year too. The rest of your life even, if you'll have me.'
Evan chuckled and nodded. 'That sounds excellent, Darling.'
'Good. By the way, did I ever tell you that the way you call me Darling, makes me want to kiss you. Every single time.'
Evan looked at him amused. 'Does it now?'
'Absolutely.' Barty moved closer, intensely looking at Evan's lips. 'To be fair, most of what you say to me, makes me want to kiss you. That happens when a gorgeous guy like you catches my attention. It just so happens to be that I need someone to tell me what my lips taste like every now and then.'
Evan smiled fondly at the memory. Boy, Barty loved that smile so much. Barty would make sure he spent the entire summer making that smile appear on Evan's lips, seeing that smile light up Evan's eyes. Most of all, he would spend the rest of his life flirting with Evan fucking Rosier.
Evan kissed him softly then and when he pulled back a little, he grinned and said 'Still taste like arrogance to me, Darling.'
Barty lit up, before he pulled the Slytherin in again and placed his lips on Evan's. He lost himself in their kiss, their story. The story of a kiss at the right place with the perfect guy.