Barty sat on the swing, digging his shoes into the gravel beneath him as he lifted his hands to the chains on either side of him. He looked up with a grin, glad he'd decided to spend the evening outside. It was nicer at night. It wasn't so hot out. He had his headphones on over his ears and the volume on his music player was turned up as loudly as possible.
He began to rock back and forth as he was lifted higher and higher. It was such a free feeling. Nothing in the world would ever make him regret this. Walking away from his family, walking away from everything, and actually getting behind something he wanted. Something he believed in. Just screw everything else. Screw what his father wanted or what was expected from him. It was his life, and only his, and he wasn't going to let anyone else make his decisions for him. Not anymore. The world was at his feet and he could do anything he wanted. Make himself into anything he put his mind to.
His feet were weightless as he swung, touching only the air as he glided back and forth. It was like the outward expression of what he was feeling inside and it was completely awesome! The music too! The music made it even better. He really felt like he was in his own world. All his. Along with his friends, he was going to do great things. Plus, major bonus, their new leader understood him. Really understood him. They'd had similar experiences and, like him, Voldemort had walked away from expectations and paved his own path. And look! He had come so far. It was so inspirational to Barty. Voldemort had been the role model he'd been looking for all his life. Along with him, he could conquer anything!
Well...his shoulders slumped a little, the high he felt decreasing a bit. All but winning over Bellatrix Black, it seemed. Maybe. She'd recently gotten engaged and it was beginning to make him feel a little hopeless. He'd loved her for years and yet she'd never really taken notice of him. No, that man of hers was always in the way. Charming her further and further away from him. However, as quickly as it'd gone, the determined expression took Barty's face again as he swung harder. No! He still had time. All the time in the world! Someday, maybe years from now. she'd see. He just had to keep trying and stay patient. All good things came with time. The song switched to the next one and he grinned again. Nothing could stop him. Not anything in the world.
Lowering his eyes, he watched the street for a second, before he began to slow on the swing as he saw someone walking along the sidewalk. He was pretty certain he recognized who it was and so, when the swing was low enough, he jumped off, skidding a little, but then breaking into a run towards the person. He paused his music player and waved as he shouted loudly. "Sev! Hey, Sev!"
Dark eyes stared blankly overhead, at the turn of each fan blade, the man's mood in a state as dull as the expression he wore. It felt strange, having the house all to himself, the place empty of both his parents. While it was true it had been many years, now, since his mom had walked out on them, his good-for-nothing father had taken considerably longer to move the hell on. It had been a little more extreme in his case, of course. He admittedly hadn't expected the worthless drunk would literally move on to the next life, he'd half-expected that he'd been the one who had to find some way to get out of here, find some place of his own, some way to...afford a place of his own. But, he couldn't say he was sorry to see him go, either. He'd made his life a living hell with each waking hour of his useless existence. Every time he'd been conscious enough, anyway.
That was finally in the past, though. It was finally...all in the past. Now, he lived in a house all to himself, and his biggest concern at this specific moment didn't have to be whether or not he should lock the door and do everything he could to avoid an encounter with the man. Instead, he could just lie here and...think about how hot it was. And, it was...getting pretty hot.
It was as though the heat was trapped in these god-forsaken walls, seeping in, with no escape, gradually increasing with the passage of each minute. And that fan wasn't doing much to help, either. He glanced aside slowly, bringing his gaze to rest on the small window beside his bed, at the ever darkening skyline, and he wondered if it might feel at least mildly better if he ventured outside, instead. Considering how late it was getting, he was inclined to believe that it might, and, with that singular, hopeful thought in mind, he pushed himself up from the position he had been lying in for the past hour or so and rose to his feet.
After going through the languid motions of lacing his shoes, he stowed his wand securely in his pocket and then ventured down the old, rickety stairs, listening to the ever-present squeak they made with each step he took, before stepping out of the house altogether and letting the door shut behind him. He cast a silent spell to lock the door, before slipping both hands into his pockets and then beginning a slow, unhurried walk along the empty streets. Every now and again, a car would pass by, speeding down the dimly lit road. Just passing through. Why would anyone want to linger here, after all? It was the part of town that most people hurried away from, as quickly as possible, over toward the lighter, more pleasant parts, where the streetlamps actually functioned as they were meant to, and you didn't have to keep glancing over your shoulder for fear of getting jumped or mugged.
Not that he was particularly worried about this. Not only was he accustomed to this place, by now, but he also felt perfectly confident in his ability to fend off any random muggle adversary. If he had survived those seven years of Hogwarts as well as he had, where he did need to keep a watchful eye over his shoulder every ten seconds, anyone he'd find out here would be child's play, in comparison.
As he continued on down the sidewalk, Severus released a heavy sigh. While he found he had been correct in assuming it would be cooler out here, it was actually only serving to dampen his mood all the more. With each step he took, he couldn't seem to get it out of his head, that this was the exact path he had always taken, for years, ever since he was eight years old...to her house. To her side of town. To the park in her neighborhood. And if there was one thing he absolutely did not want to think about right now, or ever again...it was her. But it was difficult when almost everything he saw somehow served to remind him of that girl. The girl who had been lost to him forever.
It was his own damn fault, too, which just made the entire situation that much more pathetic.
A deep scowl overtook his countenance, and though he attempted to push the thoughts back, to the far recesses of his mind, that wasn't a talent he'd ever really possessed. And so, as he shuffled on down the street, his worn converse making their way in a direction that would forever be imprinted in his memory, he could feel a rising flood of emotions begin to waft over him, but he took care to hold it at bay, trying to regain that dull mood from earlier. It was preferable, considerably preferable, to the current state he could feel himself falling into.
However, before he knew it, he was already walking past the park. Her park. Where they'd first spoken. Where he'd first told her what she was. The first time he'd actually been brave enough to approach her, to emerge from the shadows he was so prone to hiding within. But, by the end of the brief encounter, she'd run off. She...tended to do that, when she was around him. Some way or another, he'd always found a way to send her running in the opposite direction.
He kept his dark stare pointedly fixed in any place other than at the park, trying to block it out, along with all those memories, all those pesky emotions. This was the state he found himself in when he heard someone calling his name, practically screaming at him, and, in spite of himself, he couldn't help turning to see who it was. His brow was furrowed in confusion until he spotted the younger boy rushing toward him, and he realized who it was. Not that it necessarily eased his confusion, he still didn't understand what he was so excited about, or why he'd be so enthusiastic about seeing him, but it did ease the slight curiosity that had risen when Barty had called out to him.
The dark-haired man debated with himself momentarily, between ignoring him altogether and continuing in his walk, in the hopes that he might go away, or just sucking it up and talking to him. Realistically, though...he knew for a fact that Barty would trail along behind him even if he did make an attempt at ignoring him, and, besides that...he couldn't get over the feeling that this was actually proving to be a welcome reprieve to the melancholy he just hadn't been able to shake.
Therefore, he came to a halt in his steps, training his eyes on the younger Slytherin, but otherwise allowed his expression to slip into a dull stare. "Barty," he greeted only.
For a minute there, Barty had been just a little concerned that Severus might just ignore him and keep on walking. It wasn't as if he'd just let that happen, but still, he wouldn't have preferred chasing after him. Severus stopped and greeted him, and Barty's grin was infallible as he slowed to a jog and then stopped in front of his friend. He didn’t get to see him very much outside of the Dark Lord’s meetings these days, so he felt it was pretty cool that he was able to just run into him like this. They could just talk or hang out uninterrupted for however long they wanted! It was awesome.
“What’s up?” He said, still trying to catch his breath. He moved his headphones from his ears and let them rest around his neck, the Walkman clipped to his belt. “Didn’t expect to find you walking around out here. You’re usually such an…indoors person.” He held up his hands, “not that I’m complaining. I’m thrilled I ran into you!”
Dark eyes followed Barty's every move, as he came to a stop in front of him, that grin shining through on his expression, unwavering and broadening all the more, even as he tried to catch his breath—which, again, begged the question why he had been in such a rush to catch up to him in the first place. It wasn't as though he was Lucius. Or, better yet, Bellatrix, someone the younger Slytherin just couldn't seem to help desperately chasing after every chance he got. Why he'd be in any hurry to hang out with him was beyond Severus' understanding.
As far as he could tell, he and Barty were almost complete opposites, as far as their dispositions went. The young Crouch was so outgoing, so friendly, cheerful and eager to follow every last whim that popped in his head. He said whatever he felt like, did whatever he felt like, and he had to be the most shameless person Severus had ever had the pleasure of knowing. And, considering the company he kept, that was really saying something.
Perhaps, though...this encounter, talking to him, taking the time to stop and chat for a minute...similar to Severus' own reasoning, it had been inspired by nothing other than because Barty had simply...felt like it. Maybe he had nothing better to do. Or, maybe, when you contained such severe levels of extroversion as the younger man did, you just couldn't help talking to anyone and everyone you were even remotely acquainted with, and that was why he had been so compelled to go out of his way to make this interaction happen. More likely than any other reason he might have, though...it was probably just a random urge that had come over him, and, in his mind, there was no reason not to follow through with it.
As the excitable individual took off the headphones that had no doubt been blasting music into his ears, Severus could almost feel an amused scoff forming at the back of his throat. It shouldn't surprise him in the slightest to find Barty experimenting with the newest muggle technology. In fact...he would expect nothing less. His fascination with their culture, most particularly their music, had grown so drastically over the past few years, it could more appropriately be coined as an obsession. What it was he found so interesting about them was yet another thing the elder Slytherin could never fully understand. Having grown up in their world, he happened to find them painfully bland. Lackluster. Ordinary. As far as he was concerned, there wasn't anything special about them in the slightest.
Maybe it was just the unknown that held such an allure for him. Hm...yes, that's probably what it was.
As he began talking, Severus listened silently, his expression unchanged, until the boy mentioned he was thrilled to have run into him. His brow shot up momentarily, in surprise, but he quickly regained his previous composure, though he couldn't help the slight furrow in his brow.
"Are you?" he returned dryly, turning his stare from him to instead focus on the empty street beside them. "I suppose I wouldn't often expect to find myself out here, either, now that you mention it. You could call it...a random urge I had," he offered in explanation, not sure how else to relate his reasoning to his...friend? Hm...then again, there probably was a better way he could explain it, so he decided to elaborate before Barty got the chance to ask. "It was a little...hot. I thought it might be cooler out here, that's all."
Hermione Granger: Ironically, the same thing happened to me. I'm glad you brought it up
May 24, 2016 2:50:37 GMT -5
Hermione Granger: It looks wonderful, though, doesn't it?
May 24, 2016 2:50:49 GMT -5
Draco Malfoy: It does I've been so excited for it since I first heard about it. Always been my favorite, after all. Combine that with you and it's nothing short of perfect. We definitely need to see it together.
May 24, 2016 2:53:18 GMT -5
Hermione Granger: Oh, we absolutely do! It's always been my favorite, too, but I know how much it's always meant to you. You've always sort of reminded me of how the prince was before he became the Beast, haha!
May 24, 2016 3:10:37 GMT -5
*
Draco Malfoy: Ha! Yes, and then somewhere during that whole transition...I became my father
May 24, 2016 3:20:39 GMT -5