to me, you are perfect

Chapter One

"Mr. Black!" Comes a sweet little voice from behind Regulus.

Regulus turns to see the one and only, Harry Potter, barreling toward him at top speed. His tiny body hits Regulus with a hard thump, and Regulus wheezes as he crouches down to envelope the boy in a hug.

"Hello there, Harry. Good break? Getting ready for Christmas?" Regulus asks, patting Harry's head affectionately.

"Oh, yes! I got to see Mum. She's been gone for a while to see my grandma and grandpa but she's back now. She and dad were in the same room, too!" Harry says, his eyes bright with joy.

"In the same room, eh? That's an improvement." Regulus says with a small grin.

Harry is admittedly, his favorite student in his second-grade class. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that his father is James Potter, the man Regulus has had an embarrassing crush on since primary school. Harry is actually quite the charming little kid.

He's James and Lily's boy, which used to bug Regulus, but he'd matured enough to separate Harry from his parents. James actually requested that Harry be put in Regulus's class, due to Harry being quite miserable when his parents split. Regulus is a semi-familiar figure, due to Sirius and James being close enough for Sirius to be named as Harry's godfather. Harry took an immediate liking to Regulus, therefore leading to him now being in his class.

Regulus will not admit how much he adores the boy.

Looking at Harry used to be painful, a reminder that James decided to marry and have a child with a woman while Regulus was subjected to crying himself to sleep and wishing he could be in Lily's place. Now he's a sweet boy who has the habit of tackling Regulus every time he sees him.

"Go on, bud, take your seat next to Draco," Regulus says, gently pushing him toward his seat.

Harry's eyes light up at the mention of Draco and he happily bounces over to his friend. Regulus watches with a fond smile, clapping his hands to start class.

~

"No surprises?" Barty asks with a flat look.

"No surprises," Evan confirms with a sly grin.

"So, you'll admit that you were wrong for the bachelor party?"

"The strippers were meant to be women. How was I supposed to know?" Evan whines petulantly, staring out at the crowd in the chapel.

"You're hopeless, Ev." Barty laughs, patting his shoulder.

Hopeless for you, Evan thinks miserably.

The music goes off as Evan spots the bride. His stomach drops to the floor, throat constricting. Emmeline Vance walks down, looking radiant. Evan tries to keep his face impassive as he watches his best friend straighten up and smile down the aisle at his soon-to-be wife.

This has to be the worst day of Evan's life. He looks out at the crowd and spots Regulus sitting with his brother and Pandora. Regulus and Pandora shoot him mirroring sympathetic looks, making Evan's throat even tighter. They know the true facts.

Evan is hopelessly in love with Barty Crouch Jr. The man who's getting married at this very moment. Shit luck, huh?

He's been in love with Barty for as long as he can remember. They've been best mates practically since they were in diapers. He would've liked to have confessed his feelings by now, but Evan is a coward. Truly. All their friends know of his feelings except for Barty. It's a cruel twist of fate, him being here as Barty's best man, subjected to watch from the front row.