Astra Inclinant (A Barty Crouch Junior FanFiction)

Chapter Five: Old Friends Make New Enemies

It was a long time before Sapphire pulled herself together and then even longer before she could coax Kreacher into stopping his crying. Together they laid Regulus out on the floor, positioning him as though he had died peacefully, she pulled his dark hair from his face and picked a single flower from her garden to place in his hands. She put the locket around her neck and said goodbye to Kreacher who would transport Regulus body back to his family.

So she sat alone in the cottage, with her arms wrapped around herself, mourning the death of her best friend. She had always envisioned the three of them in this cottage together, and when her grandmother had passed away and left the cottage to her, she thought that is what would happen. Regulus would happily make himself at home. She saw him then, a vision glinting in the light from the fire. Sitting at the end of the kitchen table, laughing at something written in the newspaper he was holding. But then it was gone and she was alone again.

She left the dishes she had laid out as they were. She couldn't face food. Instead she went upstairs and pulled a box from under her bed. It was her box of memories from Hogwarts. She pulled out a wad of paper, on top lay a hasty drawing done by Barty of herself and Regulus sitting side by side on the edge of the lake, tickling the giant squid. Underneath that, a moving photograph of the three of them laughing together, arms around each other, wands in their hands. Sapphire looked at Regulus, of his untroubled face and she imagined all the pain, the hurt and anguish he must have gone through to work out what the Dark Lord was up to and how best to bring him down.

Had he known before he'd drank the potion Kreacher spoke of that he would die? Had he always planned to come here, to speak his last words to her? 'You're the only one who can bring Barty back.' his words echoed in her mind. Would Barty even know of Regulus' death? How far gone was he? Would he even care anymore? She looked down at the smiling boy who had always been so intensely smart yet so naive when it came to following Regulus.

She sobbed, and turned to the next page, a note from Regulus to herself. It read;

Hey Saph,

Noticed you smiled at Barty 23 times today, I know he noticed. Bet I know what that was about. ;)

Your Reg.

She cried harder. And unable to sleep, stared at the moving photograph of the three of them most of the night.

In the morning, Sapphire picked herself off the floor, tidying away the box of memories and sent an Owl into the Ministry to tell them she wouldn't be in today. She said she'd had a grievance in the family, she couldn't tell them a deatheater had died in her home.

During the day, Sapphire avoided looking at the kitchen table, for fear of seeing either the vision again, or the very real last few moments of Regulus' life. Instead she went into the lounge where she kept a few books on dark magic. She began to read all about horcruxes and how to destroy them. She wore the locket for the morning but found it was weighing her down and she hated the thudding of its miniature heart against her chest.

Later that day she tried to come up with a plan, Regulus had begged her to get Barty out, and she would do it, if only for him. But she had no idea how to contact him or how to reason with him. When they were at Hogwarts, they were so close she would have known how to plead with him to do anything, but now, it was as if she was disconnected from part of herself. She couldn't understand him.

A week passed, Sapphire still hadn't gone into work, instead she was building up notes of horcruxes, trying at least to figure out how to destroy the one she had and find the possible others Regulus had spoken of. She was busy writing, when there was a tap at the window and she got up to let a messenger owl in. He held out a silver envelope on its leg which she removed and it fluttered off into the darkening sky.

On the front it read in scrawling silvery script; Sapphire Knight. She could guess its contents. Inside was a thick piece of parchment with more silvery writing. It read;

'Sapphire Knight,

We regret to inform you of the death of Regulus Black.

His funeral will be on the 23rd of January, his wake at 12 Grimmauld Place immediately after. We would appreciate your attendance as we know you were his friend.

Walburga Black.'

Sapphire cried renewed tears after reading his name on the letter. She cried for the injustice, the lack of time she'd been allowed with him. But she would go, she had never particularly liked the Black family and never understood Regulus' desperate need to impress them. But she would go, she wanted to see him off.

So on the day of the funeral, Sapphire dressed in the same black dress that she had worn the day they would have embarked on their world trip. She thought it a gesture as if by wearing it, Regulus had come with her too. She looked at herself in the mirror, her hair was limp and her face pale with dark circles around her eyes. But she couldn't help any of that and didn't much care.

She apparated to the church where the Black Family was having the funeral and not to her surprise there were many known deatheaters looming outside the wrought iron gates of the churchyard. Sapphire kept her head down as she passed them and made her way to Regulus' parents. They greeted her with sad smiles and she told them how sorry she was for their loss. She took a seat inside the church at the back, she may have known Regulus at school but that did not entitle her to a seat near the front. A coffin was laid in the middle of the aisle. It was closed but Sapphire imagined his gaunt face, dark hair and hands clasping the flower she had given him. She sniffed, searching in her pockets for a tissue.

Someone held out a jet-black handkerchief to her, which she took to wipe her eyes with. She looked up at the person standing next to the pew she was sitting on and met the face she had been dreading. Barty Crouch Junior stood there, looking terrible. His eye bags were deeper and larger than her own, his hair un-kept and his tie crooked. He looked like a man who had tormented himself for years. "Barty." She murmured. His eyes crinkled in a watery smile. But she had no time to say anything else as just at that moment, a crowd came in jostling him to the front, where he sat with the other deatheaters.

The ceremony began, strangely seeing Barty had managed to strengthen her resolve and she did not cry throughout. After all, she felt she had no right after she had been unable to save him, to lessen his pain in any way. The ceremony was almost at an end and Sapphire suddenly felt sick, as if she couldn't face seeing the coffin leave the church. She got up from her pew and ran out into the churchyard. She had to steady herself with her hand on a gravestone. And only then as she bent over, preempting the vomit she thought might come, she noticed she was wearing the locket, despite knowing she had definitely taken it off the day before. She removed it from her neck and placed it in her coat pocket.

"Sapphire." Said Barty from behind her, and at her name she sighed, closing her eyes, it had been a long time since she'd heard him say her name like that, like a tender whisper he had only ever reserved for her. She faced him, again taking in his beaten appearance. "Saph I don't know what to say." The distance between them seemed so far so immovable, so irreparable. It was as if Regulus' death had thrown them in opposite directions. "Saph, I-" he choked and looked away from her, unable to contain his tears. And the distance that she had felt between them came whizzing back like magnets. She leapt into his arms and they sobbed, burying their grief in eachother, unable to bear it alone. "I'm so sorry." he whispered into her hair. "Its all my fault. We should never have become deatheaters." She shook her head as much as she could that was buried in his neck.

"Barty," She said, pulling back, he was reluctant to let her go. She maintained a grip on his arms. "Barty, he died in my arms." She sobbed afresh.

"What?" Barty asked, wiping his nose. "The Dark Lord killed him, he's telling all the deatheaters that Regulus betrayed us."

"Well," she half smiled, "he sort of did."