Genetics • Sirius Black

Chapter Forty Five: Is That You?

And so he did. All night was exactly what Freya Grey wanted. Palms were greased and connections were made, she had at least three job offers lined up for when she graduated. If all parties were like this, she'd go more often.

Not to mention, Barty Crouch Jr. was not bad company. He was an intelligent social light that still managed to be interesting. They blended seamlessly together. Perhaps, Alecto's words had some weight.

"My father was livid, and my poor sweet mother, bless her heart, tried to keep the conversation going," Barty explained over his laughter as he and Freya strolled back to the common room. She covered her smile with her hand and bit back any laughter. He stared at her profile for a moment, admiring the soft bend outward of her nose as it led to the tip. "Enough of me, what about you?"

"I don't think I have ever burned off a minister's trousers." She replied and he chuckled.

"No, you are more likely to be a minister."

She shook her head. "Politics bore me."

His brow rose. "Saying that in the middle of a war? It must take a lot to keep your interest."

"A war with a minister that values discretion over effectiveness." It took the ministry so long to even admit the blatant acts of terrorism were leading up to a war. Even now, when death eater attacks were regular news and muggle-borns were migrating to other countries for safety, they focus on image control than ending it. "Professor Magus does nothing but infantilize us, it's foolish." She stated, then remembered politics were one of the no's of first date etiquette according to Narcissa along with wearing stripes. His father was also a part of the ministry. Merlin, had she said too much?

"I completely agree," Barty said to her surprise, he slowed down slightly in the hall. Then glanced around, noting that the only other people were fellow friends of his and their dates returning to their room. Freya and he had hung back to chat, so there was a safe distance between them and the others. "There is something I must ask—"

"Freya?" A voice ran through the air and halted Barty's. Their attention flew back to two figures swaying down the hallway. "Freya Grey? Is that you?" The girl in question flared her nostrils and Barty kept his arm on Freya's waist as he watched a drunken Sirius Black walk through the hall as if he were on a boat. Sirius lightly hit the figure that was walking next to him.

"Merlin, Peter, it's Freya."

"Hi." Peter Pettigrew hiccuped, taking a bench next to some poor couple that was coming back from the party.

Sirius, on the other hand, seemed to keep his attention where it was. "What are you wearing? Oh— today is the dance. It's still not over? It's been hours." Inserting himself between the two Slytherins, he hooked his arm around Barty's neck and giggled. "Hello, Marty."

Barty held back a wince as the smell of straight fire whiskey hit his face. "Hello, Sirius."

Gently, Sirius ran his hand over Barty's head and began lightly messing with it. A hot feeling curled into Freya's face and she felt the eyes of the other stray party-goers on them, Evan Rosier finding this particularly amusing. "Merlin, did you leave any gel in the tub?" Barty pulled away from Sirius's hands, his hair now having several random parts sticking up. The grey-eyed boy glanced between the sharply dressed boy and the fuming girl. "Am I interrupting?"

"Just a bit," Barty replied.

"My bad." Sirius sang, then put two fingers pinched together. "I had a tiny bit of fire-whiskey, but you know all about that, don't you Freya?" Light snorts of laughter ran through the hallway and Barty looked at her curiously as Sirius continued. "She's a hoot when she's wasted, a hoot. A lot nicer too."

"Sirius," Freya warned.

"Kidding, though she did say I had a nice arse once, right Peter?" He waited for a moment, then scanned for his friend. "Peter?"

"Yep." Peter sat up, then lulled his head to the side.

Stiff with anger, Freya glowered at the tall boy. Barty placed his hand on Sirius's shoulder. "I think you should probably head to your dorm."

"Right, wouldn't want to break curfew." Sirius agreed. "Last time, I got caught doing that, I had detention for a month, remember that, Freya? You were there."

"Go to bed." Her tone was not one of affection and honestly scared Barty.

"That's when everybody thought we had been shagging, and knocked the books clean off the shelves. It was crazy."

Laughter broke through the air and Freya yanked Sirius by the wrist down the hall. With her other hand, she pulled out her wand from a strap within her dress. Not a word uttered, she cast a spell in Peter's direction and pulled him out of his chair by his sleeve. 

A/N: Hey, this was my originally combined with the previous and next chapter, hence it's length. But out of curiosity, do you guys prefer longer or shorter chapters? 

Also, I'm going to start adding the face claims for every character I haven't at the end of every chapter. I was initially gonna do it at the start of act iii, but the list was absurdly long so I'll be adding some to act ii and sprinkle them in the chapters.