Haunted by Rotten Desire

~ For Bex ~

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Regulus looked out over the dark lake, where the dim lights of Camp Eagle Eye could be spotted in the distance. Barty's words echoed into the deep recesses of his brain. Did he really want to do this?

He grit his teeth together firmly, and stepped into the little wooden rowboat that was perched on the wet ground in front of them. "Yes," he said finally. "Let's go."

Barty bared his teeth in a shark-like smile, and took Regulus's extended hand as he climbed into the boat after him. "This will be the best summer yet," he murmured, pressing the ghost of a kiss to Regulus's ear. "I promise."

oOo

Eight people sat around the fire at Camp Eagle Eye.

It was the night before the kids were due to arrive to Summer Camp, and it had been a lot of work to prepare everything for them. Each of the young camp counsellors had been given jobs to do to ensure that everything was perfect for when the children turned up on the bus.

Remus Lupin, much to his dismay, had been put in charge of the kitchen with his friend Peter. Sirius Black had laughed out loud at learning this, knowing how much of a terrible cook Remus was. "You'll be lucky if you don't give the kids food poisoning," he commented while they sat beside each other in front of the fire.

Lily Evans smirked across the fire pit at Sirius as she toasted a stick of marshmallows over the flames. She was the only one of the group wearing her bright red 'camp counsellor' t-shirt, even though they weren't required to wear them until the children arrived. "At least Remus has a decent job. You're the only one of us who will be shovelling crap out of the stables every evening."

The rest of the group tittered as Sirius scowled over at her.

"You should've kept your mouth shut when Miss Sprout was doling out the jobs, mate," a man with scruffy black hair and cracked spectacles said with a grin. "If you hadn't been such a smart arse you might have been landed with something better."

Remus hooked an arm around Sirius's elbow, smiling. "It'll do you good to do something like that," he said. "You've lived such a privileged life up until now. It won't hurt you to muck out a few horses."

Sirius rolled his eyes, but he smiled back at Remus. "It's a good job I like you lot," he said. "I didn't even want to come to this stupid camp. I know there are much better things I could have been doing with my summer." He winked knowingly at Remus.

"Gross," said a girl who sat beside Lily. "Do you have to give each other bedroom eyes right in front of us?" By the way she scowled, it was clear that she was a little jealous of the exchange between Remus and Sirius.

"It's not like I'll get much of a chance to be close to my boyfriend, Marlene," replied Remus smoothly. "He's going to stink of horse shit for the rest of the summer."

Sirius gave Remus a playful shove as the rest of the group sniggered.

A little way in the distance, Barty and Regulus sat in the undergrowth, out of sight as they listened to the group chatting. Barty's narrow-eyed gaze was focused on the jealous girl, his teeth gnashing together angrily as he surveyed her.

He hated Marlene McKinnon.

oOo

Barty knew that he would have problems at boarding school as soon as the Headmaster directed him into Slytherin House.

The faces at the Slytherin table were cruel as he advanced upon the table. He knew why. His father was a politician who had single-handedly managed to apprehend many of their parents and have them hurled into prison, so it was natural that they would hate him. Barty only hoped that they might learn that he wasn't the same as his father.

Though as the weeks went on, nothing changed. His housemates turned away from him at the dining table and looked at him as though he smelt foul. No one wanted to sit by him in class other than Regulus, but even he would be dragged away by his older cousins if they caught sight of him hanging around with Barty.

He felt like a social pariah. He was lonely, and he hated everyone.

That was until he saw her in the library.

He was browsing for something in the Historical Literature section, and when he turned around he bumped straight into her, sending her books flying across the floor. He apologised profusely and bent down to scoop up her books, holding them out. When he saw her face, he felt something fluttering in his stomach.

She was beautiful, with curly, dark blonde hair and blue eyes. She was a little taller than him — Barty thought she was in the year above — and her red striped tie confirmed her as a Gryffindor.

"Calm down," she said with a grin, taking the books from Barty. "There's no need to cry over spilt books."

"Marlene, have you found that book yet?" someone hissed from across the library. Marlene barely spared Barty a glance as she whisked off, leaving nothing but the scent of her shampoo in the air.

Marlene. She was the only person other than Regulus to have spoken to him without insulting him.

For weeks, Barty couldn't stop thinking about her. His eyes searched for her every time he entered the Great Hall, hoping that she would meet his gaze. He looked for any excuse to talk to her — even trying to deliberately bump into her in the library whenever he got the chance. But she rarely responded or spared him the time of day.

It didn't make Barty any less determined though.

"Who are you going to the Yule Ball with?" Regulus asked, when the school year neared Christmas.

"I don't know," Barty replied. "I want to ask Marlene, from Gryffindor. It's not like any of the girls in Slytherin will want to go with me."

"Oh," Regulus replied, sounding a little disappointed. "How do you think that will go down?"

Barty shrugged. "I won't know until I try," he said. "Who are you going with?"

Regulus looked away. "I don't know. I guess I could ask my cousin."

It was a few days later when Barty plucked up the courage. He waited at the dining table until he saw Marlene and her friends climbing out of their seats and hurried after them. They were hovering in the entrance to the Great Hall when Barty caught up with them.

"Marlene!" he called out. She turned around suddenly, looking strangely at Barty.

"Yes?" she asked curiously, quirking a perfect blonde eyebrow.

"I wanted to ask you something," he started. "Do you…" he paused. He was feeling very nervous now that he was in front of Marlene and her two friends, who were stood either side of Marlene, giving him equally confused looks.

"Do I what?" Marlene snapped, folding her arms across her chest. "Spit it out."

"Do you want to go to the Yule Ball with me?" he asked finally, the words coming out all in one breath. He felt his face burning with embarrassment.

Marlene stared at him silently for what seemed like an eternity, before suddenly bursting into laughter. Her two friends laughed a little too, though they looked at one another uncomfortably.

"Lily, Alice, do you believe this?" Marlene choked through her laughter. "This little runt wants me to go to the ball with him!"

"Heh," Alice chuckled half-heartedly, running a hand through her short, dark hair. "Maybe we should get back to the dormitory…"

"Not yet," Marlene snapped. "I want to teach this creep a lesson." Her voice was loud now, attracting the attention of other students who were wandering out of the Great Hall. Some hung back to watch.

"Marlene, everyone's looking," the redheaded girl whispered. "Just leave him, he's only a first-year."

"He's a freak!" Marlene yelled. "This little weirdo has been following me around for weeks, staring at me during dinner and hanging about in the library waiting for me. And now he thinks he's going to go to the ball with me?" She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. "I'm going with Sirius Black. He's the most good-looking boy in the whole school. I wouldn't dream of going with an ugly little cretin like you." She reached over and flicked Barty on the forehead. He winced back, feeling tears burn at the back of his eyes.

"Sirius hasn't actually asked you yet, Marlene," Lily commented, but Marlene shushed her rudely.

"You'll pay for embarrassing me like this," Marlene hissed. She turned on her heel and stalked away, with her friends scurrying after. Lily shot an apologetic look back at Barty.

Barty was the one who was embarrassed as he slinked away from the Great Hall. Other students jeered and catcalled at him, calling him names and shoving him in the hall. Asking Marlene out had only made things harder.

He went to the library to hide for a little while, waiting until it was dark before heading up to his dormitory. By that point, students weren't milling in the halls, and he had safe passage.

The dormitory was weirdly quiet when Barty entered. It wasn't very late, so he expected there still to be some of his housemates to be awake. But the curtains were drawn on all the four-poster beds, suggesting that they were all asleep.

He shrugged, glad for the silence, and quietly shuffled towards his bed.

As he pulled back the covers, he screamed. A series of squeaks tittered from the sheets. His bed was full of horrible, dirty, scuttling rats.

One of them lunged forward at being disturbed by Barty, attaching itself to the front of his uniform. Barty shrieked and tried to bat the creature off, only causing it to sink it's little teeth into his hand.

When he finally managed to throw the rat off him, he realised that faces were peeking through curtains around him, sniggering cruelly at his despair. "Look at Crouch," one of the boys snarled. "He's pissed himself!"

The dormitory erupted into loud laughter as Barty looked down at the front of his trousers. It was true — the immediate fear he'd felt at finding a dozen rabid rats in his bed had caused his bladder to relieve itself.

He ran towards the toilet. The tears that had threatened to spill earlier now flowing down his cheeks.

"Fancy that," muttered one of the older boys. "A girl's prank managed to make him cry. What a loser."

"Shut up, Rabastan," snapped Regulus suddenly. He had just entered the dormitory too, having been out looking for Barty, and only caught the end of the exchange. He hurried after Barty, hoping to comfort him.

oOo

Marlene was the first to distance herself from the group, claiming that she wanted to take a shower and wash her hair. No one really spared her a second glance. It was late by that point, and everyone seemed half asleep as they chatted lazily around the fire.

"Do you have it?" Barty asked Regulus, his voice low.

Regulus reached into the underbrush, where a small shoebox was hidden. He opened the lid just a crack, allowing Barty to peek inside. Barty nodded, a smirk igniting his features.

"Let's do this."

They crept towards the girls dormitory, and waited in the shadows of the bunk beds, listening to the shower running in the bathroom at the end. After some time, the water turned off. Marlene hummed to herself in the bathroom, and then emerged, wrapped in a towel with her hair piled up on top of her head.

"Now." Barty whispered. Regulus was clutching a knife that he'd been carrying in his belt, and he lunged at Marlene. She barely had chance to react before he bashed the hilt of the heavy knife into the back of her skull, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

oOo

"Wake up."

Barty was hovering over Marlene's face when her blue eyes flickered open, causing her to flinch and jerk back. She tried to pull her arms in to defend herself, but to no avail. She had been secured to a flat gurney, with her arms and legs fastened down with leather straps.

"It's lucky that the camp infirmary still has these useful tools." Barty was holding a knife, and he tapped the metal gurney with the blade.

"What...what's going on? What are you doing here?" Marlene twisted her head wildly, looking around the infirmary. The room was dimly lit with candlelight, and she was wearing nothing but her underwear. She glared at Barty. "What are you playing at, you pervert?"

Barty scowled at her. "That was always your problem, Marlene," he snapped. "You could have been so nice, if you just learned to have a little bit more respect for people." He dragged the knife across the gurney until it trailed over Marlene's stomach.

She noticeably shivered, her eyes flashing down to the blade. "What do you want?" she stammered, her voice lacking its usual confidence.

"Regulus and I have made a lot of effort to teach your group a lesson," Barty replied. "We've been coming out to this camp for weeks now before you all arrived, making preparations. It helped that Regulus's brother was so vocal about spending the summer here. We've been able to fully prepare ourselves for...what we have planned." A dangerous grin spread across his face.

Marlene's gaze shifted to Regulus. "S-Sirius?" she whispered, acknowledging his familiar steely eyes and dark hair. "You're Sirius's brother?"

Regulus didn't say anything. He was leaning up against a counter, upon which a variety of tools sat — including a large blowtorch and a metal bucket. Her eyes settled on the objects, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"I never forgot what you did to me all those years ago, Marlene." Barty cut the blade into her stomach hard enough to draw a slight amount of blood. "That nasty trick you played with the rats. You humiliated me in front of a group of students who were already out for my blood. You set me up for a lifetime of misery. If you hadn't broken me down back then, I might have been stronger when things got worse..." his voice trailed off.

"It was just a stupid prank!" Marlene cried out. Regulus was fetching over a small, grubby white shoebox now, that had holes stabbed haphazardly into the lid. He held the metal bucket under his arm.

"I was just a kid, with a schoolboy crush on an older girl," Barty continued. "And you had to be cruel."

"Is that what this is about?" Marlene asked. "You still want me?" A new sense of survival seemed to lapse over her, as she let her eyelids become hooded and her lips drop into a sultry pout. "Because we can work something out. Just let me go."

Barty raised an eyebrow, turning to look at Regulus. Marlene waited, a silence hanging in the air.

The two men started laughing out loud.

"Dream on," Barty sniggered, taking the shoebox out of Regulus's hands. "Your desperation knows no ends. I was just a kid back then. I don't need the likes of you to fulfil me." His eyes met Regulus's, and their gaze lingered together for a moment.

"What are you doing with that?" Marlene demanded to know, as Barty opened the lid of the shoebox. He reached inside and scooped out a small, furry creature. It's long pink tail draped over his pale hands. A beady-eyed, sharp toothed rat.

Marlene's eyes widened.

"I'm not going to be as cruel to you as you were to me," Barty said. "I only have one rat." He placed the rat on Marlene's bare stomach, and she recoiled in disgust. "The bucket," he murmured, and Regulus turned the bucket over the rat, trapping it on top of Marlene.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Marlene screamed, wriggling and squirming, trying to topple the bucket off her person. "What is this?"

"I had a lot of time to read while I was alone in the library during our time at boarding school," Barty said. "One of my favourite books was one about medieval torture and execution methods." He paused, and beckoned for Regulus to pass him the blowtorch. "Did you know that a rat can gnaw through pretty much anything? It will literally eat anything, and when it's trying to escape...well, it's survival instincts really kick in."

"Trying to...escape...what...Barty…" Marlene gasped.

"Say for example, if the cage that the rat was trapped in was to heat up considerably." Barty flicked the blowtorch into action to prove his point, sending a burst of blue flame into the air. "Do you understand what I mean yet, Marlene?"

Marlene's bright blue eyes filled with tears, but Barty only smirked down at her as he directed the blowtorch onto the bucket, making it glow with heat.

It took a few minutes before the heat seemed to spread to the rim of the bucket, causing Marlene to yelp in pain as the metal burned her bare skin. Tinny squeals sounded from with in the bucket. The rat was starting to become distressed.

"No...no...please...stop this…" Marlene begged. She yanked at the straps securing her wrists and thrashed around madly.

Barty flicked a switch on the blowtorch, turning up the heat.

Marlene screamed, her eyes wide and manic. Blood started to drip from the base of the bucket, rivulets of it running around her waist and onto the gurney. The rat was gnawing into her now, desperately trying to evade the overbearing heat.

Marlene's skin turned pale, almost grey in complexion, as the torture continued.

"Barty," Regulus murmured. "Barty. It's time to end it." He moved closer and placed a hand on Barty's arm.

Barty nodded after a moment before lowering the flame. He passed the blowtorch over to Regulus and pulled the knife back out. Marlene's screams were dissolving into pained, weak whimpers, her gaze wavering between Barty and Regulus.

"I'm sorry," she whispered hoarsely.

"It's too late." Barty pulled Marlene's head back, and slid the blade of the knife across her throat.

As her bleeding neck sputtered and her eyes rolled into the back of her head, the skin broke at the side of her waist. The rat clawed its way through her flesh, soaked in blood and gristle, finally free.

oOo

The three remaining girls had spent a good half an hour searching for their missing friend, when Lily finally suggested they check out the old infirmary.

"You're mad," snapped the older girl. She was tall and thin and bony, with a long face and wispy, pale hair. "There's no way I'm going in there. Sprout told us we weren't to explore any of the abandoned buildings."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Don't be silly, Petunia," she muttered. "It's just an empty building."

"The floorboards might be loose — or there could be needles on the ground."

"Your sister is right," the third girl commented. She was much smaller than Petunia, with a heart-shaped face and cropped, dark hair. "It could be dangerous."

"We'll be careful," Lily replied breezily. "Come on Alice, you know what Marlene's like. She's probably playing some stupid game to try and lure us out here, then she's going to jump out to give us a scare. Let's just play along."

Petunia folded her arms firmly across her skinny chest. "Well, I'm not going," she insisted huffily. "I didn't even want to come to this stupid camp, and I definitely don't want to go in that creepy building."

"That's fine," Lily continued, and she hooked her arm through Alice's. "You can keep watch."

Petunia rolled her eyes as Lily and Alice walked away, heading through the overgrown grass towards the infirmary.

They pushed through the door and peered through the darkness, searching for their friend.

"Marlene?" Lily called, as they ventured down the corridor. "Come on, Marlene — we get it, this is a great joke."

There was no reply, only the whistle of the wind through the old wooden window panes.

"There's light over there," Alice murmured, gesturing towards a room at the end of the hall. The dim glow of candlelight flickered, and a shadow walked across the light suddenly. Both girls flinched and gripped at each other.

"Marlene," Lily called again, her voice wavering a little. "Please stop messing around. This is freaking us out, and I've had to leave my sister outside in the forest by herself."

Alice and Lily stopped at the threshold, both of them barely daring to breathe. Lily looked at her friend, and Alice nodded. They kept their arms firmly linked together, and stepped into the room.

oOo

Regulus was perched on the counter, overlooking the gurney that still held Marlene's body aloft, though now covered with a dirty old sheet.

Lily was the first one to lay eyes on the gurney. "M-Marlene?" she whispered. "Are you under there?" As she stepped closer, her eyes flickered up to the counter, settling on Regulus.

Alice looked at him too, her eyes filling with recognition. "Regulus Black," she said quietly. "You're Sirius's brother. I remember you from school."

"What are you doing here?" Lily demanded to know. "Did Sirius put you up to this? Are you all playing some trick to scare us?"

Regulus raised a dark eyebrow, but said nothing. "Don't you want to know where your friend is?"

"Enough talk." The door slammed shut, trapping the two girls in the infirmary. Barty stepped out from where he'd been hiding. He was holding the knife, which was still coated in Marlene's blood. He wiped it on the hem of his shirt.

"Barty?" Lily asked, her head twisting to look at him. "What is this? Open that door now."

"We can't do that, I'm afraid," Regulus commented. He hopped off the counter and stood closer to the gurney. "We've put a lot of effort into this night. And we have to finish it."

"All of it," said Barty, walking closer to the girls. Lily backed away, bumping into the gurney as she did. "Careful," Barty clicked his tongue. "You're going to disturb your friend."

"Marlene," Alice whispered. "What have you done to Marlene?"

Regulus grabbed a corner of the sheet and whipped it back, exposing Marlene's ash-faced, wide-eyed corpse to Alice and Lily.

Both girls stared down at their barely dressed friend. Marlene had a gash in her neck that was still slowly leaking blood, and a crude hole in her stomach where the rat had bitten through her abdomen, leaving bone and flesh and intestines exposed.

Alice was the first to scream, while Lily only gasped — an awful, choking sound, almost as though the breath had been sucked from her body. She sank to her knees at the side of the gurney as Alice backed away wildly, knocking over trays and bumping into counters, desperately trying to get back to the door.

Barty was ready for her, and he grabbed her firmly around the shoulders with one arm, using his free hand to press something into her mouth and nose — a wad of cloth, soaked in chloroform. She struggled for a minute, kicking back at Barty, trying to knock him in the shins. But before long, her resolve weakened, and she went limp in his arms.

He dropped her to the floor and advanced on Lily next. She was too shocked at the sight of her friend to do much, though she tried to fight back, to no avail. When both girls were knocked out and laying death-like on the floor, Barty stood up straight and looked at Regulus.

"This is coming together perfectly," he said, smiling at Regulus.

"It's a shame we have to dispose of these two," Regulus replied, nodding down at Lily and Alice. "They never really tormented you all that much."

"No, but they stood by and watched," growled Barty. "They're part of this too. They all are."

Something creaked from the hallway, and Barty dived across the unconscious bodies to wrench the door open.

Petunia stood in the doorway, her head tilted sideways. She'd had her ear pressed to the door, trying to listen to what was going on. She jumped back as the door was pulled open, staring up at Barty.

Her eyes moved to the corpse on the gurney, and then to the unconscious girls on the floor, before settling on Barty and Regulus.

Petunia didn't waste time screaming or demanding to know what happened. She turned on her heel and ran, flying down the hallway and out of the infirmary.

"I wasn't going to kill her," Barty said softly, watching as her figure vanished from view. "I don't even know her. She's never done anything to me."

"We have no choice now," Regulus replied, stepping over Lily and Alice to stand beside Barty. He entwined their fingers together. "She's seen too much."

"We'll deal with her later. First, let's get rid of the excess baggage."

oOo

Sirius, James, Peter and Remus were still sitting around the dying fire when Petunia staggered towards them. She was breathless, with twigs and leaves sticking in her thin hair as though she'd been dragged through a hedge.

The boys stared at her as she collapsed on her hands and knees in front of the fire, gasping for breath.

"Are you girls trying out for a camp marathon?" asked James. Sirius sniggered, but soon quelled his laughter when Petunia sat back on her heels, clutching at a stitch in her side.

"Marlene…." she gasped, sucking in mouthfuls of air. "They...killed...Marlene…"

Remus climbed up and hurried over to Petunia's side, helping her over to where they all sat. He passed her a flask of water and patted her on the back as she took a grateful drink. "Calm down...catch your breath…" he soothed. "Now, explain."

"Where's Lily and Alice?" James asked, leaning forward towards Petunia. He was trying to smile reassuringly, but there was a worried look in his eye.

Petunia burst into a sudden bout of tears, and the four boys looked at each other.

"What do we do?" Peter asked, dumbfounded. Sirius rolled his eyes at his friend and kneeled on the floor in front of Petunia.

"Hey. Come on now," he said, a little more impatient than Remus. "What's happened?"

Petunia ground the heels of her palms into her eyes as she spoke. "We went to look for Marlene…" she started. "Down at that old infirmary at the far side of camp, a little way away from the dormitories. Lily and Alice went inside, but I wouldn't go. It was all abandoned and creepy."

"You let your sister go in there alone?" James said suddenly. His smile was gone.

Petunia glared at him. "She wasn't alone, she was with Alice!"

"Petunia," Remus said softly. "Carry on."

Petunia took another breath. "Our parents would be so upset if anything happened to Lily, so I went in after them after a couple of minutes. Plus, it was really spooky standing out in the forest."

"What happened?" Sirius urged.

"I could hear them shouting, or arguing, in a room down the hall. Then someone was screaming — I think it was Alice — I didn't want to barge in, so I listened at the door to see what was going on. I was about to go inside when the yelling stopped, but someone opened the door, and…" Petunia's voice cracked.

James was on his feet now. "What, Petunia?!" he demanded to know.

"Marlene was…" Petunia's pale eyes were wide and staring into the distance, as though she was seeing something the others weren't. "She was dead, and all...all messed up. And Lily and Alice...they were on the ground. Alive, I think. Just knocked out."

James clenched his fists. "You left them there?" his voice was strangely quiet, but his shoulders were quivering. Sirius stood up and put an arm over his friend's shoulders, trying to calm him.

"What could I do?" Petunia shrieked. "There were two of them, and only one of me. There was no use in all four of us being incapacitated. Someone had to come back and get help." Petunia paused. "They had knives...Marlene was dead, for heaven's sake…"

"Who?" pressed Remus, taking hold of Petunia's shaking hands. He managed to keep his voice level and even. "Who was in there with the girls?"

"I don't know who they were. I've never seen them before, but it sounded like Alice and Lily knew them."

"Did you manage to see what they looked like?" asked Remus.

"The one who came to the door was wild," Petunia recalled. "He was lanky and had these...manic eyes and scruffy hair, and he was covered in blood. And the other one…" Petunia looked up at Sirius, her eyebrows furrowed. "He was calm. He…"

"Yes?" Sirius replied, keeping his arm around James.

"He looked just like you."

oOo

The two-metre long, metre-wide hole at the back of the old infirmary had been dug out for a few days now. Barty and Regulus had come up here before and spent hours shovelling into the ground to create the pit. This was meant to be the resting place for the camp counsellors.

However, their plans were changing as the night went on. Now that Petunia had seen the things in the infirmary and whipped away into the night, they had to move quickly. The grave would only hold the three girls tonight. They would have to find another resting place for the rest of the group.

Barty dropped Marlene's greying corpse into the grave first, where she landed face up, her blue eyes staring lifelessly. They carried Alice and Lily out one at a time, their hands and feet now bound together.

Both girls were still unconscious, but they started to stir after they were dropped heavily into the deep grave. Regulus and Barty paid them no mind as they started to shovel dirt back into the grave.

Lily coughed as a heap of dirt spattered across her mouth and nose. Alice's eyes flickered open shortly after, and she struggled against her bindings as she realised what was going on.

The way their arms and legs were tied behind their backs prevented them from being able to sit up and try to fight their way out. That, coupled with the weight of the dirt that piled onto their chests.

"Don't do this," Lily begged desperately, shaking her face free of dirt. "Please don't do this."

"You all have to die," Barty replied through grit teeth. "You all have to die."

Lily turned her bottle green gaze on Regulus, as though hoping she could wordlessly get through to him.

However, his dark eyes remained unfazed and his expression stoic. "You all have to die," he repeated Barty's mantra, and dumped one especially large mound of dirt straight over Lily's face.

They continued to layer the earth quickly into the grave, until the girls' screams and yells were muffled with mud. Barty used the back of his shovel to pat the the newly covered grave down firmly.

"They'll be choking on earth now," he commented, throwing his shovel down on the ground. "It won't take long."

"We can't hang around to wait for them to take their last breath," Regulus replied. "The night is changing, and our plans with them. Lily's sister will no doubt have reached the rest of the group by now, and if they try to come and attack us together, we probably won't be able to dispose of all five of them at once."

Barty snorted. "I'd give it a good go. I'd certainly take some of them down with me."

Regulus walked around the grave and took Barty's muddy hands in his own. "You will not be going down," he said firmly. "We're doing this so we can be happy. Together. Forever."

Barty was quiet for a few moments, before nodding. He leaned forward and pressed his mouth to Regulus's. "I know where we can hide out and assess what to do next," he whispered into Regulus's lips. "There's an old wooden cabin not far from here. I think it was a storage unit for the infirmary or something."

Regulus smiled. "It'll do."

The cabin that Barty led Regulus to appeared disused, but it was dry and comfortable, with an old bunk-bed shoved into the corner, rusty old filing cabinets against the walls and a stack of mattresses. It looked as though it had been only used for storage in recent years.

"We can't rest for long," Barty said as he perched on the edge of the bottom bunk. "We need to carry on picking them off while it's still night and we have the advantage. They haven't been out here exploring the forest before now like we have. They don't know the area like we do."

Regulus nodded and sat beside Barty. The mattress sank a little under their combined weight, but seemed sturdy enough.

"Are you sure you don't want to go on the top bunk?" Barty said with a smirk.

Regulus looked up at the bars of the upper bed, and rolled his eyes. "Somehow I think I will end up on top of you if I sleep up there."

Barty moved a little closer, bringing a hand up and snaking it around Regulus's neck. "I wouldn't complain."

"We're supposed to be resting," Regulus whispered, shifting his face a little until they were inches apart.

Barty took Regulus's bottom lip between his teeth gently, then kissed him. "You aren't stopping me."

Regulus released a shuddering breath and closed his eyes, allowing Barty to pull him down onto the pillow.

oOo

"It has to be Regulus, mate," James told Sirius as they sat back down in front of the fire. "Who else do we know who looks just like you and hangs around with a bloke most people would describe as manic."

"It can't be." Sirius had his fingers laced through his hair as he sat in front of the fire. "My brother would never do something like this. He's always been so...so…" he paused as he searched for the words. "Insufferably good."

"I don't know if the same can be said for Barty," James replied. "He was always insufferably creepy."

Now that Petunia had calmed down a little and was lost in her own thoughts, Remus left her side to sit next to Sirius. "That's not fair to say," he commented. "Barty was...misunderstood. He didn't have the greatest time at boarding school."

"That's why Regulus was so fond of him," Sirius continued. "He always had a thing for the underdog. Always wanted to look after the person who was being picked on or bullied. I told him he should get more friends and stop running off with that kid, but he never listened."

Remus lowered his voice so that Petunia couldn't hear. "Look, we don't know exactly what happened yet," he said. "Petunia was hysterical when she came back. This could be some kind of trick the girls are playing."

"And it also might not," James replied. His fists were balled in his lap and a vein stuck out prominently on his forehead. "If something has happened to Lily, I don't know if I could bear it."

"We have to go look for them and find out for ourselves," Sirius muttered. "We need to get everyone back together."

"I'm not going back out there," Petunia chirped in suddenly. "I won't."

"Maybe we should split up," Remus said softly. "How about Petunia and Peter head over to the dormitories and see if anyone went back there. The rest of us will go out to the infirmary and establish what happened."

Petunia nodded. "Sure, I'll go back to the dormitory. But…" she looked around the campfire. "Your friend is gone."

James jumped to his feet. "Oh, for heaven's sake…" he groaned. "Peter."

Sirius looked unsurprised that Peter had run off at the first sign of trouble. "He's a great big coward," he said bitterly.

"Maybe he went to find Sprout, to tell her what happened," Petunia suggested.

Remus shook his head. "I don't think that's it. Even if he had, Sprout left this afternoon, remember? She said she wouldn't be staying overnight at the camp until all the kids arrived."

"We need to find him before he gets killed too," James said.

Sirius climbed to his feet and squared up to James, glaring at his friend. "No one has been killed, James!"

"We don't know that yet! Thanks to your brother, my girlfriend could be lying in a ditch right now for all we know!" shouted James.

"Marlene was definitely dead—" interjected Petunia.

"My brother hasn't killed anyone!"

"Please!" Remus stood between his friends. "Fighting isn't going to solve anything. We'll go to the infirmary first, then look for Peter. It's likely he's gone back to the dorms already."

"I'll go to the dormitory still," Petunia said. "I'd rather make that journey alone than go back to that infirmary."

Remus nodded. "Okay. Then it's decided. We'll go look for the girls now, and Petunia can check the dormitory for Peter."

Sirius and James relaxed noticeably, and Sirius ran a hand through his hair as he thought of his little brother. What on earth was going on?

oOo

"Sirius."

Sirius had been graduated from school for about a year now, and no longer lived the family home in Grimmauld Place, so Regulus didn't get to see him that often. It was even harder to catch him on his own, when he wasn't surrounded by his friends or draped over his boyfriend.

Regulus was surprised when he managed to find Sirius alone at the flat he shared with James, due to James visiting his parents. Sirius was bustling about when Regulus came into the flat, and wasn't really prepared for visitors.

"Can I talk to you? Just for a minute?"

"This really isn't a good time, Reg." Sirius was stood in his bedroom in front of the vanity, teasing his hair with his fingers. "I'm meeting with Remus for dinner in…" he checked his watch. "Less than ten minutes."

"It's important."

"Shouldn't you be at school?" Sirius asked, staring at Regulus through the mirror.

"Yes, we should, but Barty…" Regulus tailed off. "Barty's having some problems. We've taken a few weeks out so he can recover."

Sirius turned around to look at Regulus properly. "You can't be missing school to hang about with your boyfriend, no matter what's going on with him. Whatever he needs to stay off school for, he should be able to do it himself."

"You can't talk about skipping school," scoffed Regulus. "You skived off lessons every week to make out with Remus."

"Yeah, and I only just managed to scrape by with average grades. Mother and Father made my life hell. They're expecting more from you, so imagine how they will be if you don't leave school with top marks," Sirius paused. "I do assume that you haven't told them that you're missing school?"

Regulus shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably. "I got a sickness form and forged Mother's signature. The school thinks I'm home with the mumps, and it doesn't seem as though anyone has questioned Barty's absence yet. His father doesn't exactly care about where he is or what he's doing, so long as he's getting the best grades."

"I don't exactly care about Barty," snapped Sirius. "I care about you and what will happen to you if you don't graduate or get kicked out of school. Mother will kill you. You're always pining after that weirdo, you've never stopped to realise how much he's dragging you down."

Regulus glared at his older brother darkly. "I came here to talk to you about Barty, not listen to you insult him."

Sirius rolled his eyes and turned back to the mirror. "Then I'm even less interested than I was before."

"Why do you have to be like this?" Regulus demanded to know. "It's important. It's about Barty. It's about something that happened to him, at the hands of—"

The doorbell rang suddenly, cutting Regulus off. "You need to go," Sirius muttered, running a hand through his hair one last time. "Remus is here. Come stop by at the weekend."

"No, I don't think I will. You've made your lack of interest perfectly clear." Regulus scowled at his older brother as he marched out of the flat, pushing past Remus without so much of a backwards glance.

oOo

"Are you rested enough?" Barty asked Regulus. He was still laid on the bunk bed as Regulus stood up to pull his jeans back on.

"Of course," Regulus replied with a grin. "Now, what's the next phase of the plan?"

"We go to the dormitories," Barty replied. "That's where he'll be. That's where we finish this."

Regulus pulled Barty out of the bed by the wrists and towards him, kissing him softly. "We finish this," he repeated, smiling into Barty's mouth.

oOo

Petunia shut the door behind her after she entered the boys' dormitory. She had initially wanted to go to the girls' one, but knowing that Marlene, Lily and Alice wouldn't be joining her there made her change her mind.

She found a box of matches on a bedside table and struck one to light the candle inside a lantern, but screamed suddenly, almost dropping the lantern on the floor. A pair of red-rimmed, blue eyes glittered from a nearby wardrobe in the candlelight, making Petunia jump out of her skin.

The door to the wardrobe was pushed open, and Peter stepped out, holding up his hands in surrender. "It's just me."

"What are you doing lurking in there?!" shrieked Petunia. "There are killers on the loose and you're hiding in wardrobes jumping out at people?"

"Why are you in the boys' dormitory?" Peter countered, folding his arms over his chest.

Petunia ignored his question and sat down heavily on a bunk bed. "Your friends have gone looking for...whoever it is that's causing all this trouble," she said. "They were wondering where you'd snuck off to."

Peter's cheeks flushed and he looked away. "I...I panicked," he replied quickly. "I don't know what came over me."

"You ran off when I mentioned who it was that was in that infirmary," continued Petunia, her eyes sparkling knowingly. "Your friends might all have been preoccupied trying to work out what they were going to do, but I don't miss anything." She paused, focusing her gaze determinedly on Peter. "You know them, don't you? Not just them, but you know why they might be doing this."

"I don't know anything!" hissed Peter. "I was just afraid. I came to be a camp counsellor to spend the summer with my friends, not be murdered by two lunatics."

Petunia stood up and wandered over to the window, where she peered out into the darkness.

"Two lunatics that you definitely know," she muttered.

"I don't know them. I mean, I know of them. I know who they are and stuff. But I don't know them personally, and they have no reason to do this — not that I would know of, anyway—"

Peter's sputtering was cut off by the bang of the cabin door blowing open and Petunia's piercing scream.

"Liar."

The scathing voice came from the doorway, but was soon drowned out by Petunia's incessant screaming. A shadowy figure crossed the threshold and stepped over to Petunia in a couple of long strides. He wound an arm around Petunia's neck, standing behind her, and thrust a knife into her back.

Her shrieking dissolved into a cough and a low whine as her assailant twisted the knife, before pulling it out roughly. She fell face first to the floor where she lay, still as stone.

Peter lunged for the door, but another figure stepped through the door, blocking the exit.

"Regulus…" Peter murmured, as Regulus came further into the candlelight. Peter backed away until the backs of his knees hit the bunk bed, and he sat back on the mattress. "Barty…"

Barty walked around Petunia's body, but didn't get close to Peter. He looked down at his knife, smearing the blood on the pocket of his jeans.

"Don't you say his name," Regulus snapped, his eyes flashing darkly. "Don't you ever say his name."

oOo

Remus, Sirius and James hadn't ventured that far into the forest when they heard an ear-splitting scream, causing the three of them to stop dead in their tracks.

"Petunia," James and Remus said at the same time. "I have to go back," James finished.

"You can't," Sirius replied. "You need to be with Lily when we find her."

"If Lily heard that her sister was in danger and I didn't go back to save her, she would kill me." James didn't sound entirely convinced, but his eyes were firm.

"You can't," repeated Sirius. "At least, I won't let you go alone. We'll all go back and make sure Petunia is okay, then we'll come back out to find the girls. Together."

"No you bloody won't." James pressed a hand to Sirius's shoulder when his friend tried to move towards him. "There's no one else I'd trust to go and save my girlfriend if I couldn't," he paused. "And besides. If anything has happened to Lily...I don't know if I could bear to see it for myself."

Remus nodded, and put a hand on Sirius's arm. "We'll find her, James."

"Ever the hero," scoffed Sirius, but he was grinning. He threw an arm around James in a quick hug. "Be safe, mate. We'll rescue your bird for you."

James laughed. "I don't doubt it." Giving his best friend one last squeeze, he turned around and vanished into the trees, back towards the dormitories, leaving Remus and Sirius to carry on alone.

oOo

As James advanced on the boys' dormitory, he crept up to the window. He played enough sports to know when to be light on his feet, and this was one of those times. He avoided loose twigs and stepped around debris, careful even in the dark to not make any noise.

There wasn't much light inside the dorm room. James could see the dim flicker of a candle through the dirty window, but it was otherwise difficult to tell what was going on. He could make out a figure, who looked to be struggling and writhing where he sat, and another dark shape stood near him. James pressed his ear to the glass to try and listen in.

"You don't have to do this." The voice was muffled but familiar — it was Peter. "If I could take it back...take it all back...I would."

"It's too late for that." Another familiar voice, this time belonging to Sirius's little brother. James shivered at the darkness in his tone. He'd always known Regulus to be quiet, maybe even a little shy at times. But when he spoke to people he was polite and civil, even if he didn't always come across as friendly. James had never heard him sound so hateful.

James ground his teeth together as he tried to think about what to do. His friend was clearly in trouble, and he needed to help him. They all needed to get out of here, before more people ended up dead. But what could he do? There were two of them, and only one of him, especially if Peter was tied up…

"Wait…" James thought aloud. There were two of them — that's what Petunia had said when she rushed back. Regulus was inside with Peter. So where was Barty?

Suddenly, something heavy collided with James's back, and he was shoved up against the window. Fingers curled into his hair and gripped, painfully tight, then pulled his head back only to smash it back against the window — once, twice, three times.

James was dazed by the time his assailant stopped, and a lens had fallen out of his glasses. He staggered back away from the window, his vision swimming. "Where...where are you...who…"

"Enough talking." It was Barty. "There's nothing left to say anymore. If you'd have stayed away, you might have survived."

Before James could respond, a sharp elbow smashed against his temple, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as he sank to the floor.

It only seemed like seconds had passed when James opened his eyes again. He was in motion; being dragged across the rough ground by his legs, but he was still too disoriented to try and struggle out of Barty's grasp.

The uneven, grassy ground soon transformed into smooth planks, and James realised that he was being pulled along the jetty that hung over the lake. "Barty…" he croaked, trying to roll his head back to look up at him.

"It'll be over soon." Barty dropped James's legs heavily on the wood and stepped around him.

James was still groggy, and when he tried to lift his head the pain was too unbearable to manage, and he slumped back, screwing his eyes up. Barty straightened up, pressed his foot to James's shoulder, and kicked him into the lake.

Despite the summer season, the water was freezing cold, and shocked James to the bone. He thrashed in the lake, trying to feel for ground below his feet, to no avail. He was dizzy; the hit to the head was still rendering him unbalanced. As his limbs grew weak and heavy, and his throat started to hurt to take in breath, he managed to shoot one last look up at Barty.

Barty stood with his arms folded and his face impassive as James Potter sank below the surface of the lake.

oOo

"Look." Remus stopped in his tracks as they advanced on the Infirmary. Sirius was about to head straight in, but Remus was pointing to the dark pathway down the side of the building, where a shovel was dug into the ground.

Sirius looped his arm into the crook of Remus's elbow, and the pair walked carefully around the building.

The earth near the shovel had clearly been dug up and patted back down, as it looked turned over and fresh. Remus knelt down by the dirt and looked up at Sirius, worry evident on his face.

"What do we do?" Sirius asked quietly.

Remus swallowed. "We have to check. We have to see if they're in there."

Sirius closed his eyes briefly, and then reached over for the shovel. "Okay."

Remus stood up and stepped out of the way to let Sirius start to dig out the earth. As it had only recently been turned over, the soil was soft and easy to plough through. It didn't take long before Sirius was at least half a metre into the ground.

"Wait!" Remus said suddenly, reaching to grab Sirius's wrist to stop him digging. "There's something there." He dropped to his knees again and leaned into the hole, pointing to a small patch of bright white.

Sirius knelt down too and helped Remus to scrape the dirt away by hand, until they exposed the grey, unmoving face of Marlene.

"Petunia was right," Remus whispered. "She's dead."

The colour had drained from Sirius's face. "Maybe we can still find Lily and Alice." His voice sounded thick.

"I think we already have." Remus was still pushing dirt out of the way, uncovering a lock of auburn hair. More digging exposed Lily's face, still open-mouthed with her eyes screwed closed, and Alice at Marlene's other side, with her face turned to the side as though she was trying to burrow away from the threat of being buried. "There's dirt in Lily's throat," Remus murmured softly.

"They were buried alive," Sirius concluded shakily.

Remus nodded. "Except Marlene, it seems." He looked up at Sirius, his eyes damp. "What do we do now?"

Sirius clenched his dirt-covered fists. "We go after James. We help him, and we find my brother." He clenched his teeth firmly. "This needs to end. Tonight."

oOo

When Barty stepped back into the dormitory, Regulus was pushing the chair that Peter was fastened to against the wall. "Potter has been dealt with." Barty leaned against the opposite wall and examined the blade of his knife.

"Oh, God…" Peter whined. "Oh no...what have you done…"

Regulus swung his arm and whacked Peter around the face with the back of his hand. Peter groaned and leaned back in his chair.

"Please…" he continued raspily. "Please...just let me go...I'm sorry, I swear I'm sorry."

"Coward," hissed Regulus. "Don't you care about anyone else but yourself? Don't you care that your friends are dead?"

"Of course I care!" cried Peter. "But I don't want to die!"

Regulus yanked his knife from his belt and pressed the sharp point into Peter's chubby neck. "You deserve to die more than any of your friends," he snarled. "Beyond anything your friends did, you're the main reason that they're all dead."

Peter whimpered in response.

"Regulus!" Barty's voice was urgent. Regulus whipped around to look at his boyfriend, who was standing defensively, his knife glinting in his hand. He was looking at the door, where Sirius and Remus stood, staring at Regulus.

"Brother," Sirius whispered, his grey eyes wide. "What are you doing?"

"What needs to be done." Regulus glared at his brother. "This could have been avoided."

"What do you mean?" Remus asked. He held his hands up as Barty advanced upon them with the knife. "Wait — please. Tell us. Help us understand."

"Barty." Regulus nodded to Barty, who rolled his eyes and put the knife into the pocket of his jeans.

"What the hell are you doing, Regulus?" Sirius seemed to have found his voice. "What has this lunatic dragged you into now? You never used to be like this, how could you let him—"

"—Don't you talk about him like that!" Regulus yelled, his voice booming through the dormitory. Barty had his arms folded across his chest as he glared at Sirius, but kept quiet. "You don't know anything, brother. You think this was Barty's idea? You think just because Barty was a loner at school and everyone thought he was crazy, he would lead me into this? You don't know shit! If you want to hear me now, I'll give you the story. But don't you dare insult Barty; I don't care if you are my brother, I'm not afraid to hurt you!"

"Regulus—"

"I was the one who decided to come to camp this summer." Regulus's eyes were sparkling. "I was the one who started to plan all of this. I was the one who suggested that we kill all of your friends. I was the one who came up with the idea to capture this piece of shit and make him pay for what he did to Barty."

"I don't understand!" Sirius cried. "What has he done?"

"He tried to tell you," Barty said quietly. "He tried to."

Regulus stared at Sirius solemnly. "You were too busy for me. You didn't have time to hear what I had to say."

oOo

The upper-years had finally finished all of their graduation exams, and there were two celebration parties happening. It was the only time of year that the teachers turned their eyes away from any noise or rambunctiousness that was going on.

Each separate dormitory building held its own party. The buildings were separated by gender, so there was a completely different party that the girls were having at the other side of the school grounds. The only thing that the teachers (in particular old-fashioned McGonagall) were stuffy about was making sure that boys and girls didn't intermingle in dormitories.

The houses took it in turns to hold the end of year party. This year it was Slytherin, much to Barty's delight, as he hated the crowds of students and would be able to hide out in his dormitory once it became too much.

No one else would miss him, apart from Regulus. The party had been going on for less than an hour when Barty sidled up to Regulus, who was standing with his older brother. Sirius Black gave Barty a dirty look when Regulus stepped to the side to talk to Barty, but Barty ignored him.

"I'm going up to bed," he told Regulus quietly. "I just wanted to let you know."

Regulus didn't push Barty — he knew how much he hated the gathering, especially when virtually everyone else in the school disliked him. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, of course not." Barty linked his fingers with Regulus's carefully, just out of the gaze of everyone else. He didn't care what people thought of him, but he didn't want people to treat Regulus in the same way they treat him, so Barty often tried to keep their affections to a minimum at school. "You enjoy the party." He leaned a bit closer to Regulus to whisper. "You can come find me in my bed later. Everyone else will be too drunk to care about what's going on." He smirked.

Regulus grinned and put an arm around Barty's neck in a quick hug. "That's a promise," he confirmed.

Barty gave him a wave and wandered off to the stairway to the sixth-year dormitory.

oOo

"So your boyfriend didn't want to hang around with the rest of us at the party," Sirius interrupted Regulus. "What's that got to do with all of the death?"

"I haven't finished," snapped Regulus. "And anyway, why would he want to stick around? All you did — everyone at that school did — was make Barty feel like shit." He looked over at Barty, who had stepped away from Sirius and Remus to lean against the window again. He was looking down at his feet.

"Explain to us," Remus urged Regulus. "Just keep explaining."

"I'll explain," Barty muttered quietly. "I'll tell you everything."

oOo

Barty was happy enough to spend the rest of the evening upstairs in the dormitory alone. It wasn't often that he had the place to himself. It was nice to be able to lay on his bed with a book without the threat of one of the other boys coming over to pester him.

The music was loud, but not loud enough to annoy him, just a dull thud of bass from the common area below his dormitory. The voices became louder as the night went on, and students became more intoxicated with alcohol. He wondered absently how many of the younger students were sneaking beverages that they shouldn't be having. The teachers often turned a blind eye to the older students drinking on this occasion, as they would be leaving within the week, but they would step in should the younger students get involved.

But the teachers tried to steer clear of the messy dorm party most of the time, so it was likely that many of the younger kids would be drinking and the teachers would be none the wiser.

It was several hours before Barty heard footsteps on the stairwell, and smiled to himself. Regulus would stay at the party for as long as he could be bothered to socialise, but he always wanted to be back up to spend time with Barty.

"Hey."

Barty sat up from his sprawled position suddenly, alerted by the unfamiliar voice. He recognised the face in the doorway, though it wasn't someone who had ever made the effort to talk to him before now. It was Peter Pettigrew — one of Sirius Black's friends. "Can I help you?" he asked, closing his book.

Pettigrew shrugged and moved closer. "It's getting noisy down there. Wondered if you fancied a chat." His small blue eyes were watery and his voice was slurred; he'd clearly been drinking.

"Not really," Barty replied defensively. "You shouldn't be in here you know, this isn't your dorm."

Pettigrew sat heavily on the bed next to Barty, much to Barty's dismay. "It doesn't matter. I don't have a dorm anymore. I'm leaving tomorrow." Unlike the rest of the upper-years, who were thrilled and excited to be moving on in the world, Pettigrew didn't sound all that happy about it.

Barty said nothing, hoping that Pettigrew would get the hint and leave. He made Barty feel uncomfortable. He'd never spoken to Barty before now, but Barty had seen him smirk and laugh if he was every around when Barty was being tormented. He didn't trust him.

"Sirius and Remus are holed up together," Peter continued bitterly. "James has Lily. Sirius and James have already put a deposit down on a flat to move into after we leave, and Remus has a room above the record shop that he already has a job promised at. My mum works in the kitchens here at school, and gets free board. I don't have a home to go back to. This is my home. No one cares about what I'm going to be doing when we finish."

Barty couldn't help but think that Pettigrew sounded rather pathetic. The teachers dedicated a lot of time and resources during the final year to ensure that the students were well prepared for life after school. Regular Careers meetings were held during the year, and information was shared on rental properties and room shares that students could move into after school finished. This was why James, Remus and Sirius were already set up and prepared.

Clearly, Pettigrew had been hanging onto the time spent with his friends at school rather than focusing on his future.

"I wanted to be their friend so bad." Pettigrew clenched his fists in the sheets where he sat. "Sirius and James wouldn't spare me the time of day when we were in first year. I was so desperate to be friends with them. They were so popular, and…" Pettigrew's eyes misted over. "I just wanted to be them. I got lucky really, because I sat next to Remus in Chemistry, so after we became friends, I was part of the group."

Barty continued to remain silent. He didn't know why Pettigrew was telling him this.

"And now they're leaving. I'll be lonely again." He turned to face Barty. "You're lonely, aren't you, Crouch?"

Barty furrowed his brow. "Not anymore," he murmured. "I have Regulus."

"Yes, Regulus. Sirius's brother." Pettigrew was edging closer to Barty, and Barty shuffled further away in response. "You know he doesn't really like you, right? He probably just feels sorry for you."

"That isn't true."

"Or it could be a trick that he and Sirius came up with," continued Pettigrew. "Sirius doesn't like you at all. I wouldn't be surprised if they devised a whole plan just to hurt your feelings."

"Stop it!"

"I could make you feel a bit less lonely. You could make me feel less lonely…"

"I'm not lonely!" Barty stood up, but Pettigrew grabbed his wrist. Barty was skinny and while he could be strong when he needed to be, Pettigrew was stocky and had built his strength from playing football with James. His grip on Barty's wrist was firm, and Barty couldn't pull it free. "Let go of me, Pettigrew." Barty hoped that his voice sounded firm, but it came out a little wobbly.

"No, I don't think I will." Pettigrew dragged Barty back onto the bed roughly, and used his free hand to push him down onto the mattress. "I'm sick of feeling this way." His voice had deepened to a growl, and he pushed a hand up Barty's shirt, ignoring the way Barty yelped at his touch and tried to squirm out of his grip. "You're going to make me feel better."

oOo

The moon dappled Barty's skin like milk where he stood by the window, and his glaring brown eyes were filled with tears. Regulus was watching him sadly, though he remained in front of Peter, preventing Sirius or Remus from freeing him.

"Is this true?" Sirius whispered, his eyes wide. "How do we know this is true?"

"It's true." Regulus confirmed.

oOo

"Barty?" a voice called up into the dormitory. "I just saw Peter Pettigrew coming down the stairs. What was he doing up here? Barty?"

It was Regulus. When he reached the top of the stairs and looked over to Barty's bed, he rushed over.

Barty was wrapped up in his blankets, crying into his pillow. There was blood on the white sheets, and Barty's clothes were strewn across the floor. "Barty…" Regulus sank onto the bed and placed a hand on Barty's back, causing him to flinch at the touch. Regulus pulled his hand back, alarmed. "What happened?" he whispered. He looked back at the stairway.

"Regulus…" Barty's voice was barely a breath. He pulled the sheet away from his head and looked up at Regulus with weak eyes. Regulus scanned his face, noticing that his bottom lip was swollen and his neck was littered with small bruises. He looked up at Regulus and dissolved into fresh tears, his body shuddering with sobs.

Regulus gathered Barty up in his arms, allowing him to explain what happened through his tears.

oOo

"I wanted to kill you there and then." Regulus glowered down at Peter.

"Why didn't you tell me straight away?" Sirius asked, his voice still a whisper. "Why didn't you come to me?"

"It took Barty all night to tell me what happened," replied Regulus. "I couldn't leave him. He was traumatised. By the time morning came and Barty felt safe enough for me to leave the dormitory, you were all gone. You'd left."

"You were home for the summer!" Sirius exclaimed.

"You weren't!" Regulus snapped. "You barely came back to Grimmauld Place, except to pick up things for your flat. I was picking up the pieces of Barty, trying to repair what this piece of shit had done to him. He didn't want me to tell anyone. He didn't think anyone would believe him."

Remus looked over at Barty, who had sank to the floor after the truth of his past had come to light. "No one would," Remus said quietly. "Of course no one would."

"You don't know that." Sirius turned to Remus.

"It's true, Sirius," continued Remus, looking solemn. "Think of how badly you thought of Barty through school. Would you really believe something that he was saying of one of your best friends?"

Sirius opened his mouth to speak, but his words fell short.

"This is the only way we can have peace." Regulus pressed the tip of his knife into Peter's throat. "This is the only way Barty can live again."

"Is it true, Peter?" Sirius asked, stepping closer. Regulus deepened the knife enough to draw blood and make Peter whimper, but he didn't stop Sirius from coming nearer. "Did you...did you do that to him?"

Peter released a long, strangled whine. "I'm sorry!" he finally cried, his piggishly small eyes leaking with tears. "I was stupid. I was a kid. I didn't mean to hurt him. I didn't mean to!"

Sirius stepped backwards towards Remus, horrified.

"You didn't mean to?!" Regulus roared. "You didn't mean to rape my boyfriend?!"

Peter sobbed and snorted pathetically, his words inaudible.

"It's time to finish this," Barty whispered. "I've dwelled enough on the past. I've cried about what he did to me until my throat was raw. I'm ready for this to be over. I'm ready to get my revenge." He climbed to his feet and walked towards the chair where Peter sat, turning around to look at Sirius and Remus. His pale face was unemotive now, as though he'd wiped away the memories of the pain along with his tears. "You're welcome to watch if you like, but if you try and stop this, you will be killed too."

"Wait," Sirius made to move towards Barty. "You don't have to kill anyone else. We can turn him in to the police. We can get justice for what he's done."

"Sirius." Remus placed a hand on Sirius's arm, pulling him back. "What would you do if Peter did this to me?"

Sirius was quiet for a minute, and the horror on his face soon morphed into a similar expression that Regulus wore. He turned to look at Peter, his lips curled back into a snarl. "I'd destroy everyone who came between me and him until I'd ripped his dick from his body."

"Exactly," Remus whispered. "Exactly." He put a hand on Sirius's face and turned him away from Peter. "This is bad...this is really bad, but...I can't help but feel like...this isn't our revenge to be had."

"You want to leave him to die here?" Sirius replied, his voice low. "Even though they have killed the rest of our friends too?"

"I don't know what else we can do."

"Sirius!" Peter wailed. "Remus! You're my friends!"

"You are not our friend," hissed Sirius. "You are disgusting."

"Just leave." Regulus had been listening to every whisper. "Your boyfriend is smart, brother. This isn't your business anymore."

Remus kept a firm hand on Sirius's arm, and led him out of the dormitory slowly, shutting the door firmly behind them.

oOo

Sirius wanted to hang outside the dormitory, but Remus led him away to the lake, where they sat on the jetty. "This feels wrong," Sirius said quietly. "But at the same time...I can't imagine ever being able to look at Peter in the eye again."

"I know." Remus placed a hand on Sirius's leg. "He was our friend, for years. But…" his voice trailed off as he looked out at the moonlit lake. "I don't know, Sirius. I just feel like this is the right thing to do."

"What do we do now, though?" Sirius whispered. "Do we turn them into the authorities? They've killed everyone! The girls...James…"

Remus's brow furrowed as he peered into the water. "There's something out there." He climbed to his feet. He pointed to a dark lump floating in the lake, not too far from where they were.

Sirius squinted. "Oh yeah…"

"Sirius, grab that oar." Remus pointed to a rowboat that was strewn on the bank alongside the jetty. Sirius jumped down and threw it up to Remus, who reached out with the oar as far as he could, stretching his arm until it hurt. Finally, he just brushed the lump with the oar enough to start pulling it inwards.

"It's a person!" Sirius gasped. As the person came nearer, Sirius reached into the water and hauled him up by the arms. "James!"

James Potter slumped on his back on the wood, his face peaky and his mouth lolling open. His eyes were closed, and his glasses were missing. Remus threw the oar into the water and crouched at the side of his friend, leaning down to put an ear near his mouth. "He's not breathing."

"Oh, Remus," Sirius's eyes widened. "What are we going to do?"

"Calm down," Remus ordered. "I've done a First Aid course." He sat up on his knees and pressed his hands on James's chest, one on top of the other, and started administering quick compressions. This went on for a few minutes, and then he bent down and pinched James's nose before blowing air into his mouth.

After what seemed like an eternity, James suddenly spluttered. Remus turned his friend's head to the side to let the lake water drain out of his mouth.

James's eyes fluttered open. He looked up wildly at his two friends. "Guys...killed everyone...Peter...oh." After murmuring some more unintelligible sentences, James's eyes fell shut again, his breathing heavy.

"Is...is he okay?" Sirius whispered.

Remus nodded. "He's alive. His body is in shock, seems like he's just slipped out of consciousness. But I think he'll be okay." He pulled James's into a more comfortable position on his back, resting his head across Sirius's knees.

"Thank god someone survived," Sirius murmured, looking down at James.

"Sirius." Remus leaned back on his hands. "I know you're unsure about what to do, but I think we should help Barty and your brother."

Sirius sighed, and ground the heel of his palm into his eye. "They killed our friends."

"There's something not right there," said Remus. "What Peter did...broke them. Coupled with what Barty already went through in school. Peter was our friend, our responsibility. We should have been there to listen to Regulus when he came to you, to try and tell you about Peter. We could have stopped all of this back then."

"I know." Sirius's voice was slightly thick, as though he was holding back tears.

"They've done awful things," Remus continued. "But they're hurt. They've been hurt by someone who we called a friend. We have to help them."

Slowly, Sirius nodded in agreement.

oOo

"How do you want this to end?" Regulus asked. He held Barty's hand in his, the hilt of a knife between their entwined fingers. "We've waited a long time for this."

Barty turned to Regulus and pressed a kiss to his cheek, before moving to his mouth. Peter squirmed in the chair in front of them, as though he could wriggle away to freedom. "Thank you," Barty whispered breathily. "Thank you for making this happen."

"I'd do anything for you." Regulus kissed Barty headily between words. "Anything; kill anyone. Whatever makes you happy." He threaded the fingers of his free hand through Barty's sandy hair, pulling him closer.

"I'm the happiest man alive," Barty continued. "Now that this scum is going to pay for what he did."

"Please," Peter whined. "You don't have to do this."

"How do we kill him?" Regulus asked, ignoring Peter's plea.

"Take off his trousers," Barty muttered dangerously. "I'm going to start by removing the little prick that he used to destroy my life." He paused to glare at Peter. "And then I'm going to make him swallow it."

Regulus grinned, and used the knife to rip the seams of Peter's trousers and underwear, ripping them away from his pasty thighs.

"Please don't do this!" Peter screamed as Barty took the knife from Regulus and advanced on his prey. "Please! This isn't right! This is...oh my god...oh my…!" his voice dissolved into screeches as Barty sank the knife into his genitals and blood sprayed across his face.

His screams rang out into the night, echoing across Camp Eagle Eye.

They would finally get their revenge.

Word Count: 12,456 words

Written For:

Hogwarts Assignment #8/Muggle Studies: Task #4: Write a Serial Killer!AU

Seasonal/Flower Prompts: #10. Pansy - (theme) Will to Survive

Seasonal/Elemental Prompts: #9. (word) Breathe

Sticker Book Collection: Hermione's Beaded Handbag: 7. Invisibility Cloak - Write about hiding.

Writing Club/Disney Challenge: "I'm not afraid to hurt you."

Writing Club/Trope of the Month: Sexuality: Gay

Writing Club/All Sorts of Space: (character) Regulus Black

Writing Club/Sophie's Shelf: 8. (dialogue) "There's nothing left to say anymore."

Writing Club/Liza's Loves: 23. Write about a murder or death

Writing Club/Scamander's Case: 1. Ukrainian Ironbelly - (prompt) write about someone destructive

Writing Club/Film Festival: (word) blood

Pop Figure Club/Thestral 1. Thestral - (theme) Death

Hogwarts Game Night Club/Right Foot: 5. A Wood Cabin, Left Foot: 3. "If I could take it back...take it all back...I would."

What's Cooking: 85. Lobster: (emotion) afraid

Supermarket Sweep: Hat - Black Family Member

Mythology Club: Plot: Write about a death