The Bug Collector | marauders

Stephone

The next morning Rose awoke and reached for Regulus beside her, but he wasn't there.

She patted around the empty spot, but found only by the cold sheets against her fingertips. She sat up apprehensively. Stephone chuckled from her own bed across the room.

"Don't be such a spaz. He's just getting his makeup done while letting Ode practice her French." She said, pointing to the small bathroom the girls shared, there Regulus sat on the counter, legs swinging as Odette held an eyeliner pencil to his eyelid.

Rose sat back relieved, nuzzling into the sheets that still smelled like him.

"Didn't you lot have another roommate?" Regulus asked while Odette held his face gently.

"We did, she asked to be moved to the dorm with the other Dea— the other uh- blood purists." Stephone said, she herself was from a rather strict pureblood family, it was one of the few things her and Regulus had bonded over since he'd started coming around.

"I use to live my life as if my mother was always watching, but I had to stop. I didn't feel alive." She'd said late one night. It seemed to resonate with him.

"I wish I could switch to this dorm." He said, Odette clicked her tongue.

"I bet you do." She said, finishing up with the eyeliner.

"You should really learn to do this yourself, sir". She added, Regulus' face scrunched together awkwardly.

"My hands are not nearly steady enough, trust me, I've tried." He said, hopping off the counter to walk over to Rose'd bed, wrapping his arms around her shoulders for a quick hug, his curls bouncing.

"Morning." Rose said, once he released her she stood and made her own way to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

"Ode." She said, removing the toothbrush from her mouth for a moment.

"Will you fill the charmed teapot for me? I don't feel like going to breakfast." She instructed, Odette nodded and exited the shared space to do just that, looking over at Steph and Regulus.

"You two want anything?" She asked, Stephone nodded and Regulus smiled a little smile.

"Whatever she's having." He said, pointing at Rose, Stephone rolled her eyes.

"Gotcha." Odette agreed with a sweet smile of her own.

"So, Stephone." Regulus began as he took a seat on the floor, head full of curls leaned against Rose's bed.

"What's your family name?" He asked, twirling the ring around his neck through his fingers.

"Uh...Greengrass." She said, as if it was a curse and not a surname.

Regulus' hand dropped limply to his lap.

"Yeah, I know it's kind of a sh—"

"Do you have any siblings? Cousins perhaps with your same surname?" He asked, she shook her head, but her eyes were filled with suspicion.

"No...I don't. Why'd you ask?" She said, he brought his hand back to the ring.

"My mother refuses to give me more information on my engagement, only that it's a "proper pureblood girl". I've heard whispers of this girl being a Greengrass." He said, Stephone's own face paled when she made the realization, Odette chimed in, holding the hot tea pot in her hand.

"But you're not engaged, Steph. Right? You would have told me that." She said, her face flattening, Stephone glanced up at her lover with guilt written plainly on her face.

"I-I" she began, stuttering.

"I'm not exactly engaged, but I got a letter, from my mother." She finally managed to say, opening the drawer of her bedside table and reaching inside, pulling out a small envelope with a protrusion just big enough to be a ring inside.