𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐚 || 𝘳.𝘢.𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

039. james and regulus

"I don't think you can take it." Regulus whispers, slowly tracing his fingers along her skin as he removes his hand from under the blanket and Maria scoffs, knocked out of her frozen state.

"Whatever." Maria says, hopping off the counter and stumbling into Regulus slightly.

"Point instantly proven." Regulus smirks slightly and Maria huffs some hair out of her face, rolling her eyes and dropping the blanket, stepping into the steaming water and sinking down into it, raising an eyebrow at Regulus who sighs and takes off his sweatpants and underwear, sitting behind her in the scalding water and she moves back, leaning her shoulders back into his chest as he rests his chin on her shoulder.

"Do you think the war will ever end?" Maria whispers and the tousle haired boy sighs, tracing random patterns on her side.

"It won't last forever." Regulus mumbles against the skin of her shoulder. "We just have to. . .keep fighting."

Maria turns so she can look him in his storm filled eyes, "how many more people are gonna die?"
Regulus can hear the emotion in her voice, he can basically feel the sadness radiating off the brunette sat so peacefully in his dangerous arms.

"I. . .I don't know, Ria." Regulus whispers and Maria swallows, nodding.

"You—you can't die on me, okay?" Maria stutters , playing with some curls at the back of his head and Regulus looks at her and she knows what the look means, that none of them will ever really know who's next. "Just—you can't—"

Regulus cuts her off with his lips on hers, the water sloshing gently as she turns to him fully, her hands run through his hair and his squeeze her waist softly. Regulus makes sure to fill the kiss with enough love and passion because it's the truth, neither of them can ever know who is next. It could be one of them, one of their friends, brothers, family. Regulus wishes he could save her, her and everyone she cares about. Her beautiful heart shouldn't be shattered, not now, not when she's barely even loved.

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A few hours later they're ready to apparate back to the Potter Manor, stood in outside the apartment and Maria sighs, turning to Regulus who smiles softly.

"Ready?" Regulus says and she nods, looking at the door one last time before grabbing Regulus' hand, the two of them disappearing.
They appear again in front of the large, Potter Manor, the sun shining brightly in the clear blue sky and they walk through the gates and down the drive, Maria clutching Regulus' hand tightly, not wanting to say goodbye to him yet.

The door swings open and a relieved James Potter rushes down the rest of the drive and pulls his younger sister into his arms, spinning her around once and laughing into her hair. Stood on the steps leading to the porch, Remus, Peter and Sirius also look relieved, Sirius slightly more so when he notices his brother who offers him a tight lipped smile. Maria pulls away and notices faint scratches on James' face.

"What happened to you?" She asks in concern, turning his head to examine the marks and James discreetly nods over to Remus. Maria hums and lets him go, turning to Regulus who's awkwardly stood and Maria sighs, pulling him into a hug. Regulus wraps his arms around her shoulders, inhaling the scent of her strawberry shampoo, trying to savour each last second before he returns to his house.

"Be careful." Maria mumbles as they pull away, Regulus nods pressing a kiss to her forehead and nodding to James before turning around to walk back down the driveway.

"Regulus." James calls and Regulus turns around, his hands in his pockets. "Thank you, for bringing her home safe." Regulus nods with another tight lipped smile, locking eyes with soft chocolate ones and she gives him a sorrowful smile before he turns and walks off the grounds, apparating away.

"We missed you Prongsette!" Sirius yells from the stairs as the siblings stroll towards them and Maria frowns in confusion.

"Prongsette?"

"We made it up when you were away." Peter says happily. "Cause you're Prongs' sister, so — Prongsette."

"Amazing." Maria says sarcastically, hugging Remus first who smiles softly at her, happy to have a sane person in the house, other than Lily visiting every other day.

"Well, when you master your patronus we can change it." Remus shrugs and Sirius looks offended, Maria figuring he made up the nickname. "Ours are the same as their animagi, and mines a wolf so we'll have to see what yours is."

"Yeah, you've got to learn, Prongsette." Sirius grins, slinging an arm over her shoulder as they stroll into the large Manor. "Then we can send each other them, like being on a Felephone."

"Telephone." Remus corrects and Sirius points at him.

"Yes."

"Aren't they supposed to be like, super difficult?" Maria asks, taking off her converse and the boys shrug.

"If you have a strong enough memory, you'll do it easier." Remus states and Maria nods before the door slams open and in runs a very hyper Marlene McKinnon, followed by Lily, Dorcas, Alice, Mary and Frank.

"How was it? Happy birthday—you're legal now!" Marlene blurts and then blinks for a few seconds. "Yes, I've had too much caffeine."

"It was great." Maria says, Marlene hugging her tightly.

"Been a long time little Potter." Frank says and Maria laughs, hugging the older boy who ruffled her hair. Marlene, Mary and Dorcas eye her suspiciously, quietly whispering as her and Frank talk before grabbing Lily and Alice to confer with them.

"We need to borrow Maria, won't be long." Dorcas sings, dragging Maria upstairs and into her bedroom where Mary quickly shuts the door and Maria sits on her bed confused.

"You're not a virgin anymore!" Mary whisper shouts and Maria gapes at the brunette who is talking excitedly to Lily who shushes her quickly.

"How—"

"Oh my god—I knew it!" Dorcas says excitedly, sitting next to Maria, Mary sitting on her other side.

"What was it like?" Mary asks eagerly, Maria and Mary got off to a bad start in Maria's fourth year when they first met and never really got over it until in Mary's seventh year when they had talked a lot about a Hufflepuff boy that Mary was dating for a few months who used to be good friends with Maria.

"Are those—" Lily gasps, pulling Maria's jumper off her shoulder and revealing the scatter of love bites all over her collarbone and shoulder. "Oh my god—okay I want to know now."

"He was so sweet about it." The girls make 'awe' noises before Maria continues. "I don't know how to explain it—"

"Did he get you to finish?" Maria nods and they all whistle loudly, Mary clapping her hands.

"Keep that one." Marlene nods, eating some treacle fudge. The door bursts open and the girls jump, seeing Frank and Sirius stood smirking in the doorway before Frank's eyes widen.

"Merlin—what did he do to you?" Frank breathes, noticing the marks on Maria's shoulder.

"Ah yes, my brother, the sex god." Sirius says and Maria frowns at his bitterness towards Regulus but shakes her head.

"Who's brother's a. . ." Peter trails off, seeing the purple across Maria's shoulder. "Oh, my—did he hurt you? I'll—"

"Peter, they're hickeys." Marlene laughs and Peter deflates in relief.

"We're home!"

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Hii! I'm so sorry I've been taking longer to update, school started again on  Monday

I made a tiktok for edits about this story and another I'm writing and it's got like a mini trailer for this fic, it's the same name as my Wattpad (gossip_grace_) and I'll post more as well!

Also, I wanted to say she WON'T be pregnant, it goes without saying they did some sort of spell cause no one can be bothered with a child lols

~ Grace x