The Bug Collector | marauders

"R"

September 1st 1976
Hogwarts

Approximately one hour before curfew

Rose sat reading under a willow tree, occasionally the wind would gust and it's droopy leaves would brush her shoulder. She glanced down at the photo of Regulus between her fingers and sighed, closing the book and the photo within it.

She grabbed her green wand that was laying next to her in the grass, while the other was in her hair. She waved it in small figure eights, while whispering an incantation, and on the grass ahead of her groups of pastel colored tulips sprouted up, another wave of her wand and a different incantation caused them to disappear leaving the patch of grass just as she'd found it.

She looked back down to her book, and the photo sticking slightly out of the top of it and stood, brushing the small leaves of the weeping willow out of her way as she walked straight to the marauders dorm to get the invisibility cloak.

I want to see him.

It was a simple enough exchange, the boys were almost unwilling to give it, but ultimately Rose got to use it for the night, then she waited for curfew to pass, giving some extra time so that hopefully Regulus' mates would be asleep. They didn't have to be for the simple plan of sneaking him out to work, but it did help.

She entered the dorm with relative ease, for the most part Regulus' roommates seemed to have their bed curtains closed. She walked silently under the cloak, careful to stay away from all the candles alight on Reggie's bedside table. She carefully slipped through the bed curtain and Regulus immediately noticed a disturbance, pulling his cover around his neck to cover himself. He looked to the spot where Rose sat, for him there was an indentation in the covers and a noticeable weight on his bed, but nothing to be seen.

He reached his hand out and pulled the cloak off her in one swift movement.

Rose waved shyly and Regulus spoke a quick quieting charm.

"I assume you'll be taking me somewhere." He whispered.

"Precisely. Now get under here." She said lifting up the cloak.

They exited the bed, and dorms, eventually leaving the castle all together, when they were far enough out Rose removed the cloak.

"Where are you taking me, Rose?" He asked

"Well, I didn't really have a location in mind...I more of just wanted to see you." She said truthfully.

"You have no plans at all?" He asked

"Okay so I do have one plan, I was going to kinda ease you into it, but since you seem curious..." Rose trailed off as she reached into the small satchel she brought along, pulling out a charmed inkwell and a needle.

"I got the idea from y— a friend. I haven't tried it yet because Ode and Stephone both said no, but I think if we do something simple I'll be able to do it just fine." Rose said cautiously, not wanting him to completely write off the idea of her putting a small tattoo on him.

"We'll have to find a place to do it." He said deadpan, as if the idea didn't really phase him at all.

"O-oh! Alright yeah! Let's bloody find somewhere then." Rose said excitedly as they looked around for somewhere to sit.

Eventually they stumbled upon some dilapidated stone ruins, a common thing in the area, they had just enough surface space to work for what they needed, and there were still a few walls standing around it which felt....relatively safe.

"Here should do." She said as she brushed off the area before they both sat down.

"Okay. So are you sure? I have no real idea what I'm doing here." She said honestly

"If you do badly it will go away, if you do well, well congratulations at doing well." He said looking back at her with his unchanging gaze.

"Right...I see the logic. Now the question is...what can put on you?" She asked, they discussed many things, most ended in being too large or too complex, they needed something simple.

"Do an R." Regulus said

"Just the letter?" Rose asked for clarification

"Yeah, I get one, you get one, it's simple and tiny, I doubt you can mess it up." He responded

"Okay. Two little Rs. I want mine on my finger, what about you?" She asked, looking at the space above one of her left knuckles, where the small black "R" would be going.

Much to Rose's absolute surprise he pulled the bottom of his shirt up, pointing to the lower part of his stomach.

"Wh— there?" Rose said, her voice heightened in pitch with embarrassment and confusion.

"No one can see it." He said with a completely serious look on his face.

"Okay, I'll do yours first then. Uh— lay down." She said awkwardly. She whispered a fire charm to burn the tip of the needle before dipping it in the ink and hovering over the spot, right when she had settled her nerves enough to actually begin he spoke.

"Can I do yours?" He asked, she looked up  from where she was sat, leaned down over  him.

"Yes, but you're gonna have to be still and quiet. I'm not an artist." She said before looking back down and adding the first poke.

"Oh and this will probably hurt." She said as he made an annoyed sounding wince.

"Got it." He said making the noise again as she poked a few more times.

When they were done they both had tiny black Rs tattooed on them. Rose looked down at her hand.

"Sick." She said with a smile.

"Yours doesn't look half bad either." He responded as he pulled his shirt down to cover his stomach once more.

They sat next to one another for a moment, and finally Regulus spoke, to discuss something Rose knew was coming.

"I'm to be a death eater, Rose." He said looking straight ahead into the darkness.

Rose pushed up her glasses, and made a face.

"I figured as much." She said bringing her knees to her chest tightly.

"Even so, I won't leave you." She continued, looking over at him.

It was a hard thing to say, but an even harder thing to mean when your friend is practically being forced to join a group that want to remove muggle-born people like you from the world.

Colorless eyes looked back into hers.

"Once Sirius left things really changed." He said, touching the leather of her jacket softly before putting his hands in his pockets.

"New visitors. Mother and Father's expectations have skyrocketed now that it seems I can be part of something, there's so much talk of war and— well, other things I won't trouble you with." He continued, looked down at his feet.

"My offer still stands you could come with m—" 

"No, Rose." He said firmly, and just then a loud boom was heard, followed by a bright light in the sky. Fireworks.

At this hour?

They continued on, the conversation fizzled away as they watched them, they started as simple beams of light but then started taking shapes, lions, fire, a deer— a dog.

James

Sirius...

This was why they were so reluctant to give her the cloak.

Rose sat back against the cold stone wall behind  them, looking up at the work of the Marauders and then back over at Regulus.

A green firework exploded and the light trickled down, looking much like the willow tree she'd sat underneath earlier that night.

She slide her hand into his pocket to wrap her pinky around his.

He didn't look back at her, but she felt his pinky tighten around hers.