Mauraders one shots

_-* soulmate AU*-_

~Moonwater/moonseeker

CW for swearing and a few mentions of blood  at the start

      Every person is born with a pitch-black mark somewhere on their body and once their soulmate touches it, the mark explodes into a sea of various colors. Some people are lucky; handshakes, high fives, the likes of which are easy to tell who is your soulmate and who is not.

     Regulus, however, was never lucky. So, he figured that this wouldn't be any different. Regulus' mark engulfed the outward-facing side of his right arm, a good portion of his shoulder, and just enough of his neck to just barely poke out of his uniform. It doesn't stick out that noticeably but if you look close enough you could see it.

     It's not like it matters anyway, the Blacks never cared for "soulmates" so even if he found his soulmate he'd never get to be with them. But still, Regulus couldn't help but be a little curious.

*+ ~ +*

     Regulus was walking through the halls when he heard it. James Potter, his brother Sirius, and his own roommate, Enoch Wilkes voices yelling. He rounds the corner to find Peter Pettigrew crouched down on the floor attempting to wipe rivulets of blood dripping down from Remus Lupin's mouth on one side of the hall. On the other side, Wilkes was pinned against the wall by James Potter, who had his arm ready to punch Enoch at any moment, and by the looks of it, he already had. As for Regulus' brother, Sirius stood over Peter and Remus with his wand drawn and both anger and mischief twinkling in his eyes.

     Regulus rolls his eyes as he takes in the situation. Potter's eyes flick over to Regulus and Wilkes decides to seize the opportunity to sucker punch Potter in the jaw, who goes stumbling backwards. Lupin jumps up, despite the blood dripping from his mouth and staining his uniform, and rushes to Potter's side. 

       Regulus sighs and walks up to Wilkes, "Let's go to Madam Pomfry, because; for the record, I refuse to be held accountable for this." He murmurs, this had not been the first time he had done something like this and was far from the last. The least he could do is not get Regulus in detention but apparently, that was too hard for Wilkes.

     However, Wilkes shoves Regulus away while mumbling about how he doesn't need his help. (Bullshite honestly but to each their own) Wilkes' shove sends Regulus stumbling backward into Lupin and the two hit the wall with enough force to give Regulus a nosebleed and an odd feeling in his right arm. Add that to the list of reasons Wilkes is an insufferable brute who Regulus has the pleasure of babysitting.

     Regulus' face flushes and he silently stands up, turns around, and makes his way to the Slytherin dorms. Regulus tries to get there as fast as possible given his entire arm is in massive amounts of pain- well, not pain exactly. Not the pain he should feel when he quite literally just full-on slammed into a wall. It felt more like worms crawling underneath his skin, which was not a sensation he ever wanted to experience. 

     Luckily the wretched feeling was mostly gone by the time he reached the common room. Regulus ignores a group of first and second-year girls giving him odd looks and rushes into his dorm room.

     "Hey, uh- what ...what- uh - what happened to you?" Evan asks with a sly smirk as Regulus exasperatedly enters their dorm and promptly collapses on his bed.

     "Nothing, Wilkes is just an arsehole," Regulus mutters.

     "Oh, is he...your...um, you know..." Evan's smirk only grows bigger as Regulus gives him a look of utter confusion.

     "My what? What the bloody hell are you on about?" Regulus swearing is something that only happens when he's with someone he really trusts or when he's really annoyed - this was both.

       "Your soulmate. Your mark- have you looked in the mirror lately?" Evan says, his voice becoming a low buzzing in the back of Regulus' head - he completely lost focus on everything past, "Your soulmate."

     Regulus' mouth opens like he is going to say something but closes a few times - like a fish - before getting up and running into the bathroom connected to their room.

     Lo and behold Regulus' mark had become a wicked tie-dye of everything from sage green to vermillion to violet.

      Oh Merlin. Wilkes slammed him into Lupin.

     Remus fucking Lupin.

    Lupin couldn't be his soulmate. But no matter how much Regulus tried to come up with reasons they couldn't be soulmates there was one thought he just couldn't shake: he didn't, accidentally or not, slam into walls with random people. That was only today and only with Lupin.

    He soon decided to do with this what he did with everything his parents would murder him for - act like it doesn't exist. Fake it till you make it, you know? 

    Or that's at least what he tells himself he's doing because if there is one thing Regulus Articulus Black is great at it's compartmentalizing things.

     He spends 76.5% of his time at the following dinner totally not staring at Lupin (it's not his fault he looks pretty when he laughs and Sirius is apparently a comedian tonight), and the other 23.5% of dinner watching Barty and Dorcas trying to gaslight Snape into thinking they're dating.

    That night was a sleepless one, his mind filled with thoughts of Lupin, so as he usually did when he couldn't sleep, he found himself wandering the halls without any destination in mind.

    Regulus let his feet guide him wherever they pleased. He wandered the corridors until he stopped at the steps of the astronomy tower. After climbing the stairs, he settles on the ledge, ignoring the safety rails and instead resting his head against them. He stays there, looking up wistfully at his family's alma mater, until a familiar voice calls out.

    "I'm guessin' that you couldn't sleep either?" Remus walks over and sits cross-legged next to Regulus, causing the Slytherin boy to jump and almost fall off the tower.

    "Oh-yes...no, uh..." Regulus stammers, of course now he has to turn into a bumbling mess. Regulus' face flushes a concerningly bright shade of pink, "Um, hello?" 

     "Hi, " Remus laughs at Regulus' inability to talk normally, and also because of his inability to stay calm. Essentially, Remus was panicking.

     Regulus turns back to focusing on the starry night stretched out in front of him.

      Remus looks like a fucking celestial in the moonlight, in Regulus' opinion anyways. Remus' tawny hair shining gold in the moonlight, and the dim lighting was illuminating small flecks of green in his chocolate brown eyes that Regulus had never noticed before.

      After a minute Regulus looked away, and soon he could feel Remus' eyes on him, he turns his head to look at the older boy. Regulus locks eyes with Remus who looks like a deer caught in the headlights.

       The two maintain the awkward eye contact for a solid three minutes before Remus - ever the Gryffindor - leans in and gently kisses the Slytherin boy.

        Maybe Regulus actually got lucky this time.