Rose woke to a gentle tap on the top of her head, followed by a quiet "We're here, love."
Save for the lack of the Marauders, the return to Hogwarts went as it always had. After the welcoming feast there was not much to do expect for unpack. For Rose, however, checking up on her greenhouse was the first priority. She'd planned to ask Regulus to come along, but the lad was nowhere to be seen.
She opened the greenhouse door, allowing her leather trunk to hit the floor with a thud before lighting the nearest candle. Now, with a bit more light, she began tending to the plants.
"You're drooping again, Miss." She said to a pathetic looking magical herb before sprinkling some water onto it.
"I'll set you out in the sun in the morning." She promised the little plant as she moved on to the next.
She enjoyed to talk as she worked, made the whole ordeal more personal. Work in the greenhouses could go on for quite a while so it helped to keep yourself happy while you did it.
As she made her way around the greenhouse, she heard a soft humming, along with the sound of shoes against the floor as someone entered from the back door.
"Hello, Professor." Rose greeted as Professor Sprout joined her. Sprout had a lit stick of incense held in her hand. A thin stream of smoke followed behind her.
"Hello, dear." The woman replied in a smooth, sweet voice. Professor Sprout was a short and plump woman, with cheeks that seemed to always hold a gentle blush. She wore a dirt dusted apron and small green mary-janes that tapped lightly when she walked. Her hair was once a deep brown with grey beginning to peep out of her roots. Now, it was mostly grey.
"How was your break, Ms. Evans?" Asked the professor after taking her spot across the greenhouse.
"It was...relatively eventful." Rose replied as she tended to the lilies.
"But, I uh...I do have a question. Have you given my proposition any further thought? For next Summer? I know I could always get a muggle job, but I think I can be useful here, plus I'll be learning from you, you'll want to retire someday and I'll—"
Rose had written to her over the break, checking on a few troublesome plants and inquiring into the possibility to continue her help in the greenhouses as a permanent assistant. She'd not gotten an answer back.
"Are you insinuating I am growing to retiring age, Ms. Evans?" Sprout jested, Rose shook her head wildly.
"No! Not at all. Not for a long while. Just, for when you do, I'd love to do what you do, and I've got to think about that stuff now, the future and all." She tried to correct herself, the grey-haired woman chuckled.
"To answer you, I have in fact considered your proposal to be my assistant after your graduation. My answer will depend on how the war effort improves...or declines. I trust your ability. It's just that these are uncertain times." She explained, glancing down at Rose's luggage on the floor.
"Have you not been to your dormitory yet?" Sprout asked, Rose looked embarrassed for a moment.
"No, Professor..." she admitted, though she wished she could have made that trunk disappear.
The Professor shook her head.
"Such a hard worker, should have been a Hufflepuff." She said before taking a step closer to Rose.
"Go unpack. The herbs will be here when you return tomorrow." The older woman requested.
"Yes, Professor." Rose agreed before releasing the leaf she held between her fingers.
"I should be back in the morning ." She continued while walking over to her luggage.
"AFTER you've had breakfast, or I will feed you myself. I've done it plenty of times before."
"Thank you, Professor."
"Please, call me Pomona. Just not when your classmates are around you're not my apprentice just yet." The professor said with a grin.
"Yes, Pro- Pomona." Rose corrected as she picked up her trunk and made her way to the door.
—
When Rose arrived to her dorm, she was surprised to find they already had a visitor.
Stephone and Odette were sitting together in Ode's bed, while the visitor, one Regulus Black, stood on Rose's bed. The three of them were mid-conversation and Regulus talked with his hands as he spoke over the record playing classical music.
"I'm just saying, I use to spend all my time in the kitchen with our house elf, I can make some fucking amazing French food." He said, before turning his attention to Rose.
"Well, hello, love." He greeted whilst hopping off her bed.
"What were you lot talking about?" Rose asked as she dropped her trunk by her bedside table, leaning down to open it.
"I was proposing to Stephone." Regulus explained while stumbling. By his demeanour anyone could tell he'd been drinking, or smoking, or both maybe.
"Aren't you already engaged?" Rose asked.
"Well, I suppose what I'm really attempting to do is ease her fear that I will be horribly boring and dreary. I think I'll make a wonderful wife." He said before flopping down into Rose's bed. The smell of whiskey clung to air near him.
He was drunk then.
"You're not going to be my wife, Regulus." Stephone groaned, Reg simply melted further into Rose's sheets. Hiccuping.
"He'd be a good cook at least." Odette teased before peeking her lover on the cheek.
"Oh don't side with him. He's a menace." Stephone continued to grumble, wiping the pink lipgloss from her cheek.
As Rose listened to them argue she took note of a leather bag haphazardly shoved under her bed.
"What's that?" She asked, pointing towards the bag.
"That!" Regulus began, sitting up quickly.
"I almost forgot to inform you. I had a brilliant idea." He said, Rose chewed at the inside of her cheek nervously. Stephone and Odette fell silent.
"Did you have this brilliant idea before of after you got absolutely smashed?" She asked.
There was a pause.
"After."
"Of course."
"But- listen." He began, while attempting to stand up on the bed once more.
"All your mates are gone so you've got some free time cleared up." He began matter-of-factly.
"Ouch. Continue."
"I spend more time on missions than I do in my own dorm. I figured my roommates weren't going to miss me so I'll just stay here." He said, laying down once more. It seemed he'd given up on standing.
"What about prefects? Or if your roommates do notice?" Rose asked, Regulus held one hand up before allowing it to fall back down.
"I've got that covered, although, I'd rather not bore you with the details." He said while stretching out comfortably.
"It's something awful isn't it?" She asked bluntly. Half expecting he'd be using some dark magic to meddle with the minds of his roommates.
".....perhaps." He answered.
"You're absolutely mental." Rose said while unpacking some of her clothes, including a deep green silken night gown she'd usually sleep in.
Regulus pointed at the article of clothing lazily.
"Hand me that." He instructed.
"What? No." Rose shook her head as she continued to unpack.
"Rosie. Please? I want to wear it." Regulus pouted drunkenly.
"Oh, fine. Here." Rose responded with a sigh, tossing the dress up to him.
Without missing a beat he began removing his shirt.
Odette's eyes widened once he'd successfully removed it, scars and tattoos showing across his chest as he slipped on the slightly oversized nightdress.
"Hey, stop looking at my husband." Stephone complained with a playful shove, though it was probably Regulus she was envious of at that moment.
"Your wife!" Regulus corrected her, pointing over in Steph's direction before crawling under the covers. Trousers still on.
"Bloody hell, Reg." Rose mumbled as she took one final item, a book, out of her trunk. She then closed the it and slid it under the bed next Regulus' leather bag.
He peeked out from under the covers, leaning over the side of the mattress to get a glimpse of the book. It was a old paper copy of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
The Secret Garden is about a young girl who, upon being orphaned, is made to live with her widowed uncle. She spends her time aimlessly around his property until she finds two things, a neglected garden, and a sickly young boy hidden away in his room. She befriends the boy and makes an effort to nurture both him and the secret garden back to a healthier state.
Regulus lifted the covers slightly, just enough that he could see out of them.
"Join me?" He asked in a quiet voice.
Rose knew she would. She'd began to place her book on the beside table, but Regulus' voice halted her.
"No, bring it." He said, and so she slipped into bed, book in hand.
Regulus instantly took it from her, flipping through it, a smile rising to his face at the annotations throughout it. You could tell they had been done several times over. The oldest entries were done in messy handwriting and glittery pink ink. Those had almost completely faded from the pages.
The annotations slowly grew neater, though less whimsical.
"Oh, you've drawn in here as well." He cooed, Rose took the book from him then.
"Alright, that's enough." She decided, shutting it quickly and placing it on the bedside table.
"Awe. I was gonna read that." Regulus teased, stifling a yawn.
She ignored his comment. Blushing at the mere idea of anyone reading years of her obsessively annotating a children's book.
"Maybe write you little notes in it." He continued to tease. Rose closed the bed curtains.
"No, thank you." She said quickly.
A moment of silence passed between them. The dorm was completely quiet, save for the record still playing.
Rose shifted beneath the sheets so she could look at him. Her face was more solemn, the blush had left her cheeks.
"Reg?" She asked, sensing the change in her tone the boy stiffened.
"Yeah?"
"What's happened? Why're you drunk on our first day back? Why do you want to stay here?" She whispered. His eyes held a glassy look to them.
"An unpleasant summer." He said sharply, turning on his side away from her. His shoulders were bare. A greenish reflection from the window came through a crack in the bed curtains. It gave his pale skin a soft green hue. The silvery scars that lined his body looked like slivers of malachite and emerald in the hazy light.
She didn't dare touch him, she simply pulled the blankets up to her chin and closed her eyes.
"Well...goodnight." She whispered, but there was no response.