80 - "CLOSE CALL"

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CHAPTER EIGHTY

CHAPTER EIGHTY

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"close call"


"Gladly," was Remus's response to the way Hollis had looked up at him from the checkered blanket with an eyebrow raised.

This girl was going to be the death of him.

Pressing his one hand firmly underneath the small of her back, he paused for a second to give her the chance to back out if she wasn't okay with any of this.

And at that moment, all Hollis could think of was Remus and her underneath the stars, not the Dark Mark imprinted on her left forearm circled morbidly with raw, deep red skin.

The two of them hadn't had sex yet. Most of the time, they ended up falling asleep next to each other with Remus's arms wrapped around her stomach, their chests gently rising and falling until one of them softly woke the other. Remus was ready, but there was something preventing Hollis from wanting to go all the way that she wasn't quite sure of yet. Of course, he was one of the kindest people she knew, and would never do anything that would make her feel pressured to go through with anything that she didn't want to.

Taking a deep breath in as one of Remus's hands slid up her back, exposing the scarred skin to the chilly night air, Hollis reluctantly snapped back to reality. She wished that she could stay here with him for hours without a worry, but too much of a risk was run in both their relationship and her plot with Regulus if she let this go on.

That horrifying image of Remus furiously raging about the Death Eaters in the Great Hall flashed through her mind, then the picture of betrayal on his face if he discovered that she was one of the people he so hated.

And she couldn't ever let that happen.

"Please stop," Hollis whispered softly as she pressed her eyes shut, panic shooting through her body as she thought of the ink on her skin that Remus despised so deeply.

Remus's eyes instantly widened at the alarming desperation in her voice, and he quickly took his hands off her and sat up. There was something so genuinely terrified in the Rosier's tone that made his heart feel like a small crack had gone through it because he thought it was caused by him. He had no way of knowing that something else was going on that would want to make her stop.

Blinking back the slight tears in her eyes that had been provoked by that horrific picture in her mind that could actually occur in the future if she hadn't asked him to stop, Hollis couldn't look at Remus for a few seconds, trying to catch her breath.

The boy had his mouth slightly open and brows furrowed, not understanding what he had done wrong to make Hollis so upset. An enormous amount of guilt wracked through his body, hating the amount of fear in her voice that he was certain he was the reason for.

"Hol, what did I do?" Remus said quietly, knowing that if he raised his voice any louder it would let loose a flood of emotion from the mental dam he was building up.

Only the gentle sound of a pleasant breeze swishing across the dark surface of the Black Lake could be heard for a few moments.

"You didn't do anything," Hollis replied, forcing herself to look Remus right in the eye this time.

Remus didn't believe her.

"If I'm ever doing anything that you aren't comfortable with, please just tell me," Remus said, still not reaching out to Hollis physically like he normally would when he said something like this. "Please."

For some reason, Nott was crossing her mind.

Hollis knew for a fact that Theodore wouldn't give a shit no matter how much she protested against him if it ever came to it, he would just grit his teeth and hold her down and not take no for an answer until he got what he wanted from her.

And she hated Theodore. The opposite of hate. Hollis pushed that thought out of her mind. There was just so much that she wanted to tell him at that moment. How there was a Dark Mark on her forearm, but it wasn't real, it was something she and Regulus were using to sabotage their parents.

How she was betrothed to Theodore.

How she wanted nothing more than to go back a minute ago and never kiss him in the first place so that none of this mattered. How much she wished that they were in a different universe where her last name was anything but Rosier.

But she couldn't say any of that, not without revealing something that she wanted to keep out of Hogwarts and out of her mind for as long as possible. She needed these calm moments, and she clearly couldn't have one now.

"I have to go," Hollis muttered, standing up from the blanket and walking toward the castle as quickly as she could without running. "Quidditch tomorrow, I need rest."

"I can walk you back to your-" Remus started quietly, but she shook her head. "Alright."

Her feet moved as quickly as they could across the carpeted hallways, a slight breeze piercing through the soft cotton of his sweatshirt. She began to pull it off so she could make sure to blood had pressed onto it before giving it back to him, blocking her vision.

Right as the fabric pulled a crimson swath over her eyes, Hollis ran directly into someone's chest. Tripping back slightly, she had to regain her balance for a few seconds before looking up.

"Relax, it's just me," Regulus smiled softly as Hollis looked slightly panicked. "I didn't know if you were okay, you hadn't come back to the common room yet and I was getting worried that something had happened to-"

That smile dropped as he got a better look at her.

The slight extra messiness of her hair, the large Gryffindor sweatshirt over her arm clearly belonging to someone much larger than her, the tears in her eyes as she pulled down her skirt slightly. His stomach curled.

"Hollis, did something happen?" Regulus asked, his gentle tone completely gone. "Did that idiot do something to you?"

Hollis's eyes widened as she deciphered what he thought had almost happened, and she shook her head vigorously against it. 

"No, I swear, he just-" she started, and then trailed off as she realized how bad it would sound if she said He just was close to doing something that I didn't want to happen. Hollis herself knew that she was talking about Remus seeing her Dark Mark, but Regulus certainly wouldn't. "It's nothing."

"I swear to Merlin if that dumbass Gryfinndor fucking touched you, I'm going to kill him," Regulus declared, the genuine hatred in his voice reduced to a low whisper.

He blinked several times.

"No one touches you without you being okay with it. No one. Ever."

Hollis swallowed hard at the sheer amount of venom packed into his features. "Reg, please, he didn't do anything."

"Then why the bloody hell are you crying?" he snapped, his voice a loaded spring ready to pop at any second.

Hollis opened her mouth slightly, waiting for words to come out as her eyes darted across Regulus's furious face illuminated by the torchlight, highlights and shadows flickering angrily.

"He didn't do anything," Hollis repeated weakly, not knowing what else she could say. But as he stormed off with narrowed eyes, it was obvious that he didn't believe her. "Regulus!"

The furious Slytherin boy showed no signs of turning around.

im sorry ik this is a remus fic but reg is so hot - like when guys get defensive

1.3k words

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