The Bug Collector | marauders

Mint Tea

Painting showed is Hylas and the Nymphs by John William Waterhouse

At breakfast the next morning Rose had plain mint tea instead of her usual. The green leaves floated prettily in her glass teacup as she flattened whipped cream over the french toast in her plate.

She took a careful sip from her tea, steam still rising from the glass.

"Trying something new?" Sirius asked after taking a sip of his own.

"Precisely." She answered, blowing at it gingerly.

"You are always so nosey, Sirius." Peter said while adding a few chocolate chips to his breakfast, Remus snagged one and popped it into his mouth without Mousy noticing.

"Yeah, Pads, you're always so nosey." Remus teased, which actually seemed to annoy the boy it was directed at.

"And you're bloody secretive, what's the difference? I'd say they're bad habits cut from the same cloth." Sirius added sending a glare his way.

Another one of their disagreements the rest of them had no clue about. Lovely.

Rose took another sip from her tea and lifted her eyes to meet James' from across the table.

"I know you've only done it a few times." She quieted her tone before continuing.

"But I'd like to come smoke tonight if you lot are down, figured I'd talk to my mate about it and pop by yours sometime after curfew. Could use a night of giggles and mischief myself." She looked between Remus and Sirius, who still held annoyed eye contact.

"You two sure as hell could use some." She said, concluding her statement and licking some whipped cream off her spoon.

"I'm always down, I'll get some food, and "borrow" the crystal ball from the divination classroom, could be a right fun night." Peter said with a smile

"That's the spirit, Pete. What about the rest of you?" Rose asked 

"I'm definitely for it. It'll be in our dorm anyway, might as well. Maybe this time I'll REALLY understand how brooms work." James agreed before shoving some more food in his mouth with a smile.

"It's magic, James." Rose said with a small laugh

"But what IS magic?" He said jokingly

"We probably don't want to think about that to hard, Potter." Peter said before eating a few more chocolate chips.

"Moony? Pads?" James asked, as the boys still hadn't agreed.

"I'll be there. Sirius will too. Like you said, we've really got no choice. We live there." Remus answered for both him and Sirius, who was seated next to Rose. Sirius was chewing on his thumbnail agitatedly, a gold ring with a small red jewel set in the middle adorned this thumb.

"That's it then. I'll see you lot after curfew." Rose said before taking another bite of what was left of her toast as the bell tolled, signaling the end of breakfast.

As she walked to her classes throughout the day she made sure to keep and eye out for Xenophilius, she'd have to see him to get the smoke before heading to the marauders dorm later that night.

—

Not an hour after curfew the boys' dorm was already filled with hazy white smoke and the usual smell. Remus had casted some spell to contain it, they could smell it, but it was magically incased in the room and would not seep out. The scent would naturally go away with a bit of time and incense burning.

Each marauder sat in front of their respective bed, and Rose sat in between James and Peter's, random conversations would start up, and usually end with laughter or ideas no one would actually remember. Then, they'd stare at one another in silence until someone laughed, or someone had an idea.