The Bug Collector | marauders

Dirt, Smoke, And Flower Stems

That night, Sirius did stay with Rose in her dorm, but it did not go the way he probably
expected it to.

He sat next to Rose while she studied, Stephone and Ode both glared at him from across the room, Rose hadn't told them exactly what happened, but if she was mad at him, they were mad at him.

"What's you two's problem, hmm?" He finally asked the girls glaring at him.

"I don't think we have to answer that. You're basically in time out right now." Stephone quipped from across the room.

"I am not in time out."

"Sirius?" Rose said, asking for his attention.

"Yes?"

"Be quiet." She said, as her attention went back to her book.

He crossed his arms over his chest and sent his own glare over at the blonde girl cuddled up next to Odette.

"I'm not in time out." He mumbled, Stephone laid next to Ode, hands behind her head and a smile on her face at his predicament.

Every so often he'd try to get Rose's attention again, he'd place his hand on her thigh just for it to be swatted away, he'd sit his head on her shoulder to look at what she was reading, she'd push him back off her again.

"I'm gonna head back to the lads room." He said sounding a bit unsure but standing.

"Okay. I dare you. Go sleep in your bed next to Prongs and Remus. I'm sure he's been heavily updated on the situation by now. Perhaps you'll get another black eye to match, and we won't be healing that one either." She said, looking over at him with a little smile.

He sat back down.

She continued studying for a while, before finally closing the book and looking at him.

"I know you've avoided our friends all day, and your time to talk to them will come, but I'm going to talk to Moony, find something to do that isn't awful, okay?  I'll be back in time to go bed. Shouldn't be long." She said as she stood next to him and grabbed a muggle lighter and bar of chocolate out of her bedside drawer, stuffing it in her pocket before and putting on her scarf.

Sirius got comfortable on her bed, looking around at her things, all very her. Fiddling with a few crystals and lighting some incense.

Rose shut the door behind her, after giving a quick wave to her roommates, glad they would babysit her convict while she was away working out his mess.

She stood there in front of the door for a moment, ear against it, listening as Sirius' voice peeped up the moment she was gone.

"Hey uh- I know she didn't say what I did, but I really messed up, and I know you don't particularly know me, or like me for that matter, but I need help fixing it and I can't ask for her help this time." He said, in a mellow voice.

"And what exactly do you need help with?" Odette asked, suspiciously.

"Either of you know anything about how to make a wolfsbane potion?" He asked, and Rose removed her ear from the door.

It would be hard to pretend she hadn't heard that.

She made her way to the marauders' dorm, letting them know she was gonna keep Sirius out of their hair for the night, she asked James, who did not have a black eye, but had a small bruise on his cheek(which Lily fixed with a quick spell the next day) where Remus might be.

"Astrology tower, beware he's in pretty fowl mood." James said, twirling his wand between his fingers.

"Figured as much. I'm prepared." She said raising the little transparent green lighter out of her pocket, Remus enjoyed muggle lighters, it was a peace offering of sorts.

"Alright, see ya, Thorns." He said with a nod as she exited and made her way to the tower.

—

"I come bearing gifts." She said pulling the lighter and chocolate out of her pocket, seeing Moony sitting on the stone steps, knees pulled to his chest.

"If this is an apology I think you've got it wrong, you didn't do anything." He said, fiddling with the stone underneath him.

"Yeah, well I've got the one that did in time out so I had to do something for you." She said, taking a seat next to him.

"That's not what I meant either, Thorns." He said, folding his arms over his knees and setting his chin on them.

"What did you mean then?" She asked, offering up the chocolate, which was pushed away.

"I could tell it was you. Under the cloak, I could smell you. I remember it." He began, voice thick with emotion.

"Deep down there's some part of me that could feel you there. Deep down there's this part of me that stays me, and he thought, that smells an awful lot like Thorns, but the other part of me didn't care, he still wanted to rip you to shreds."

Rose sat the chocolate down gently next to them, the foil wrapping made the smallest noise, but Remus could hear it perfectly clear.

"I see." She said, eyes focused on the chocolate bar.

"You know, you've smelled about the same since we were kids. Like dirt, and smoke, and flower stems. You can add perfume, but it stays the same really. I've been smelling that almost everyday since I was 12 and I still wanted to rip you apart."

He said, clutching his knees tightly.

And finally, the tears that had been right under the surface for the longest time, flooded out as Rose moved to cling tightly to him.

And he cried too. He was silent about it, though.

"I'm a fucking monster, Thorns."

"You're not a monster, Moons. You're just a boy." She said, hugging him tighter than she'd ever hugged anyone, ragged sobs coming out of her mouth and echoing throughout the astronomy tower.

After the rest of their talk, which was mostly Rose catching her breath and apologizing profusely, she eventually returned to her dorm to find Sirius chatting with Ode and Stephone, less like enemies, and more like a little group working on a project. Which, if Rose heard them correctly before leaving, it's what they were. Upon seeing her puffy eyes and red face Sirius' attention was immediately shifted back to Rose.

She sat on the edge of the bed, unable to really look at him, but she didn't protest when he pulled her to his chest.

"I wanna go to bed." She said, tired. 

"Okay. We can go to bed." He said, moving over to the very edge of the mattress, allowing Rose to get comfy before moving anywhere close to her.

Steph and Ode shared a knowing look, and soon everybody was asleep.