The Bug Collector | marauders

A Temporary Alliance

Rose awoke with her face practically stuck to her wooden worktable and a slight headache.

Overall, not in the greatest of moods.

She'd slept there for a large chunk of the day, and planned to be there working for the rest of it. Professor Sprout had held her classes in greenhouses one and two leaving Rose with solitude as she worked. The sun setting progressively behind her as the hours ticked on.

She'd spent dinner there as well, if you could call the professor bringing her some pastries and a miniature jar of jam dinner. Whatever the case may be, while Sprout was there she instructed Rose to make her way to the Slytherin common room before it got too late.

Which she did not do.

Instead she ate her dinner, and searched for absolutely anything she could do without having to return to her dorm and answer unwanted questions Odette most definitely have about the previous night considering her older sister watched the ordeal alongside Marlene.

This need for isolation led Rose to sitting against the greenhouse's glass wall, hidden away in a corner, just thinking.

Part of her wanted to go find her sister, but that part was small and quiet. She leaned her head against the cold glass and closed her eyes, finding sleep as the comfort she needed.

—

She was awoken some time later to the sound of shuffling.

She pushed herself as far back against the glass as she could, trying to remain hidden as she looked for who could be intruding.

She watched the dark figure move methodically around the room until it stopped in front of her miniature flower garden.

That is when she realized it was not someone coming to look for her, but instead whoever who had snipped a few of her lilies had come back for more of them.

She hopped up rather quickly, annoyance coursing through her as she made her way to the perpetrator without a problem, grabbing their wrist and spinning them around, accidentally knocking them against her table and shaking the teacup. The flower scissors in their hand falling to the floor.

"Come on. Don't steal plants just ask a—" She began, then her face displayed a healthy mixture of disgust and confusion upon getting a good look at the flower thief's face.

"Severus?" She asked, he responded with the weakest excuse for a wave Rose had ever seen.

"You are— Oh my god, Severus don't tell me you're stealing MY lilies FOR Lily."

The silence was deafening as Snape's pale face looked back at Rose's.

"Your obsession with my sister is outrageous, do you know that?" She asked.

"It's not—" He began, being immediately cut off.

"This is not an intervention so you don't have to lie." She said, bending down to retrieve her flower shears, holding them in her hand as she spoke.

"So. I thought you may have developed some integrity since I saw you last, but clearly—" She said, moving a hand over the cut lilies for a visual representation.

"I was wrong, but luckily for you I've just got an idea of how to use your lack of a moral compass to my advantage." She explained, the edges of her lips pulling upwards into a smile for the first time that day.

"I have no intentions to help you with anything." The boy said, crossing his arms doggedly.

"That's the thing." She started. Placing the shears on the table next to her with a metallic clink.

"If you don't I'll tell Lily you broke into her little sister's greenhouse and stole flowers planning to either give them to her or just keep them and sniff them and think of her, both of which she will find VERY creepy." She said, now crossing her own arms over her chest.

The boy grimaced at her, but his submission to the situation was obvious.

"Good. Now, snip off a few more of those and light me a cigarette, we have work to do." She said wicked smile on her face.

—

"I don't see the humor in this." Severus mused bitterly as the two of them passed a cigarette back and fourth while working on a bouquet of lilies, one Rose has instructed Severus to address to Sirius.

"I'm not sure you could find humor in anything I do, Severus, but I think Sirius receiving flowers and a sweet note from you is hilarious." She stated, cigarette hanging loosely from her mouth, the smoke puffing over her shoulder into his face.

He swatted it away and took the cig back from her, pulling out a note card and a pen she'd handed him, preparing to write the note.

His face looked hesitant.

"Look. We both want to ruin Sirius Black's morning right?" She asked, he reluctantly nodded, still scowling however.

"Great, because this should do it." She said tapping the paper he held.

"I need you to be really dramatic with it, really pour out your undying love for him, maybe even add a little heart after your name, and make sure you add happy birthday!" She continued, while adding the finishing touches to the bouquet.

"I got it. It's difficult to write without repulsing, but I've got it." He complained, Rose watched over his shoulder as he finished the note off with a little heart as instructed.

"Excellent. Now we just wait till breakfast and deliver it before he gets to his spot." She said, enthusiastically.

"Have I served my blackmail then?" He asked in his ever-downtrodden tone.

"Yes. You are free to go." She said with a small bow, he rolled his eyes and walked away, tossing the used cigarette into an empty pot before shutting the greenhouse door behind him.

Rose sat back and waited for morning.