It All Fell Down | A Marauder's Story

Thirty-Three

"The scars of my soul are like the stars in the sky; I cannot count them all, but it's a miracle I'm alive to try." - Chishala Lishomwa

     It happened at dinner time. It was a Thursday, and with N.E.W.T.s having wrapped up, the group of seven just didn't have what it took to make themselves walk down all those flights of stairs to get to the great hall. So, they settled for smuggling food from the kitchens and gathering around the fire in the Gryffindor common room for the evening as these days were now officially numbered.

     Lily was sprawled out on the couch looking full and sleepy with her feet placed promptly in Sirius' lap; Sirius was dozing off into the palm of his hand; Marlene and Peter took this as an opportunity to throw small balls of parchment into his black locks; Charlie was sitting with her back against the bricks of the fire place scribbling in her journal; Remus was leaned against her legs reading lightly from a muggle book she had suggested; James was sprawled out on the carpet sketching the whole scene in his notebook.

     "Ow!" Charlie yelped with a small jump, smearing a line of ink along the page of her journal. "Motherfucker!"

     She clutched at her wrist, and Remus turned swiftly to see what had harmed her. Sirius startled upright. "What happened?" He demanded sleepily. Marlene stifled a laugh at the parchment decorating his mess of hair.

     Charlie shook her head as she moved her hand swiftly, trying to dull the pain. "Nothing," she said. "I think an ember from the fire must of got me."

     "You alright?" Remus asked, eyebrows coming together.

     She smirked at him. "You worry too much."

     "Bite me."

     She snorted. "Better than the other way around I guess."

     "Ha ha," he responded dryly with a roll of his eyes.

     Charlie laughed before, "Ow! Okay, James, what are you doing?"

     James looked at her with a disgruntled expression, eyes bleary from concentrating on the ink tracing across the pages of his notebook. "What did I do?"

     "Isn't it you?" Charlie asked, growing more confused.

     "Charlie," Peter interjected from his place on the chair. "Are you alright?"

     She shook her head looking rather puzzled. She turned to stare at the crackling fire. "My wrist feels like it's burning and..."

     She trailed off before it clicked. "Fuck!" She exclaimed, leaping to her feet with quite impressive speed. Remus was thrown out of the way as the rest of her friends stared at her in concern.

     "Charlie?" Marlene questioned.

     The brunette met her eyes with a look that could only be described as sheer horror. "It's my tattoo," Charlie whispered.

     It only took a moment for that to sink in for Lily and Marlene, and their faces grew very, very pale. The boys continued to stare on in confusion.

     Remus got to his feet and reached for Charlie's hand. "What are you talking about, love?"

     She turned to stare at him with a look that made him want to snatch her up and run far, far away. "I got a tattoo this summer, after I ran away from my mum."

     "Yeah," Sirius nodded with a yawn. "The circle on your wrist."

     "What the bloody hell does a tattoo have to do with anything?" Peter asked impatiently.