Chapter 4
The simple cleaning charm was enough to cleanse their physical appearances of any traces of the fight, though Mary still felt the desire for a hot shower as the three of them navigated through Hogwarts.
“Dumbledore said he had the ring in his office.”
“Yes, I remember.”
“So why are we walking away from the office?”
Mary turned to glare at Evan. “I’m sorry, do you have the password to enter? No, I didn't think so.”
“Well, I’m not a mind reader.”
“Then stop doubting me,” she retorted, finally spotting Mcgonnagoll. “Professor! We have a request.”
Mcgonnagoll eyed them as they approached. “Yes?”
“We need the password to Dumbledore’s office,” Regulus explained.
Mcgonnagoll sighed in reluctance, but nodded. “Golden apple.”
Mary tried not to snort as the three of them turned away to walk back the way they came. “Very peculiar man,” Evan murmured.
Mary followed after Regulus, who started up the winding staircase first. Evan was the last to enter the office as Mary gazed around the room. She hadn’t been in Dumbledore’s office often, and the rare times she was, she never got the chance to look around. There were loads of random little knickknacks, and dozens of former headmaster portraits on the wall that eyed them curiously.
“No shit,” she read off one of the names. “Regulus, your grandfather was a headmaster?”
“Great-great-great, grandfather,” Regulus corrected. “But yes. I heard he wasn’t the most popular. He’s a right git.”
“Mm,” she replied, walking through the room and scanning it for any sign of the ring laying around. “Must be hereditary.”
Evan snorted at that, and Mary can almost feel Regulus whip his head around to glare at him. Evan continued to search near the front, seemingly oblivious, but Regulus approached her.
“Look, I know these aren’t ideal circumstances but if you want to-”
“I don’t,” she said, shortly, and gave him a side glance, even though all she really wanted was to forget this stupid horcrux hunt for just a minute they could really talk. Or so she could scream. Or cry. Any of these options would work if she had a second to herself. “We need to focus.”
“I know, and I agree, but you make it incredibly hard when you make snide comments. I just… I need to know. If you hate me or-”
“Found it!” Evan yelled, and Mary watched him pull it out of the desk, the ring tiny underneath his rather large hand.
Regulus’ eyes shut briefly, and Mary could tell he’d grown utterly exasperated, and she hated that she could still read him so well. Quickly, she stepped around him and made her way to Evan.
She had attached the sword to the belt of her jeans, and she removed it to hand the weapon to him. “Your turn to destroy one.”
“Wicked,” Evan grinned, taking the sword, and dropping the ring to the floor. Mary and Regulus took a step back as Evan made a show of swirling the sword in the air dramatically before he finally brought it down onto the ring, which made a loud popping sound and spun on the floor, grey smoke fogging around it.
“Is that it?” Mary wondered, dubiously. That seemed almost too easy.
“Huh,” Evan muttered. “Yeah, I guess. Where to next?”
“My flat,” Mary answered. “I need an actual shower. Come on. Regulus, where did you say the other two were located?”
“Malfoy Manor and Gringotts,” he said. “But Mary’s right-”
“As always,” she added.
“Egotistical cow,” Evan accused.
“Blood-traitor,” she snapped just as easily, and Evan looked genuinely baffled for a moment.
“Anyway,” Regulus rolled his eyes as they wandered through the halls, toward the exit. “We destroyed two horcruxes today. We need a break, right?”
“Yeah,” Evan agreed. “Hey, Macdonald. How about I take your bed this time?”
“Simple,” she shrugged. “Then I take your life.”
Regulus disguised his laugh with a cough while Evan glared at the two of them. “Have I ever told you guys I hate when you’re dating?”
“We aren’t dating-”
“Okay, but it feels like you are-”
“We are not.”
“I’m just saying!” Evan defended himself quickly. “Trust me, I’m one of the only people who got to experience your relationship, and this feels just like it did before.”
“It’s not,” Mary said firmly, ignoring how Regulus was boring holes into the side of her head. “Regulus is lucky I haven’t set him on fire for before.”
“Oh, yes,” Evan nodded. “I remember very well. In any case, Just reminding you I don’t like being ganged-up on.”
“Yes well,” Regulus shrugged. “You make it quite easy.”
“Incredibly easy,” Mary added.
Evan threw his hands up in surrender, and Mary and Regulus shared a quick, secret smile just as they stepped out of Hogwarts, and at the realisation that his smile was just for her, she tried not to let her heart squeeze as they left Hogwarts to return to her flat.
They’d done enough work for one day, more than the Order had in months—they deserve at least one good night’s sleep.
-
Evan Rosier had an entirely different idea of a peaceful night, Mary soon discovered. She ventured off to the bathroom to wash the dirt and dried blood from her skin, and when she pulled on a shirt to sleep in, all she could hear was the static and something that sounded like a broken record player.
She immediately scowled, pushing herself up to go find out what the two idiots were doing, and found them struggling to use the record player, like she’d assumed. “Stop, stop,” she said insanely, pushing through them. “You’ll scratch the record.”
“Isn’t it already scratched?” Evan asked, peering at it. “Look at all those little lines.”
“They’re the track breaks,” Mary frowned at him. “It amazes me how little purebloods know about this stuff.”
“Oh.”
“Is that my shirt?” Regulus wondered, and with a start, Mary peered down at herself, suddenly embarrassed. It was his—she’d thrown it on without a second thought, she usually wore what she had left of his things to bed. She’d be caught dead before she admitted that though.
“No,” she lied. “It’s my dad’s.”
“Your muggle father has a Slytherin Quidditch shirt?”
Mary nodded. “Yes.”
Regulus smirked, and her heart stuttered. “Liar.”
“I’m not,” she argued, but it lacked heat because he knew her too well, there was no point.
“What’s this?” Evan asked, tapping on the telly in front of the sofa. “Why do you have a box over here? You didn’t finish unpacking?”
“It’s a television,” Mary rolled her eyes, exasperated. Now that they were in her flat, all she wanted to do was talk to Regulus. But Evan couldn’t keep his mouth closed for thirty seconds.
“A what?”
“It’s for entertainment, here,” she tossed him the remote. “Entertain yourself.”
“Wow,” Evan blinked at the object. “None of these buttons will make this box explode, right?”
“No,” Mary told him, sharply, turning to face Regulus again, who was already staring at her. She should’ve been used to it, and it shouldn't have affected her like this, but she couldn’t stop her stomach from turning over. “Are we gonna talk about it?”
“Talk about what?” He asked, like he hadn’t a clue. He did, she knew it.
“Don’t play dumb.”
“I’m not playing anything. And I’m not dumb, I’m the one who discovered the horcruxes in case you’ve forgotten, I’m pretty much a genius-”
“That’s not what I meant,” she scolded, glaring up at him. “You-”
“Macdonald!” Evan shrieked, glancing over his shoulder with wide eyes. “Oi! You have people trapped in this silly little box.”
Mary wanted to hex him into oblivion. “They’re not real. Everything is prerecorded.”
Evan blinked a few times. “These aren’t real people?”
“No, they’re real-” Mary groaned in frustration. “Just shut up.”
“I’m just curious-”
“Shut up, Evan,” Regulus added.
“See? This is what I’m talking about! Ganging up on me like you’re a couple. And I’m sorry that I don’t want to hear you two argue like you’re married because Macdonald is mad you dumped her for the Dark Lord-”
“Evan!” Regulus hissed.
“He’s got a point,” Mary was seething now, and she whirled on him. “Thanks for reminding me. You wrote a suicide note to Voldemort?!”
“Evan.”
“Oops,” Evan murmured. “My fault. Didn't think she’d remember that.”
“I didn’t think I’d come back alive,” Regulus told her, much more calmly than she would’ve liked. He hadn’t raised his voice once, and it was utterly irritating. Why wouldn’t he argue back? “That’s why I had Kreacher there.”
“Oh,” she nodded sarcastically. “Well that makes it so much better.”
“I don’t get why you’re so upset, it’s not like-”
“Like what, Regulus?”
He blinked, his mouth closing momentarily. “You moved on with your life.”
“What the fuck else was I supposed to do?” She demanded. “Sit on my porch knitting and waiting for you?”
“No, but-”
“You weren’t even going to say goodbye to me—to anyone! What about Sirius?”
“I didn’t think they’d care!” He finally shouted. “I didn’t think anyone would! Sirius had ran off with Potter and Lupin to fight against my side, and you were- you acted like I didn’t exist after we broke up-”
“Typical response,” Evan said, and Mary had forgotten he was there. He had a bag of chips, she realised, and he was chewing on them, watching them silently. “I did tell you that.”
“I just didn’t think anyone would notice if I was gone. Or care. I didn’t think you would.”
“Of course I would,” she defended, flimsily and feeling a little exposed with Evan watching them and seeing Regulus’ expression change entirely. “I’ve spent the last year and a half trying to hate you, you know. I know you didn't have a choice, but the fact that you had dumped me because of the Dark Mark and picked that side over me broke me. And now you’re here in my living room and we just destroyed two pieces of Voldemort’s soul and now I have no real logical reason to hate you so it makes everything pretty damn infuriating and-”
She probably could have rambled for another good half an hour if Regulus hadn’t promptly reached forward to grab at her chin and knelt down to kiss her to shut her up. It’s entirely unexpected and Mary takes a second too long to recuperate it, and Evan’s dramatic gagging in the back doesn’t make it any more romantic, but she tries her best to ignore him.
“Ugh, finally,” Evan said loudly once they broke apart. Mary turned to glare at him, feeling Regulus’ hand slip down to grasp at her own.
“You’re telling me,” Regulus mused, to her genuine shock. There was still much unsaid between them, and a simple kiss didn’t fix or change anything, but just hearing that Regulus had been silently longing for her, too, made her feel a tad bit more sane.
“No, seriously though,” Evan placed a hand over his heart. “The sexual tension was driving me nuts I thought I was going to suffocate—”
In unison, Mary and Regulus bent down and chucked two throw pillows right at him, and Evan yelped, defenseless.