magistera | drabbles

My first time at

queerditch_pub tonight. It was fun :) Anyway, here are my drabbles from the evening session:

Peter & Regulus - They say being your friend is a mistake (152 words)

Peter knew he shouldn't be doing it by the way he was always looking over his shoulder for Sirius and James. Remus wouldn't have said anything (he never did), but Peter could picture perfectly the way Sirius' face would darken in anger, hear the questions James would demand answers to.

But he kept going back, just casually turning up when he knew Regulus would be around and no one else would be nearby. At first he was just grateful for someone to talk to (and not about redheaded witches, or carefully skirting around the thing they Didn't Talk About), but sometimes he found himself nodding along as Regulus' monologues shifted from sly digs at his brother and James to discussions about Family, and Blood, and people who just Didn't Understand the Way Things Were. Sometimes he rolled his eyes at the way the younger Black held forth, but he kept going back.

Squid/Bellatrix/Narcissa/Fred/George/a bar of lavender scented soap - It was a mistake so dreadful that it almost broke me, but I'm not gonna let it get me down, oh no. (111 words)

They don't talk about the - thing - that happened that day, when the Death Eaters tried to storm Hogwarts. They never bring up the madness in Bellatrix' laughter as she flicked her wand and drew them in. They don't discuss the sight of Narcissa rising up out of the water like a siren, with pond-weeds in her blonde hair and a tentacle wrapped around her hips. It was a mistake, to go swimming that day, but they refuse to dwell on it because even admitting it happened might send them screaming to St. Mungo's.

By unspoken agreement, they have transfigured the soap in the dormitory showers to smell of rosemary.

Remus/Regulus - Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied. (210 words)

Regulus pulls him aside as soon as Sirius stalked out of the room (still muttering to himself under his breath). Remus almost shakes the hand off his arm, not wanting to get in the middle of yet another Black family argument, but something in Regulus' face makes him stop.

"You're in love with him." It's not a question, but Remus shakes his head anyway, even though he's not sure whether the answer is true. Regulus tilts his head to the side. "No?" His voice drops lower and he moves closer, until they're practically breathing each other's breath. "Good."

Remus tenses, and there's a moment, just a moment as Regulus leans forward, where he thinks he should pull away, should stammer out some sort of excuse and go after Sirius, but then the moment passes and he's leaning forward too, tilting his head just a little as their lips meet. Regulus pulls back a little to mutter something that sounds like "Mine," and then he's pressing forward more forcefully, pushing Remus against the wall and kissing him fiercely, as though he has something to prove.

For a second, grey eyes, not brown, flash through Remus' mind, but he pushes the thought away and refuses to consider whether he's making a mistake.

And some of us stayed behind in the chat and did a little after-hours drabbling...

Draco/Percy - The bubblegum wrapper beneath the potted geranium. (151 words)

Percy thought that the system Draco had worked out for setting up their - meetings - was a little more elaborate than it needed to be. He knew that neither of their families would take well to the revelation that they were…well…carrying on, but there were plenty of ways that they could have communicated with each other without anyone finding out.

Still, there was a certain – excitement – to the game of secret messages and clandestine rendezvous. Percy felt his breath coming a little faster as he walked toward the exit of the Ministry's offices and saw the bubblegum wrapper peeking out from underneath one of the massive cement planters that had just been installed last week.

Trying to look as though he were merely being conscientious about picking up litter, he sidled over to the riotous geraniums and slipped the note into his pocket. It wouldn't do to read it here.

Bellatrix/Severus - You tempted me to your chambers with a potion deep and black, yet it's not enough to cure the bitter ache of those things you want but lack (206 words)

He met Bellatrix at the Leaky Cauldron because he didn't want any of them to see the wretched hole he'd lived in since leaving school. Her eyes were flashing with anger as she walked through the door.

She walked up to him and hissed without preamble, "That potion you gave me tasted worse than Bubotuber pus. And it didn't work."

He met her eyes, refusing to flinch away from the famous Black temper. He'd learned more about rage from his father than she could ever show him. "You've hardly given it any time. There's no guarantee of success on the first try, even for couples without…difficulties."

She leaned in to murmur her next words huskily into his ear. "I want a child, Severus. And I'm beginning to think that the...difficulty...lies with Rodolphus, not with me." Her breasts bumped his arm as she pressed her body into his side, and he swallowed against a sudden dryness in his throat. He'd always heard that the Blacks ran to hereditary madness.

"Bellatrix…" His voice came out raspy, but it didn't break, and he was grateful for that. He tried to step away, but she grabbed his arm.

"I think it's time to try a different…potion," she said, and laughed.