𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬

22. Our special place

"Are we going to talk about it?" Maeve asked, laying stomach-down on the floor, using her elbows to prop herself up as she crossed her back legs in a relaxed manner, still coping her charms notes off of regulus book.

Regulus didn't look up, he stayed sitting opposite her on the balcony of the astronomy tower, leaning against the last bit of wall before the railing, his body facing her but his eyes were glued to the pages of his book.
"About what?" He said softly, so soft that Maeve's ears nearly didn't register the sound.

"You know.." Maeve coughed to clear her throat before lowering her voice and making her usual accent sound more posh-like. "They're building an animalistic ration supply, we think that Dumbledore expects an attack.
Because they have no offence and essentially no defence, that they want to hide in the dungeons or something if there were an attack."

"Is it not true?" Regulus replied dryly before turning a page in his book.

"Regulus, you stoped me from talking about the order, why?" Maeve sighed, slightly frustrated from his coded words.

"The order has nothing to do with the mole so they don't need to know." Regulus explained, only this time he looked up from his book to scan Maeve's reaction.

"I feel like a secret army is important, they could take lord Voldemort down under the right circumstances." Maeve said, copying the boy across from her's closed off demeanour.

"The right circumstances being the element of surprise?" Regulus said slowly, becoming more anxious each time a word left his mouth.

He paused, waiting for a reaction from the girl in front of him as he bit the inside of his cheek.

"I suppose so." She replied, still unsure of how to act as millions of questions formed in her head.
"I'm guessing from the way your acting you know who the mole is, yes?"

"Yes, I know who the mole is, I also know who the inside man is, Maeve." He answered, looking back down at his book but not reading.

"So there's two of them." Maeve asked, now sitting up.

"I'm guessing so. The mole, she's great at playing the part for she is a trickster, like a fox, so she had everyone else fooled—"

"But not you?" Maeve asked in a rather teasing tone. 

"No. I'll admit, she tricked me at first but I when I saw the way she looked at lord Voldemort when she got her mark—I could see the pent up rage and determination behind her eyes, the same one that the inside man had."

"And you know who he is too?" Maeve asked, a hope burning inside her as she stood up to look over the balcony and admire the few.
Regulus copied this, moving so he was staring next to her, overlooking the lake and land of Hogwarts.

"Sure do, but the inside man, he was tricky to spot. He had served Voldemort his whole life, so had his parents, I believe he was so hard to spot was because he didn't what side he was on for a long time." He looked down at Maeve tucking back a loose stand of her hair that was blowing in the cold, evening breeze.
"-Until he saw he wasn't alone, that even if he was on an empty ship, there was a girl in the same sea-storm as him and he hoped that one day he could... jump ship to be with her."

"Sounds like a pretty corny love story, if you ask me." Maeve chuckled, still looking out over the balcony.

"Maeve." Regulus whispered, lifting her chin, turning it so she would face him, waiting for some form of approval from her.

"I hope they can have their happy ending one day." Maeve said with a saddened smile.
"I know for a fact that she wants to be with him just as much, but there is a war they have to deal with first, you know?"

"Maeve, I love you." Regulus choked on his words subtly as he held back his agony that filled deep inside him.

Maeve only looked down, her own tears began  if to weld in eyes when she saw his.

"Why do you keep doing this? I keep telling you no." She cried, her voice trembling as she spoke, looking down at the lack of space between their feet.

"Because I can't give up, you taught me that!" He groaned, his voice heavy with negative emotions as he gripped just below her shoulders on her outer arms gently, pulling her in slightly to try to make her look back up at him.
"We both care about each other, you know I love you, and I don't care if you don't love me back! So for Merlin's sake, why can't be simply be? Nobody has to know..."

"Because..." Maeve's voice trailed off, not knowing what direction she wanted to go.

Her face scrunched up so that her nose crinkled while tears began to fall effortlessly from her eyes as frustration built inside.
"Fucking hell! I don't know! What do you want me to say! What do you want from me?
God, I'm so tired—so fucking tired of everyone not listening to me! I can't do it! I can't do anything it-it's too much!" Maeve screamed as her fist shot past his head and plummeted down onto the metal railing, leaving a large dent in it.

Regulus pulled the golden, glowing eyed girl into his arms as she wept, resting his chin on her head.

"I'm a monster." Maeve sobbed, almost inaudible from how much she was choking on her own tears and swelling throat.

"I would never love a monster, Maeve." Regulus shushed, patting her head lovingly.
"And I will always love you."

After a moment, Maeve caught her breath and her eyes returned back to their natural blue, but she kept her face buried his chest.
"I love you." She sighed, a relief that she would have never expected filled her, one that face her enough strength to raise her gaze to meet his.

He still had tear stairs on his face and clothes, new ones still rolling down his face, his eyes were red and puffy, and his hair was a mess from how many times he had ran his hands thought it in frustration, she knew she probably looked even worse but in that moment neither of them cared.
All the could focus on was their glowing smiles

"You love me?" Regulus laughed, a disbelief lingering.

"Of course I do, I actually think I fell for you first... though I made a point of hiding it." She smiled softly.

His hands warped around her waist, pulling her in so her body stands with no space against his.
Maeve felt again a rush of helplessness, sinking, yielding, letting go of all of her pain, anger, and hurt.
All that was left was passion and love.

Regulus bent back her head that rested in his hand when kissed her, softly at first,
then with a second it evolved.
The intensity made her cling to him as if he was the only solid thing in this dizzy swaying world.

but before she allowed herself to get too caught up in moment; She forced herself to pull away from him.

"I know that the astronomy tower is kind of our special pace but let's go somewhere more more private." Maeve made an attempt to sound seductive but the two were too bubbly and excited to know that they were in love for that tone to have any effect.

"Definitely." Regulus beamed a smile as held her hand tight, walking with hast to get to his dorm as he pulled his girlfriend along behind him.