sanguine | r. black

Seventeen

By the time the sun began setting, they'd crossed off most of the items on their list. They had a basket laden with a variety of herbs, roots, and flowers, most of which Evangeline had managed to find on her own. Every so often, Regulus stopped to collect a sufficiently flat pebble, held it up for her to inspect, rubbed it clean on his robes, and dropped it into the basket. He insisted on carrying the basket despite Evangeline's protests that it wasn't that heavy and she could handle it herself. He told her it was stupid to hold the basket and her umbrella, she'd have no free hands for gathering potion ingredients. It was a sweet gesture, all things considered.

"What more do we need?" Regulus asked.

"Let's see," Evangeline consulted the list in her pocket, unfolding the crumpled parchment in her hands. Between the creases, the smudged ink, and the cramped scrawl, it was difficult to read what Professor Slughorn had written. It didn't help that the light from the sun had dimmed significantly. She squinted at the paper.

"Need glasses?" Regulus teased.

"Stai zitto!" Evangeline snapped, "You're the one who crumpled it up."

He laughed at this, though she didn't know what was so amusing. As if to answer he said, "Your nose scrunches up when you're concentrating very hard, or when you're yelling at me, or when you're concentrating very hard on yelling at me."

"I'm not yelling," she rolled her eyes, "and my nose is perfectly ordinary, thank you very much."

"Right," said Regulus, unconvinced. "So, we need...?"

"The lake," she decided, though she still couldn't make out the words on the parchment. She took the basket from him. When she had it in her grasp, she realized it was heavier than she'd initially thought. It was laden with plants, weighed down by the pebbles they'd slipped in. "Let's head to the black lake. I know we need quillwort and witch's ganglion. We'll figure the rest out when we're there."

So the two teenagers trudged down to the lake. It was a humid day in September, and they were both covered in a thin sheen of sweat that glistened under the light of the setting sun. Looking across the Black Lake, they could see pinks and oranges that bled into fuchsia and violet hues. It was rather pretty.

Evangeline set the basket on the shore and squatted to inspect a spiky plant. As soon as she touched it, it began to shrivel up. She pulled her hand away quickly, tucking it into her pocket and hoping Regulus hadn't seen. "Found some quillwort. Did Slughorn need bladderwort too?"

When he didn't respond, she turned to find him digging through the basket to retrieve the pebbles that had found their way to the bottom. She watched, puzzled, as he brought them over and presented them to her. He was beaming proudly. "Here. This one's smooth and flat. That's yours."

She took the rock from him and turned it over in her hands, running her thumb over a small divet. "It has a dent."

"Ok princess," he teased, taking the rock from her, "this one's better. Does it please your highness?"

"I guess," Evangeline mumbled, "although I don't like the way that sounds."

She went to tuck the pebble away in her pocket, but he stopped her. "No, here, they're for skipping."

She watched in wonderment as Regulus threw the dented rock and it seemed to bounce across the water. She glanced back at him, "What spell is that?"

"Not a spell," he laughed, "it just works. A different kind of magic, I suppose. Give it a try."

Eagerly, she chucked her rock full force at the lake, but was disappointed to find that instead of bouncing it cut straight through the water and fell into the depths.

"What did I do wrong?" Evangeline asked while Regulus laughed behind her. "Why did mine sink?"

"There's a technique to it," he explained. Regulus placed another flat stone in her hand and came behind her. He wrapped his arm around his and took her by the hand. "Keep your arm level, like this, and flick your wrist."

This time, when she let the rock fly, it skipped twice across the water before sinking. She turned eagerly to thank him, realizing he was closer than she thought. She coughed awkwardly and stepped away. "Right. Well now we've both done it, so let's get back to gathering plants so we can be done with it."

"Fine, I'll get the bladderwort." Before she knew it, Regulus had begun disrobing. He unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged it off, discarding it on the muddy bank. He was lean, weedy, and had a few white lines scattered here and there across his back. She recognized them as old scars that had long since healed. He stepped out of his trousers and was wading out into the murky depths of the water. Evangeline turned her head and began to stare intently at a tree. She hadn't ever seen a boy in his pants, but then she hadn't ever really felt the urge to, either. This was the part where she should have blushed, she thought offhandedly. Maybe it was a blessing she couldn't, though she couldn't help but see it as another thing that brought her one step further from normal.

The leaves on the tree rustled in the breeze. It was a cold, wet, breeze. Wait...wet? She spun on her heel just in time to catch a mouthful of freezing lake water. She sputtered and coughed it up. She blinked the water from her eyes with a grimace, and when she opened them she found herself face to face with Regulus, who was soaked head to toe.

"What are you doing?" Evangeline yelped. She stumbled back, and Regulus grabbed her wrist to steady her.

"I couldn't find any bladderwort," he gave her a toothy grin. He was standing entirely too close to her. So close that she could see the brown speckled throughout his grey eyes, the water glistening on his sharp cheekbones, the warmth of his thumb against the inside of her wrist.

Evangeline stepped back, adding a few inches of much-needed space between them. She pulled her wrist free from his loose grasp. "You didn't even look."

"Maybe you should help me," said Regulus, stepping back into the water and spreading his arms wide. "It's a beautiful evening, and you're already wet."

"Because you splashed me," she protested, "and we're not out here to faff about. At least, I'm not. I just want to get everything on Slughorn's list and get it over with. Find the damn bladderwort. I'll stay at the shore and look for bog-rush and pondweeds. Did he ask for black bog-rush or brown?"

"You're dreadfully boring," Regulus teased. He was slowly wading further out into the lake. The water was up to his neck now, so black and reflective the rest of his body seemed to have disappeared.

Evangeline ignored him. The sun had gone down enough that she couldn't feel the sting of the sun on her hand when she reached out from beneath her umbrella. She dropped it to the ground, rolled up the sleeves of her robes, and knelt to the ground. She began digging up the roots of some fluffy-looking weeds. The instant she touched them, they began to droop, as though they were wilting in real time. Hastily, she cast them into the basket with the rest. She raised her hands and stared intently at her white palms. The wet mud looked almost black against the pale green hue of her fingertips.

Regulus said something, drawing her attention back to him. It seemed he was intent on changing her mind. He'd resorted to bargaining. "Just your toes, then."

Evangeline rolled her eyes, not bothering to dignify his request with a response. She was even able to resist his wide, pleading puppy-dog eyes. She simply shook her head, though she was unable to disguise the smile that had bloomed. Then, as soon as it had appeared, the smile fell from her face.

He had taken another step back, as if to playfully draw her in, but he must not have anticipated the bank of the lake would drop off, giving way to the murky depths below. Like the first rock she threw, he sank straight down, wordlessly, before she even had time to react.