Rough Around the Edges (Rookwood x Reader)

4- Octans

"MC! I got your owl!"

You asked Poppy to meet you in the Room of Requirements for some privacy. Only those closest to you knew how to come when you called for them- you couldn't trust anywhere else.

"Thanks for coming!"

Rococo skittered over to Poppy and greeted her, she giggle as she picked him up and scratched his belly.

"What's up?"

"Don't tell the others...but I need your help in my research." Her eyes lit up to the news.

"OOHHHH yay! What are we doing?"

"I need your help to find a camp where Rookwood is staying."

Her eyes furrowed at the name as she set the squeaky niffler down.

"Rookwood? The leader of all the Poachers and Ashwinders?"

"Yes...I ran into him the other day."

"What?! Did he hurt you?"

You paused for a moment thinking about each encounter with him.

"Actually...no."

"No?"

"No, he...I'm not sure. Look the point is he knows something about that black substance I told you all about. He won't tell me but I'll find out myself. I overheard his men meeting him at camp. I know there's several, but the way they said it sounded like it was the main place to find him."

You waved your wand and summoned a map for Poppy.

"I've marked the places I already know he's not located, so I need to explore the other areas. I knew the one to ask was my favorite Hufflepuff and her tracking skills."

She giggles as she examined the parchment you handed her.

"Easy! We'll find him in no time." She rolled up the paper and placed it into her robe. "Let's go right now!"

"Poppy..."

"What? You go out past curfew all the time. Plus we don't know what they're up to, time could be crucial!" She said enthusiastically with a grin on her face.

"We don't know where to start, Poppy, search alone can take hours."

"Not with me! Who do you think you're dealing with? Let's go!"

She grabbed your sleeve and pulled you to the floo flame before you could fight. She was partially right, you don't know if waiting around will make things worse. It was time to find Rookwood.

++++++++++++++++++++

Rookwood leaned against a pillar of the tent with his arms across his chest; his eyes were furrowed as he was thinking about the last few days.
Nathaniel walked in with a frustrated look on his face.

"Same as the others." He told him.

"Biggins...I told you. This is unpredictable. We are wasting our time and resources on this, we need to drop it. We've been doing fine, why are we trying to control a magic that's bigger than us?"

"Fine? Your camps are being taken down by a student of all things. We need more power! More magic...This alone can take that child down and make our kingdom bigger!"

"You forget who controls this 'kingdom', Biggins."

"YOU forget who you were when you took over. Or who you were when your father was still alive...You've gotten soft, Rookwood. Where's your ambition? Where is your thirst for more power? When they sent Harlow to Azkaban because of that student, what were you doing? I say we take her down..."