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Everyone knows that the one thing that teenagers are good at is making irresponsible and usually bad decisions.
So obviously all teenagers love the idea of putting a permanent mark on their body. Even several.
The sixth-years at Hogwarts in 1976 were no exception.
It went from stupid doodles on your desk mate’s hand done with a Muggle pen that Lily provided to Dorcas saying her older sister taught her what can be done with a needle and ink.
And of course, everyone wanted a stick-and-poke tattoo because that was so much better, so much more reckless and teenage than some drawing that would come off in the shower.
Sirius was the first one that Dorcas tattooed.
“If you fuck this up, Meadowes, I’ll kill you,” he said as he sat down in the chair.
“It’s my first time, I’m not promising anything,” she replied, unfazed. “And it does hurt so try not to cry.”
Sirius scoffed at that but then was faced with the terrifying reality that it really did hurt. But he didn’t cry.
Maybe only a tear or two.
But in the end, he came out of there with a slightly wobbly, but still just as perfect, outline of a small moon on his inner wrist.
He showed it proudly to Remus, grinning like an idiot.
“Merlin, that’s so stupid,” Remus mumbled, trying to ignore the fact that his cheeks were growing warm.
Then Sirius dragged him into the chair, though Remus protested profusely.
He didn’t cry. Not one bit. When Marlene teased Sirius about it he just grumbled something about “Moony being used to it and him not having cried either.”
Remus ended up with a tiny star in the same spot Sirius’ moon was, just on the other hand.
“You guys are disgusting,” Mary reacted to that.
Sirius stuck his tongue out at her as he proudly held Remus’ tattooed hand in his tattooed hand.
Then there was James, who Dorcas gave a tiny snitch on his shoulder.
They did it in the Common Room, out for everyone to see, and so when Lily saw it and asked what James was getting, she rolled her eyes.
“You’re not even a Seeker,” she said. “And I should probably report this, you know? I’m a prefect, stick-and-poke has to be against school rules.”
Dorcas snapped her head up at that, astonished. “You wouldn’t. ”
Lily nodded. “Because of you. If it was just Potter, I wouldn’t hesitate.”
James tried to send her a smug grin but it didn’t really work since he was grimacing in pain.
“Oh, come on, Evans, everyone knows you like me,” he said. “And who says I have to be a Seeker to get a snitch tattoo? You’re just bitter ‘cause you’re too scared to do it yourself.”
Lily crossed her arms on her chest and raised her chin.
She got a lily flower on her ankle and didn’t twist and groan in pain as James had.
Since Dorcas was the one tattooing, it became difficult when she and Marlene wanted to get “another sickly relationship tattoo” as Mary called it. Dorcas decided to make Sirius her apprentice but said that first, he had to practice on himself.
“But your first tattoo was on me!” Sirius exclaimed.
“I trust myself more than I trust you,” Dorcas replied simply.
Sirius scowled. “Well, why can’t I do it on Moony?”
“‘Cause I’d never let you,” Remus, who also happened to be in the Common Room at the time of that conversation, deadpanned.
Sirius looked to James. “Prongs?”
James blinked and seemed to consider it for a moment. But eventually—
“Yeah, I love you, mate, but no.”
“Wormy?” Sirius almost whined. “You’re my last hope.”
Peter scoffed. “In your dreams, Pads.”
Sirius ended up with a couple of very poor tattoos but in the end, he was proud of himself because, as he wouldn’t stop saying, he made them himself.
When Dorcas finally decided that he was good enough for her to allow him to tattoo her, they sat in the Common Room, the two of them and Marlene - because Sirius said that if he was tattooing, he was tattooing the both of them. Everyone else watched in anticipation.
“Ah,” Sirius said proudly. “You all wanna see the master at work.”
“Dorcas is getting tattooed, love,” Remus shot back.
Sirius blinked, taking a moment to understand the implication.
Then his face turned offended. “Hey—”
“We just want to see how badly you mess up,” Mary added.
Sirius scowled. “All you’ll see is how perfect it will be.”
His job wasn’t exactly the hardest, it was just two tiny hearts on each of the girls’ side of the hand, right under their pinkies so that they’d stand side by side as they held each other.
But somehow, Sirius still managed to make the first heart, on Dorcas’ hand, slightly wobbly.
Mary cackled. “Merlin.”
“It’s supposed to be messy!” Sirius bellowed.
The one on Marlene’s hand was slightly less messy though.
Once everything was finished, Marlene grabbed Dorcas’ hands to look at the hearts. The girls grinned at each other.
“Aw, that’s cute,” Lily said.
“You want one like that with me, Evans?” James supplied almost immediately.
Lily rolled her eyes but a smile tugged on her lips. “Shove off.”
Over the next two years, every single one of them got a tattoo. Even Peter finally agreed, when all the Marauders decided to get their nicknames inked. Which Marlene called “so bloody childish, are you guys kidding” with an amused smile.
When they were out of school, they found a magical tattoo artist whose creations moved and shifted. Sirius almost immediately ran to him to get the phases of the moon tattooed, changing along with the real-time. Remus reacted to that with the biggest blush anyone had ever seen on his face.
And even though she said she’d never do it, Lily eventually got matching tattoos with James. One on the day of their wedding, and another one when Harry was born.
“See, Prongslet?” James said to the infant, showing him the tattoos. “These are proof that your mum is a stone-cold liar. ”
Lily smacked him on the head for that.