Roses All The Way Down【Sirius Black】

Ⅶ. 𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤

"So your first day of classes? Rate your experience from 1-16," Alice commanded when Virginia trudged into the dormitory that night.

"Well I made two friends but they seem to be little devils so we'll see. Classes were entertaining but exhausting. I'd say a solid 11," Virginia replied with a little smile before falling face first onto her bed.

"Oh honey, I've been there," said Mary from across the room.

"I have so much catching up to do," she groaned into her pillow, "and I shouldn't complain because God has given me a wonderful opportunity but I'm bone-tired."

"I can help you with catch up work," Lily announced, "I can also help you work ahead. Who knows maybe you skip to classes with Second Years." She said that like it was the most exciting thing in the world.

"I mean that's smart," Marlene added, "I mean at this rate what? You'll be 20 when you graduate."

"Marls," Alice, Mary and Lily scolded together.

"I'm just telling the truth," Marlene said with a little scoff, inspecting her nails loftily.

Virginia ignored her comment. She sat up and smiled over at Lily, "if you'd be willing I'd love to take you on as my tutor. I uh- won't be able to pay you anything though."

Lily chortled, "of course not silly, I wouldn't expect you to."

Virginia smiled to herself before taking a big breath. She leaned off her bed and grabbed her books out of her bag. "Right now it's just busywork and reading though."

"I remember that," Lily grimaced as though reliving a traumatic memory, "but tonight at 9:00, I can start teaching you some spells?" she offered.

Virginia nodded, "please." She then closed the curtains around her four poster and got to reading. An hour or so later she finally finished her readings and pointless worksheets. She was glad she had only missed a week of school, even if she was three years behind.

She checked her watch. 8:30. Half an hour of free time before spell lessons with Lily. She walked to the bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror. Her bun was fraying so she pulled it out and then placed it right back in. Her face looked odd without anything framing it but she didn't care.

She headed down into the Common Room to see if anyone interesting was there. She scanned around for the Prewett twins but only saw Emmeline, Mia and Vivienne - the three other Gryffindor First Years.

"Oi Winters," came a call from across the room. She turned to see Peter, Remus, Sirius and James around a circular table in the corner. The person who called her over, Remus, was wearing his typical welcoming smile.

She walked over to them and pulled a chair from an empty table next to it. "What's up?"

"As your mentor I feel obliged to ask how your first day was," he said, not like she was a burden but more like he was genuinely concerned.

"Great," Virginia grinned. She didn't have many complaints except for her odd breakfast encounter but she didn't particularly feel like sharing that. "Lily's going to start teaching me spells which will be awesome. I hope to maybe move up in classes." She looked at the ground and copied Marlene's words, "at the rate I'm going I won't graduate until I'm 20."

"Never fear," James said, standing up, "we shall never let that happen." He looked like a knight preparing for battle and so Virginia chuckled to herself. The other boys laughed as well but more at his expense.

When the laughter died down there was a small pause and then Peter spoke, "what are you?"

Virginia was taken aback when she realized that he was looking directly at her. "Uhm- what?"

"Sirius was talking about it, something about a Christian girl. What's that?"

"Oh," she chuckled to herself, her eyes flicking to Sirius. He wasn't looking at her but she did hear a sharp cry of pain that she assumed was the result of Sirius kicking Peter under the table. "Yeah I'm Roman Catholic which is a specific type of religion. So I worship God and believe in Jesus and the Bible and all that."

"And because of that," James asked, mulling the topic over, "you can't do certain things."

"Exactly yeah," she said, "I can't eat meat on Fridays, can't touch intimately or have sex before marriage. Can't swear, lie, cheat, yell. A lot of stuff really, but just the obvious be a good person things." She shrugged.

"Oh woah," Remus cocked his head to one side, "I never knew they were so strict."

"Depends on the person and the church," was all Virginia could think to say in reply.

"So you've never sworn. Or lied. What about kisses? Have you kissed anyone?" James asked, leaning forward, a glint in his eyes.

"I mean maybe as a child I lied but other than that no. No swears. No kisses," she wasn't quite sure why she was trapped in this conversation.

"So have you ever done anything?" Sirius, who had been staying silent, finally spoke up. He raised his dark eyebrows and stared across the table at her.

Virginia felt her cheeks tinge red, "of course I have. I've had my rebel streak. I- I well... My sister and I used to sneak out on Friday nights to go to Sam's Arcade. My favorite game was the motorcycle one. I was so good at it." She looked up to see that everyone but Remus looked wildly confused, "an arcade is this place full of electronic games. A motorcycle is a type of muggle transport that's less safe than a car. This one was fine though, it was planted in the ground and you would do the motions and it would move on this screen..." she stopped, "I can't really explain it. But I always did well."

Remus smiled to himself, "that's really awesome."

"That's your definition of a rebel streak Sweetheart?" Sirius said, slouching back into his seat with a smirk. James copied him. Virginia stared at the two of them for a moment and then shrugged.

"Don't worry," James said with a grin, taking on the role of savior again, "we'll help you have a real rebel streak. You'll tear some shit up with us man."

Virginia blinked a few times before looking over at Remus. He shook his head to ease her concern, "they won't pressure you into anything though. Right?" he turned to glare at both of them.

"Do my gorgeous good looks count as pressure for her to screw me on the spot?" Sirius asked, making eye contact with Virginia and winking. Remus didn't stop glaring. Sirius cleared his throat and looked chastised, "no? Cool. Then we're good."

Virginia smiled a bit at the boys, "alright guys, see you around." She stood up and pushed the chair back before making her way back to her dormitory. But not before she heard Sirius call out:

"See you in my dreams Sweetheart."

A/N...

Also I know the graphic says Tamlin Winters since that was her original name but I can't find it to make the change so yeahhh sorry about any confusion. Also there are some points where it's inferred that Virginia isn't that good looking and that's kind of true. I mean no offense to Hailee Steinfeld lol, just the character styles herself in a most unflattering way. And that's done on purpose by me so yeah. 

Thanks for reading this far,

Mari