Roses All The Way Down【Sirius Black】

Ⅺ. 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥

After dinner Virginia made her way slowly up the staircase. Half of her wanted to run back down to the Great Hall and thank Sirius again. An incredible pull seemed to be dragging her back towards him so she listened to it. When she reached the doorway, she realized how incredibly stupid she was being. Just because she had forgotten to thank him at the end of it didn't mean she should expose herself in front of everyone. Who knows who could hear? She didn't want everyone knowing how completely dumb she was. Or perhaps had been. She twirled her wand with her left hand, knowing she could now do all the spells she hadn't been able to - just by altering her accent or hand position or expression or whatever else was important.

She felt herself be jostled and she dipped forwards, catching herself on the doorframe before she could fully fall over.

"Oh I'm so sor...," she turned around to see that no one had just exited the cafeteria. Her eyebrows furrowed and she swallowed, feeling crazy. She peered back into the room to see that Sirius had apparently left, she shrugged to herself and decided it was time she did the same. However when she turned around she saw a rather massive drop of whipped cream on the floor. She whirled around again to see displays of cupcakes set up on the tables, she looked down and determined that it had been decidedly not there a few seconds prior.

Following the whipped cream was a small trail of crumbs. "What the-" she muttered to herself, slowly making her way after it one footfall at a time. It led her up the stairs and into a long corridor however it abruptly stopped. She leaned against the wall in annoyance before she heard a massive door slam down the hall. Curiosity getting the better of her once again, she took off down the hall and found the closest door being one that led into the bathrooms. She knelt down and squinted. She grinned to herself when she saw a group of stray crumbs by the entrance to the boy's bathroom. Then she grimaced, knowing she couldn't go in there.

She casually wondered what invisible force ate cupcakes and vanished into boy's toilets - before realizing she needed to wash her hands from all the floor groping. She entered the ladies bathroom and crossed to the sink. She felt herself stop dead in her tracks when she heard the sound of sobs coming from one of the stalls. Before she could really think, her feet propelled her to the door of the stall and she knocked on it lightly,

"Hi uhm- is there anything I can do to help? I'm a really good listener and I make some mean tea?" she offered softly through the door.

"Thanks but there's nothing. I mean... unless you're sure you don't mind just listening for a second?" the girl sniffed.

"Not at all," Virginia said with a small smile. When it became apparent she would be staying in the toilet to do her talking, Virginia slid down stall door and sat on the other side.

"Do you ever feel like it's all too much? How can you be everything? Everything that your friends and your teachers and your guardians want you to be... when they all want different things. See, most of my friends, except the ones that get it, want me to be nice. The kindest, sweetest soul and completely selfless. But my guardians want me to think with my mind and not my heart. Never my heart. They want me to do good in the classes they see useful so that they can control my career path."

"And your teachers?" Virginia prompted.

"They want me to do well in everything. They act like my guardians, so protective and genuine and... but I need to disappoint them. And my friends. The people who raised me for most of my life should get the final say," her voice shook, "right?"

"I'm sorry I don't know. I wish I did. But you're at school now, away from your parents."

"Not my parents," she corrected, "my parents are dead."

"I-"

"Don't say your sorry," she said, her voice cracking, "just keep going."

Virginia fiddled with her hands in her lap and obeyed, "so you live your life for you. Nobody else can tell you how. Be a heartless, evil and selfish person if that's what you want. Think only with your heart. Do amazing in all the classes or none of them or just the they don't want you to. It's up to you."

She was met with silence for a few moments. "Oh... thank you... I think."

"No matter what you do," Virginia felt herself saying the words with more force than she meant to, "you'll never be enough for them. So be enough for you."

"Be enough for me... that's interesting. Now... um would you mind doing what you needed to do and leaving? I'd rather if you didn't know who I am, it's too out of character y'know."

"Sure," Virginia said, standing and brushing her hands off on her thighs. She walked over to the sink and washed before heading to the door, "but if you ever need to talk to someone again. I'll be here at this time every Thursday."

"And maybe you can trauma dump sometimes," BathroomGirl chuckled. Virginia smiled to herself and choose not to answer, leaving the bathroom instead.