Roses All The Way Down【Sirius Black】

ⅩⅣ. 𝐅𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐚𝐢𝐫

Virginia put a hand over her mouth to keep her breathing from being too loud. She could practically feel herself shaking. Professor McGonagall surveyed the four boys and then said in her stern voice, "should I even ask how you managed to get here? Or who the girl is that you've somehow managed to make vanish."

Peter's eyes grew wide and darted to Virginia but luckily the Professor was too focused on James and Sirius.

"A girl?" James asked, tilting his head to one side, "could you possibly mean Sirius with his fiendishly long hair?"

"I suppose Mr. Black was dining with himself then?"

"Ask the waitress, I ordered just one strawberry smoothie," he shrugged innocently. Virginia smiled to herself under the cloak. He was an absolute genius, perhaps she never gave him enough credit.

She stared down her nose at the four of them, "a date with yourself Mr. Black?"

"I'm incredibly narcissistic what can I say," he threw his arms up in the air, "so what's the damage Minnie? Just because whoever tallied up the students missed us doesn't mean anything, we're all allowed to be here."

Professor McGonagall's mouth twitched, she almost looked like she was smiling. "How is it that you four are always at the center of trouble and yet I can never seem to pin anything on you?"

"We're always innocent," Remus said at the same time that Sirius and James said, "we're always clever." Remus rolled his eyes, as did the Professor. She took one more sweeping look at the bathroom and Virginia held her breath again. She shook her head and let the door swing close.

All five of them let out a breath of relief. "I am never doing that again," Virginia muttered, trying to contain her terror.

"You take the cloak and get her back," James instructed Sirius, "you being on your own makes the most sense. After all, you could be getting a box of chocolate for yourself." Everyone snickered except for Sirius who scowled playfully.

He and Virginia headed out of the restaurant, leaving the smoothie to be delivered. Peter sat and drank it and James ended up having to pay.

When the two emerged from the tunnel and the one eyed witch hopped back into place, Virginia finally took off the cloak and gave it to Sirius.

"Thanks for taking me back," Virginia smiled up at him.

"Of course sweetheart," he grinned back at her before snatching her wrist and walking quickly away, dragging her with him, "now c'mon, c'mon we have things to see and do."

Virginia's brows furrowed but she let herself be dragged behind him without much thought. She trusted him. They ended up next to a massive stack of barrels and a rather massive oil painting. Sirius let go of her wrist to lift a slender hand to the canvas. She took in the painting - it was that of a fruit bowl. He used one finger to tickle the pear. The fruit squirmed and wriggled but ultimately gave up and the painting opened outwards. Sirius pulled it so the door behind was completely free. He waved his hand poshly and she entered slowly.

A collection of small creatures with massive, flapping ears caught her attention. There were dozens of them, all chatting loudly and scrambling around doing a considerable amount of tasks.

"House elves," Virginia muttered to herself, "so they're the ones who do everything."

"Sassy," Sirius called out, getting the attention of the tallest house elf. She had thinner ears and bulbous blue eyes. Sassy looked up at Sirius with the admiration similar to that of a child to its parent. "Could you get me some butter beer for the fine lady please." Sirius grinned charmingly over at her.

Virginia shook her head quickly, "Oh dear no I don't want to be a bother and-" She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as Sassy was already handing her a mug of butter beer. She chuckled to herself and took it with a thank you.

"Drink," Sirius encouraged, a smile dusting across his lips.

She brought the mug to her mouth and took a sip. The warmth of the liquid spread through her entire body. She felt the taste fill up her mouth and she almost let slip a contented sigh. "That... is amazing." Her eyes widened a considerable amount, "this doesn't contain any... actual beer right?"

"Of course not Sweetheart, we know you much better than that."

She grinned over at him, "well we should leave now, I have to get ready for Slug Club. Erm... have you ever been to one."

"You could not pay me money to end up at one of those things, my brother usually goes pretty formal though," Sirius said slowly, tilting his head to one side in thought.

Virginia looked sideways at Sirius as they left the Kitchen, "so you and him do talk then?"

Sirius's nose twitched, "sometimes." They fell into a strange sort of silence that Virginia couldn't bring herself to break. They walked like that all the way back to the Common Room and then walked up the stairs to their separate dormitories.

Virginia started to look for one of three dresses she had packed. It was long and light blue with a small pattern of yellow flowers. It was cut like a rectangle which wasn't flattering but the frilly collar made it look rather fancy. At the very bottom she saw a small bag labeled dresses. She dragged it out and pulled back the brown paper. Her eyes grew incredibly wide when she saw what was folded up inside the bag.

There was a small note pinned onto it.

These are in your best interests, try your hair down too - ask a cabin mate for makeup

Love,

Ophelia

It took Virginia a moment to remember what was meant by Cabin Mates. She had taken his bag to her Catholic Summer Camp but hadn't ended up needing a dress. She grimaced at the ground. Her only other option was jeans or her Hogwarts robes. She looked around the room- Lily and Dorcas were probably still at Hogsmeade while Alice, Marlene and Mary were nowhere to be found.

"Fine," she muttered to herself. She laid the three dresses out on her bed, glowering at them. She picked out the most modest of them and walked into the bathroom to put it on. It was red with sleeves that didn't connect to the dress and instead slid up her arms. She stared at herself in the mirror at the sleeveless thing that gripped her body.

She pulled her hair back into a bun but hesitated. She couldn't let it go down but perhaps the unflattering bun was not her plan. She pulled it into a cinnamon roll bun and then stared down at her wand. She muttered a heat spell and used it to curl some pulled out strands of hair. She grabbed some red lipstick and used it to complete the look. She crossed her arms uncomfortably across her chest and then walked down to the Common Room to see if she could hang around with anyone.

When she saw the Marauders she smiled and walked over to them. "Hey guys," she greeted with a little wave of one hand.

The four boys looked up and their eyes grew incredibly wide.

"Ginny?" Peter squeaked.

"You look amazing," James said with a huge grin, glancing over at Sirius.

"You clean up well, Mentee," Remus grinned at her.

Sirius's mouth was hanging open and he shifted in his seat, "you- you- you are..." He managed to get out. His eyes wandered all over her and she felt herself grow increasingly uncomfortable.

"Is something on my dress," she asked, looking down as she spun a bit to look at her back.

"Oh fuck," she thought she heard Sirius mutter under his breath.