Roses All The Way Down【Sirius Black】

ⅩⅩⅠⅤ. 𝐁𝐫𝐨

"Do you fancy me Ginny?"

Virginia felt her heartbeat quicken as she stared at him. Every part of her body was screaming at her to answer but she felt her words become frozen in her throat.

"Ginny?" he propped, shifting his feet awkwardly.

She looked up at him and only a few words managed to escape her mouth, "you haven't called me Sweetheart in forever."

He raised his eyebrows and smirked, "Well you never called me anything back so I just figured it was making you uncomfortable."

"Noted," she paused, "bro."

His lips twisted. For a moment she thought he might say nothing. But then he threw back his head and laughed raucously. "You- you," he faced her and tilted her chin up with two slender fingers, "are something else Sweetheart."

She grinned although her face was still red and blotchy, "so it was unrelated to - to..." she felt her smile fall. "I just mean... well... no. I don't fancy you Sirius. There's just this thing... I can't really explain it since it's kind of weird but I can assure there's a reason behind what happened. And it has nothing to do with romantic feelings." She shrugged.

He took a deep breath and nodded, clearing his throat awkwardly, "of course not."

"I actually do fancy someone though." The words fell out of her mouth before she could stop them.

His brows furrowed, "who-"

"Oh Ginny!" Lily shrieked, barreling into the room and pushing past Sirius. She embraced her tightly before pushing her back and wiping Virginia's face off with her sleeve.

Mary and Alice sidled up behind her. They hugged her collectively and then moved aside to show Peter and Remus.

"I'm so sorry," Remus burst out, "I-"

"Let's not talk about it," Virginia said, her voice strangled. Everyone nodded. She shrugged lamely, "I'm going to go back to my dorm and you guys are going to stop looking at me like I'm about to break. I'm fine." She began to stalk away when there was a scuffle behind her.

Peter was teetering dangerously close to the edge from where he had been observing the ground below, trying to figure out why there wasn't anyone outside. He realized rather quickly it was raining and he moved to step back but lost his footing.

Peter Pettigrew plunged off the tower.

Mary screamed. Sirius scrambled to the edge and extended his hand down like that would.

Lily pulled out her wand and muttered to herself, "what's that spell?"

"Ginny do something!" Alice screamed.

Virginia whipped around. James, Sirius and Remus all looked at Alice with confusion but everyone else understood. In a fluid motion, Virginia removed her top - which caused all three boys to exclaim "woah, woah, woah" and hold their hands to shield their eyes, and leapt off the tower.

"Ginny!" Sirius shrieked, "you idiot!" However he quickly saw two gray and golden something protrude from her back as she hurtled to reach Peter in time. She wrapped her arms around his stomach and pulled up with all the strength she could manage. Gasping heavily, she managed to drag herself up to the top of the tower. She let Peter go and rolled onto her stomach, sucking air in through her teeth.

Remus threw her shirt at her and she retracted her wings and quickly donned it.

"What the hell just happened?" Sirius asked in an attempt at a calm voice. When no one answered him, he answered again in a louder and more urgent voice, "what the HELL just happened."

"So... I'm half fairy. On my Dad's side. Well my dad's mom's side, I guess. My dad's dad's side is un-magical like him and I guess the fairy gene... skipped?" She awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck as she stood up.

She was saved from explaining further to the bewildered boys as Peter leapt into her and hugged her tightly, "you saved my life," he gasped.

She smiled down at him and wrapped her arms around his pudgy body, "of course, Peter but next time please be more careful."

"I promise, I wouldn't risk the lives of my friends," he said softly, releasing her a few moments later. They all descended from the tower together in awkward silence. When they entered the common room, Peter and Virginia split to their dormitories to change out of their soaked clothes.

When Virginia was warm again she laid out on her stomach on her bed, pulling a book out of her trunk.

"Ginny, what are you doing?" Marlene asked, wandering over to stand at the edge of her bunk.

"Reading Pride and Prejudice to watch Darcy and Elizabeth fall in love. Because love is beautiful and it helps me remember it will never happen to me-"

"Nope," Marlene said quickly, snatching the book out of her hands and tossing it to Dorcas to hide, "so what happened?"

Virginia shook her head mutely, "you do not want to know."

"What was your boggart," Dorcas asked with a grimace.

Virginia cringed, "oh you know, the normal thing - Sirius rejecting me because of the dumb kiss bet and he's the only person I could kiss, you know?"

Marlene and Dorcas exchanged a look before chorusing, "er- of course we know."

"The dumb kiss bet, that's why," Marlene added in a voice of false certainty. Dorcas elbowed her. Virginia chose to not comment on their odd behavior.

"I bet mine would have been... me..." Dorcas confessed awkwardly, keeping a smile on her face through force of sheer will, "like in first year. I was an awful girl back then, full of pain that I couldn't process." She sniffed awkwardly, before taking Marlene's pale hand in her own, "and I didn't thinK I could be anything. And then this idiot came in and said... 'Rome was built on ruins and it is breathtaking, what makes you think... you can't be." Her voice cracked, "so maybe me... but without Marlene and er- all the rest of them."

Virginia reached out and took her other hand.

"One day I'll make myself proud," Dorcas said. She looked up, her eyes were empty and hollow but a smile stayed on her face.

"You've already made all of us that," Marlene said, squeezing her hand. When she saw both girls who were looking at her expectantly, she shrugged, "mine would probably just be spiders. Nothing is more terrifying than something with eight legs."