Roses All The Way Down【Sirius Black】

ⅩⅩⅤⅠ. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐓𝐨𝐨

(A/N - the nightgown is in the bottom right, thank you so much for reading - thanks for the votes and the comments they mean so so much to me!)

Virginia descended into the common room at around midnight. Her brows furrowed when she saw four boys fully dressed in warm outfits, she looked down at herself in her light pink nightgown. There wasn't very much substance to it, sleeves that were practically transparent. That transparent layer laid over one of thick silk that extended to about halfway down her thighs. She crossed her arms awkwardly across her chest to hide how awkward she felt in her nightclothes. 

"I didn't know we-we were leaving. Isn't there a curfew?" she asked, tilting her head to one side. 

"Yeah but it's the forbidden forest, we couldn't go there in broad daylight now could we?" Sirius asked with a swift wink.

"I tried to sneak out," Remus grimaced, sending them a look before shaking his head, "alright let's go."

James pulled out his invisibility cloak and Virginia stared at it. James tossed it over her, "now... close your eyes and hold out your hand." Her brows furrowed and she held out her hand. She jumped a little when she saw her hand floating in the air. Remus took it lightly although Sirius glowered at him. "Are your eyes closed?" James checked. 

Virginia had no idea why she needed to do that but she squeezed them shut, "yes." There was some shuffles of movement and someone whispered something before she was led out of the dormitory.

They pulled sharp turns and at one point she was dragged into some room. They stayed there for about ten minutes until she felt herself moved into the hallway. She could feel the cold as soon as she exited the castle. She was wearing soft slippers that automatically became soggy as they slipped into the rain soaked grass. She pulled the invisibility cloak tighter around herself with one hand while keeping the other grasped to Remus's.  

"Alright, you can open them," Peter squeaked and Virginia did. After a quick survey of her surroundings, she pulled off the cloak. They stood a little bit of the way into the forest. Strange bird calls could be heard echoing around them in the dimly lit trees. The boys all had their wands out and were casting the light spell.

She let her hand fall back to her side and stared at Remus with glittering eyes, "so... thestrals?"

She, Remus and Peter walked ahead of the other two boys who were whispering about some girls in their year - Cassie and Tia. "What on earth were they doing with my brother," Sirius hissed. However, when Virginia turned around to ask them what they meant, they immediately started blathering about the weather.

"Here," Remus said with a grin about ten minutes later. They stood in the middle of a clearing and he pulled something out of a satchel, one of the pork ribs from dinner that night. He tossed it into the dirt and they waited awkwardly. A few minutes past and then slowly, a few thestrals hobbled into the clearing - tearing away at the meat.

"Woah - ho, who?" Peter asked with wide eyes staring at the meat, which to him appeared to be devouring itself.

"Remember Petey," Sirius said, almost condescendingly for someone who couldn't see them either, "they can only be seen by a person who has seen death. None of us can actually see them."

"Ha. Ha." Virginia burst out awkwardly, "yes... yes invisible. Cannot see." They all raised their eyebrows as they stared down at her. She cleared her throat, "ah yes there is a slight chance, they are slightly visible."

"Who have you... seen... kick the old bucket," James asked, his tone starting off serious before he gave way to his discomfort.

"Oh it's nothing exciting I assure you but uh.... I had an aunt who died in the nunnery because she got sick. So we went to visit her and I was just, you know, sitting on her bedside and then she started coughing and coughing... and I tried to get someone. I really did. And I ran back into the room and I thought, maybe I could try CPR even though I was ten and only had a vague concept. Before I could even try... she died because she was unable to breathe in." Virginia said in a light tone, walking forward to pat one of the thestrals on its head.

"Spider," came a squeak from Peter.

"Interesting reaction to her trauma dump," James said, smirking down at Peter.

"Maybe he means that Ginny's life is like a spider, you keep thinking you've seen the worst of it but then you... you find another leg."

Virginia couldn't help but snort at that.

"N-no," Peter stammered, pointing one pudgy finger into the distance, "l-l-large spider." They all followed the direction of his pointing to see he was right, a ten foot tall spider stomped towards them and they all screamed. 

Sirius grabbed Virginia's hand and the two of them sprinted further into the woods. When they finally stopped, she threw herself forward and buried herself into his chest. She breathed heavily and he put his arms around her, rubbing her back slowly.

She drew back from him, "are we- are we safe," her eyes traveled around the area of woods they were in now.

"Yeah, yeah sweetheart we're safe, we got away from the spider."

"The one that symbolizes me?" she grinned up at him.

"Was that - was that... I'm sorry," he cupped his ear with one hand, "unprompted sarcasm?"

She giggled and he looked pleased with himself. It only took her a second, however, for her to realize their situation.

"Sirius," she said, clutching his arm with one hand. He winced slightly but waited for her to continue. "We- we're going to die! We have no way to get back, what-what if there are more of those things. Or something worse!" He took his free arm and used it to grip her shoulder as he tried to get her to look at him. She struggled against him, letting go of his arm and gazing around fretfully. She shook her wrists as if that was flicking away her excess anxiety. Her breaths were getting quicker and quicker, she could feel panic rise in lungs as she muttered, "we're lost... we're lost."

"Ginny. Ginny! GINNY!" he shook her slightly until she looked up at him with tear filled eyes, "listen to me. James has a map. We didn't want you to know about it and that's why you closed your eyes but he has one. Do you hear me? A map of the woods and he knows how to find us, trust me - he does. He'll find us, he'll lead us back and in the meantime we have our wands."

"He has a map?" she echoed tonelessly.

He nodded.

"And he can find us?" she confirmed.

He nodded again. She relaxed, her whole body stopped tensing up. She rubbed her upper arms with her hands, "oh dear it's so cold."

"Well don't look at me, I'm cold too," Sirius replied snootily, pulling his own jacket tighter around him. "Although I can still help, where are you most cold?"

She lifted up her hands in front of him, expecting him to perform some spell. Instead, he leaned forward and pressed his lips on the back of both of her hands. Her eyes widened considerably and she felt a blush rise in her cheeks.

"Anywhere else?" he asked, his face entirely unreadable.

"My nose," she chuckled, "it's actually this weird thing where my nose runs colder than the rest of-" She was cut off when he laid a kiss on her nose. She felt her heart beating in her throat as she stared at him, he pulled back but only so their faces were a few inches apart. Her eyes flickered down to his lips. "And my... my... my l- li-" She looked away from him as though the trees had suddenly become very interesting.

He grabbed her chin with his thumb and forefinger, lightly pulling her back to look at him. "Are your lips cold sweetheart?" he asked, his eyebrows raising ever so slightly.

She took a deep breath in and out although that was harder than it perhaps should have been. "Yes. They are." A smile settled onto Sirius's face and he began to close the gap between them when she leapt backwards. "Sorry," she chuckled, "I forgot. Because I was so scared a few minutes ago,  my brain is freakyyyy. I'm sure it's the same for you. Like drunk on adrenaline and well... Pandora." She stared at him and waited. 

Sirius opened his mouth to say something.

"There you guys are! Finally!" James shouted, pushing aside some branches and grinning. Peter and Remus were in tow. Remus was looking at the ground and Virginia felt concern rise in her gut but she didn't have time to discuss it with him. Together, the five traipsed back to the castle.