Roses All The Way Down【Sirius Black】

ⅩⅩⅩⅠ. 𝐀 𝐓𝐡𝐰𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦

Arthur Weasley had a huge grin on his face, "hey, you're a muggle born, right?" He was a tall and lanky boy with floppy features and a very long nose. Molly Prewett sidled up behind him, putting her hand on the chair.

"Hey Ginny," she waved kindly, "great job at the last Quidditch match. Weird to see you with your hair down though." She had red hair as well though hers was darker. She was a short and rather porky 17-year-old who looked rather gentle and sweet. "Thanks for keeping my little brother's occupied and on task, I thought they wouldn't do classes at all!"

Virginia fiddled with her hair, "yeah I'm a muggle born and I was just... trying something." She dragged her hair all the back into the bun away from her face, Alaric's lips bunched to one side but he said nothing. "And absolutely, my pleasure." She grinned at Molly, she couldn't imagine growing up with Fabian and Gideon. She realized with an odd feeling in her chest that she wouldn't have to imagine forever. After all, they might not be directly related but they were going to grow old in the castle halls together.

"So- Merlin's beard, what are these?" Arthur asked, pouncing on the pen in her hand and snapping her out of her thoughts. "Where's your ink well, blimey Molly, it doesn't look like she needs one!" He grinned up at Molly who chuckled lightly.

Virginia smiled at his bemusement, "yeah the ink is inside the pen." She tore off a scrap of parchment and slid it over to him, "try it."

"What a funny little muggle contraption," Arthur said, jumping back to marvel at the pen when he'd finished a quick scribble of his name, "so it never runs out?"

"Well sure it does, when all the ink gets dried up but you can just buy another one."

Arthur's eyes went wide as he stared at the pen. Virginia chuckled lightly, "you can keep that one Arthur. I have plenty more."

"Thanks Virginia! You can call me Art!"

"Then you can call me... Ginny," she did her best to keep her smile from faltering. She had to embrace the awful nickname now... she supposed.

"Great," he rubbed his hands together, "and now-"

"Artie," Molly scolded, pulling him out of the seat, "you can talk to her later." He looked between Alaric and Virginia before nodding knowingly. Molly shook her head and mouthed an apology over her shoulder.

Virginia chuckled, looking down at the table and then back up at Alaric. "I'm not going to get any work done," she confessed, "do you want to just scoot?"

Alaric smiled and brushed his belongings into his bag with a nod.

"Sorry I sounded so shocked earlier with your outfit, I mean you should have seen all the things Dorcas picked out. I mean Alice at least had some sense although occasionally it would be something so ridiculous Alice would think it was nice." The two were walking down the corridor towards the kitchen. Alaric's hands were swinging at his sides and Virginia almost wanted to copy him, but an incredible fear that he would try to take her hands boiled in her stomach. She knew that was dumb, this was a date. Sure in the midst of her anxiety last night she had fantasized about it, but here and now, in person? It seemed all too real.

Alaric chortled, "so you told your friends." He winked at her, a red tinge spread across his cheeks.

"Mary told them," Virginia said, "although I would have told them at some point I'm sure. I mean... they're all amazing. Did you- did you not tell your friends?" She looked up at him, awkwardness bubbling in her gut.

"Of course I did and - woah-" Alaric was caught off guard when Virginia grabbed his arm and dragged him into a broom closet.

"S-s-sorry," she said, looking up at him. She was glad the semi-darkness would hide the red pigment on her face, "someone was coming and I did not feel like talking to them right now." She didn't need to be called a Mudblood by Pandora at that moment. Especially not when she knew Alaric would be marked a blood traitor. That combination could send him into protective family mode. However much she didn't like Pandora, she didn't want her in a duel with the older Weasley boy.

"Fair enough," he replied with a crooked grin. She realized how close they were to one another. Virginia was honestly surprised that he couldn't hear her heartbeat, considering how hard it was hammering against her chest. "So do you think it's safe to leave yet?" He said in a whisper that made Virginia giggle. She shrugged and he didn't look too fussed about her uncertainty.

The two leaned back against the wall and chatted about random things like their roommates and classes. Until, there was a bang on the door that caused Virginia to leap into him. It must have been some students messing around since no other noise was heard. She looked up at him through her eyelashes and did her best to not turn red. Well... more red. He placed his hand on the side of her face, cupping his chin lightly. His eyes flicked to her lips.

"May I kiss you?"

She stared at him. Something in her body screamed no. Because this wasn't right. For some strange reason after all of this... she felt like he wasn't the person she was supposed to be kissing. She told herself to get it together.

"Yes," she whispered. Virginia assumed her wild emotions were entirely because of her fear. She just needed to kiss him, she'd feel sparks and everything would be fine.

His lips were brushing her and her brain flashed back to the night in the woods with Sirius. She could feel his lips but she couldn't exactly register if it was a kiss or not when the door banged open. They leapt apart, which was not extremely easy in the small space. Virginia's eyes widened when she turned and saw Sirius Black standing there in the doorway. He looked oddly calm and he waved a piece of parchment with one hand.

It clicked into place a second after she got over the shock, he had been using the map to spy on her. She gave him a death glare and he held up his hands.

"What is it this time?" She snapped, not knowing why she was so angry. She picked up one of the brooms.

Sirius grinned down at her charmingly, "I'm drunk?" She raised the broom. "Oh come on Ginny, we both know you won't do that."

Virginia shot a look at Alaric, "I'll be back soon, promise." And with that she charged out of the closet and began to beat him senseless with the broom. He yelped and tore off down the hallway, Virginia scrambled after in fast pursuit. "Were you seriously spying on me?" she asked when she cornered him, glaring up at him.

"Well not you specifically but you were in the closet for a long time and I knew you wouldn't..." his ears tinged red, "do the deed and I wanted to make sure that he wasn't forcing you..."

"You think I can't take care of myself?" She shrieked at him

"Well not then I didn't," he got out, looking more timid than she had ever seen him.

Her eyes blazed with fury, "and - what - about - now?" she asked, punctuating the end of every sentence with a thwack of the broom.

He grimaced, "now I think you can."

She grinned triumphantly, turned on her heel and marched away. However, when she arrived back at the closet to throw the broom inside - Alaric was gone.

(A/N I'm going to really try to update on Wednesday and Friday but I currently have pneumonia so... we'll see sorry... stay safe out there! Thanks for the votes and library adds! I love you all!!)