Roses All The Way Down【Sirius Black】

ⅩⅩⅩⅠⅠ. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐓𝐨𝐨 𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐞

Alaric had been odd and standoffish for all the days leading up to the game, but he wished Virginia luck at breakfast Friday morning. She scrambled after him and caught up with him in the entrance hall.

"Heyyy..." she rubbed the back of her neck, "I'm really sorry about leaving you in the closet... I beat up Sirius with a broom. I almost killed him for- for interrupting."

Alaric raised his eyebrows, "it's him," his voice was simply hollow, "it's okay Nia." He turned away but she grabbed his forearm quickly. It took her about ten seconds to understand what he had meant.

"It's not him. I like you. I want to kiss you. I want to wear your jacket when it's cold outside. I want to go on dates and... and have anniversary picnics on the Astronomy tower. I want you to be my date to one of those Slughorn dinners," the words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them as she stared up at him, "I want to comfort you when you're sad, I want to help you study when you have a quiz! I-I-"

"I got it Nia," he smiled sorrowfully down at her, "I just- I can't shake the feeling that it's him you want... how about we... we reconvene after the break?"

That's too late, Virginia thought as her brain desperately scrambled for a solution. But she couldn't make him kiss her. She couldn't make him want to. She nodded, "sure Alaric."

He nodded down at her and then looked at the hand grasping his arm expectantly. She dropped it and he walked away. So that was it then.

Gryffindor lost the quidditch match against Slytherin. It came to no surprise to anyone. Hestia got injured in the middle, Alaric and James were scrambling to rack up the points. And then they were forced to play a massive game of keep away when Billius was knocked down - right after Hestia was released into the air. The game dragged on for four long and awful hours. Snow fell in heavy flakes around their faces, making it nearly impossible for Virginia to see the snitch. A bludger hit her out of nowhere, aimed by some idiot on the other team and she went pinwheeling into one of the stands. Her broom got quite literally stuck in it and she was jostled so harshly that she ended hanging from it.

She looked down to see she was a few feet away from the ground so she let go of the broom, falling in a crumple in the layer of snow.

It wasn't particularly hard for Slytherin to win after that.

Virginia was fine, she just needed hot cocoa - which Remus brought her after Mary got her shivering body into dry clothes. Sirius laid a blanket across her and she sat by the fire with Billius.

She loved the common room. She could look around and see all sorts of little stories. Fabian playing with some deck of cards, dazzling little Emmeline Vance. Hestia Jones with her feet propped up on a table chuckling with a Ravenclaw girl she had smuggled in. Mary and Peter with their heads bowed down around some wizard board game. She smiled slowly to herself. She had partially imagined being here for years. Seeing Fabian and Gideon and all the first years she'd grown to like growing up. But she knew that had been a pipe dream. She stood up, the blanket cascading to the ground. She folded it over the back of the sofa and picked up the book bag Lily had sat next to her.

She walked down the drafty corridors until she reached the library. She was assaulted with even more joy. Christmas trees sat in place of the lamps on the large round tables and menoras were stacked against some of the shelves. She smiled in spite of herself. She took a seat at the corner table and pulled out her worksheet.

"Heyyyyy sweetheart, would there be any chance for me to stay at your house for the Winter break?" a voice said from above her about thirty minutes later. She recognized it, Sirius Black.