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𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐀 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐘 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐃 that Sirius Black was not an enigma. He was no mortal god; he was certainly not the dark paradox that nearly all of Hogwarts' female population had crowned him. After that morning in the Gryffindor common room, she suddenly understood that he was just... a boy. The inane note he'd blown at her had proven that much.
Sirius was similar to herself in some ways - labeled haughty, vain, seductive, and intangible. Only - he could emerge unscathed from the scorn, and he had chosen to play into his role. On the outside, Valentina moved through the world seemingly untouched, wielding her allure as a form of sword and shield. But beneath - it was an entirely different story. She loathed her labels. Not once had she entertained them. The scorn of it all cut her so deeply that the wounds could never surface.
Valentina was a fragile performance: something Black would never understand. How could anyone like him be anything but fragile? And moreover, she was certain that the two of them were a formula for disaster. The easiest way to go about it was to make that clear to him.
...At least she'd thought so.
Over the past several weeks, Valentina was suffering the strangest experience of her life: somehow, she had become the newest Lily Evans and Black was borrowing Potter's personality. Notes were becoming poorly written poems, accompanied with white roses. So. Many. Roses.
Currently, Valentina was staring, horrified at the sight before her. Her usual seat at the Ravenclaw table in the Great Hall was entirely covered in white roses, piled high on the bench and crawling up the table. The flowery perfume was so strong that she felt nauseous.
At her side, Zoya grimaced. "You think Potter is helping Black with these? We ought to ask Evans how she's suffered these antics for so long."
"I think it's cute," Lara admitted. From the heap of roses, she plucked out a cream colored envelope, sealed with gold wax. Handing it to Valentina, she said, "I mean, Black's going to rather large lengths for you, Val."
Valentina rolled her eyes, shoving the card into a random pocket in her robes. "There is no length. He's throwing all this money around like those stupid pranks he loves to do. I don't believe he's suddenly so interested after a single conversation we had. This just... feels wrong."
A group of third year girls passed by them, eyeing Valentina before breaking into giggles and whispers, using their hands to cover their mouths. Some of them were simply effusive and gushing. Others regarded her with a far more bitter and condescending look.
