Roses All The Way Down【Sirius Black】

ⅩⅩⅩⅩⅠ. 𝐈𝐭 𝐇𝐢𝐭 𝐇𝐞𝐫

She shoved the curtains to the side and scanned the beds of her roommates. Marlene would kill her for awakening her. Alice would say she had already known that, at least that's what Virginia could gather from her little smirks whenever the boy was discussed. Lily would look disappointed and talk her out of it, which could be useful but she felt like she needed it addressed. There was a very high chance it was real. Mary might tell Peter who would definitely fill in the rest of the boys without much prodding. So it was Dorcas.

She tiptoed across the carpet to her bed and slowly scraped the curtains along. But Dorcas's bed was empty. She cocked her head to one side, worry rising in her chest for no particular reason. A quick scan across the room told her that she wasn't in the bathroom as the door was swung open and it was nothing but dark inside. She scrambled to Marlene's bed, the only one without curtains, and made to shake her awake. But she was gone too.

Her eyes doubled to twice their usual size and she grabbed at Lily's curtains, yanking so hard she almost pulled them down. "Lily?!"

Lily groaned, sitting up in bed and groaning in annoyance, "what?"

"Marls and Dorcas aren't in their beds."

"Relax Gin," she said, sitting up and rubbing her eyes with her fists, "they're fine, just studying downstairs."

Virginia felt her heartbeat slow. Lily sat up and dragged the curtains closed again. She hadn't imagined she'd be that cranky. She shrugged and walked down the stairs to the common room, feeling silly for freaking about such a thing. She hadn't quite realized just how attached she was to the two of them and how much of an impact it would have on her if they vanished. However, when she reached the bottom, she was snapped out of her thoughts and gasped loudly. Marlene and Dorcas were sitting on the couch. Textbooks and parchment sat discarded on one of the tables as they were leaned in towards each other. Their lips moved harmoniously together however they broke apart as soon as Virginia began walking towards them.

Marlene leaped apart from Dorcas, "we-we were just... just..."

"Kissing," Virginia smiled warmly, "so Dor, was this who you were talking about?" Dorcas nodded sheepishly. "Adorable." She leaned down and brought the two of them into a hug, "I love you both."

"You don't care... that we... kiss girls...?" Marlene asked, her voice slightly shaking. Virginia stood up and shook her head.

"I couldn't be more proud, it took my sister far longer than you two to admit it and besides, you guys are perfect for each other."

Dorcas sniffed, looking up at her with gratitude shining in her eyes, "just please don't tell anyone, the only other person who knows is Peter. He's kept it quite well I think." She turned to Marlene for confirmation, who nodded her agreement.

"I didn't peg him for a good secret keeper," Virginia shrugged, before remembering it hadn't gotten everywhere that was poor. He had kept that. "Well, I have someone I need to talk to. Love is complicated but you shouldn't be scared of it, y'know? You guys have fun." She winked terribly and the two girls giggled.

She walked up the staircase to the boys dormitory and knocked on the fourth years door. There were some crashes from inside. Her brows furrowed and the door was opened by a soot covered Sirius Black. As soon as she saw him, even covered in ash, her heart skipped several beats. He was so attractive and when he noticed who it was, he grinned down charmingly at her. And that's when it hit her.

Sirius Black was one of the most popular boys in fifth year and below. He was rakishly handsome and could get any girl he wanted, he could hurt them too and they probably wouldn't mind. And then there was her. The newest edition. A stuck up 14 year old in classes with 11 year olds. Whose most attractive feature was something no one seemed able to tell her.

Hadn't he promised she'd lose all her firsts to him and fall in love? He had been her first kiss. The first boy to see her cry. The first boy to be introduced to her grandmother. The first boy to corner her in the closeness of her bedroom and drag his lips next to her neck. But he had never said anything about himself. Her heart dropped out.

She could love him all she wanted, it wouldn't make him think of her as any more than a friend.

"Ginny?" he asked tauntingly, waving his hand in front of her face, "you in there sweetheart?"

She stared up at him and her eyes watered unwillingly. Part of her wanted to run. But she couldn't as there was the slightest chance he would follow. She couldn't risk exposing Dorcas and Marlene's secret.

She shook her head and snapped herself out of the trance she had been in, "I'm here to talk to Peter."

Sirius rubbed the back of his neck, "he's washing off the goo."

Virginia's eyes narrowed suspiciously but she shook her head instead of asking questions, "okay then Remus."

"He's hiding somewhere from James. Seriously no idea where the fuck he went."

Her lips scrunched to one side, "James?"

Sirius's eyebrows raised but he opened the door. James was sitting on the floor with his usually tousled hair sticking straight up. One of his eyebrows was badly singed. "What?"

"Can I talk to you?" she peered into the room.

James pointed at himself, looking confused. He shrugged, "sure." He stood up and plopped down on his bed. She half expected Sirius to throw a mini tantrum to protest being left out, but he didn't. Just collapsed back onto his bed and held up a book. She sat down across from James and he dragged the curtains closed.

"James."

"Ginny," he replied in a mock serious tone.

"Do you think Sirius will ever fall in love?"

James cocked his head to one side, "do you fancy Sirius?"

Her mouth twisted and she said nothing, looking to the side. She cleared her throat, "I think I have for a while. Just a lot of denial."

"Ah, like Lily," he said. She was only twenty percent sure he was joking. "But like... you actually fancy him? I thought you liked Alaric."

"I thought I did too. I mean I did like his company but I don't think anything romantic could happen between us. But I would really like to... date Sirius. But I don't think he does that at least not for very long," she finally made eye contact with him. His brown eyes looked helplessly into hers. "and I don't my life made hell by Pandora."

"I think... I think he's never actually been someone's boyfriend. Never officially. I think if you were to ask you to be his girlfriend that would be something special. But I don't know... if he would. I mean he has..." he trailed off but she could assume what he was going to say. Massive commitment issues because of his parents.

"Should I just try to get over him?" she asked, dragging her fingers through her hair anxiously.

He took a deep breath and shook his head, "no. You should tell him. He may mess around but he'd never be intentionally mean to you." He'd reject you nicely, that's what Virginia heard. When James had meant that she should tell him since he'd reciprocate the feelings and therefore she wouldn't be hurt.

"So just hi Sirius, I'm in love with you?" she asked, shaking her head.

"You're in love with him?" he screeched, his eyes widening as he stared at her looking completely dumbfounded. She slapped a hand to her mouth like that would draw the words back in. She shook her head silently. "You have to tell him Ginny. He deserves to know."

"But you know how he feels," she said, staring at him with desperate eyes, "he would tell you. He tells you everything that wasn't expressly made a secret. And his own feelings wouldn't be. You could tell me how it would go, so I can be prepared." She scrunched her eyes shut, "so go on, tell me, I can take it." She waited for words that never came. Instead James rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Being in love doesn't mean being prepared, Ginny."

She slowly opened her eyes and stared at him. She sighed, "okay. Okay. I'll tell him. Y'know when the time is right."

James nodded sagely, "when the time is right, indeed."