The courtyard was empty at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In the open air hallways surrounding it, two people were walking and crossed paths. Normally these two people had very little contact, so it was strange when the young woman stopped as the young man was passing her by and spoke to him.
"Hello Monsieur Potter." Her words stop the man, whose surname was Potter. He gave her a surprised look, as they had barely spoken to each other before, but he responded in reply.
"Miss Black. Hello to you too, how are you?" He asked easily, for he had heard stories of her before and in the past she was never rude to him nor his friends.
"I'm doing lovely. And how about you?" She says as she turns to face him.
"Wonderful, thank you!" He replies and turns to leave, thinking the conversation is over.
"I do hope Sirius hasn't been causing too much trouble." She says as she turns into the courtyard and strolls around at a leisure pace. He stops in his tracts, knowing what the meeting was probably about now. He smirks at her words and turns to walk besides her.
"He's a nuisance, as usual, but that's never going to change." She laughs lightly as his words were correct. Sirius was never going to cease to be a fun-loving nuisance.
"No I suppose it won't, which is good in dark times like this. I worry for him, mother is pushing for us to join the Dark Lord. She's getting frustrated that I keep avoiding the topic, and soon she'll move on from me and push the topic with Siri." Her voice goes darker and bitter as she speaks of her mother.
"He'd be the last person in the world to join the Dark Lord. I can bet your mother won't be pleased when you both reject her. I mean.. You are going to reject her,right?" He questions as the idea that she might follow her family hits him. He doesn't know her, he's only heard a few stories about her from Sirius. But Sirius doesn't like to talk about her much, he always got a pained look in his eye whenever she was brought up.
She has a pained look in her eye and takes a deep breath before answering him. "She won't be pleased if we both do. You have to understand. I have to do what's best for both of my younger brothers. Even if that means staying at home with mother and father. Reggie wants to please her, and I'm scared for him. He doesn't believe in blood purity, he believes like I've taught him. We believe that anyone who possess magic is blessed by the goddess herself, but he wants to please mother because he believes it might make her love him. Things will be vicious at home if both I and Sirius reject her. Unless I can convince Reggie to leave with me, I will be staying. I will stay and keep him safe, protect him just like I've been doing for both of them since we were small. I will do whatever it takes to protect them, no matter how terrible it is for me." She turns away so he can't see her face, and she can't help but show how scared she is at the prospect of going home.
"Vesperia" She cuts him off as he begins to speak. "Roselyn please, Vesperia follows the black tradition, and even if just for right now, I would like to distance myself from the Blacks."
"Roselyn then," he corrects himself. "Roselyn, listen, I've already extended this invitation to Sirius but I also want you to know there's always room at the Potter's, even if it's just for a night or two. Regulus is welcome as well. He doesn't like me, but he'd be welcome too." He says, hoping that will be enough to convince her to leave her parents.
"Thank you for the invitation, and I'm sure Siri will take it. I've obtained an apartment in muggle London, a place my parents would never think to look. Reggie and I will stay there, if he agrees of course. And Darling Sirius will be welcome too, although I think he would rather stay with you. I don't want to cause tension or any stress for your family." She politely declines, even though she is very grateful for the thought. She is relieved that her brother has someone as good to turn to as Potter.
He nods his head, a little put out by her declining his invitation so he tries again, trying not to sound too eager. "Well, alright, at least visit us though! Every Sunday. My mum makes a wicked Sunday dinner." He says with a smile, trying to make her agree.
She smiles softly up at him. "If that is alright with your mother, I would love that."
He shrugs that off playfully. "She loves company, don't you worry about that."
"From what Sirius has told me, she sounds like a lovely person. The complete opposite of our mother. The company our mother keeps is.. scary. She's invited the Dark Lord to our house this summer. Sirius doesn't know, and he shouldn't know. Please, help me make sure he isn't there when it happens." She pleas with him desperately. James can't help but feel for the older girl, as she begs him for help. In all his 5 years at Hogwarts, he had never seen the 7th year do anything other than look on distantly, much less show as much emotion with him as she is now.
"Of course, Roselyn. I'll spend the entire summer with him to keep him away if I have to! I'm sure he won't mind." He says determined to keep his friend away from the vile creature that is the Dark Lord.
"I know he won't. He loves spending time with you. I'm glad to know that he has a friend as good as you Monsieur Potter." She says thankful that he is willing to help her, even though he doesn't know her.
"Just James please. But he always will have me as a friend. He's one of the best lads I know. I'm proud to call him my best friend." The young man, James, says as he looks down at the much smaller girl. Even though she is small and dainty, he can't help but admire her strength and resolve to do anything for her brothers.
"Please, don't tell him of the visitor that will be coming to the house this summer. He'll do something rash, and I need to keep him safe. Mother will try to force him to take the mark when we get home." She warns him. "I will get him out of that terrible place, but I do not know if I will have a chance to before or after he is hurt for his rejection." She forces the tears from her eyes at the thought of her brother hurt, she had to stay strong for him.
"I'll keep him distracted with Quidditch and hikes and pranks. Don't worry. I hate seeing him hurt though, but I will be there for him if it happens. Just send him over to my house. He can stay there for the summer." He swallows hard at the thought of his best friend getting hurt. He hopes that Roselyn will be able to get him about before then, but after hearing the few stories that Sirius has told for the past 5 years about his parents, he has little hope.
"I will get him out at the latest a week into summer. Sooner if possible." She says determinedly.
"Alright Rosie, I'll be ready for him." He says will equal determination.
"Rosie?" She questions him, taken aback at the nickname bestowed onto her by James.
"Do you not like it? I can call you something else if you would rather." He quickly says, trying to appease her, thinking she's mad.
"I've never been called that before." She says, thinking on the name.
"I just thought it was cute." He says before he can stop himself. He means it though. He liked the name and thought that it fit because her lips were the color of rose petals and as her face flushed a soft pink at his words, he also thought that it fit her blush as well.
"I like it, James." She says, trying out his first name, instead of his surname for the first time.
"I'm glad." He gives her a smile, glad that he was talking to Sirius's older sister whom he hadn't heard much about. But then again, Sirius didn't speak of his home life, or his family very much.
She sits down on a bench and looks up at the sky, enjoying that the courtyard was empty for once. She took in the sounds of the birds chirping, knowing that tomorrow things wouldn't be peaceful any longer. James hesitantly sits besides her, hoping that she won't send him away. He finds himself wanting to know more about the girl, as she wasn't like any of the other Slytherin's he had encountered. Roselyn smiles warmly at him, silently communicating that he is welcome to sit with her. The bench is small and their legs brush against one another. Once he's sure that she wants his company, James is quick to return her warm smile.
"Why the blue hair?" He asks her all of a sudden. "It looks great, I'm just curious."
She shrugs a little. "To rebel a little, although I'll have to change my hair back before tomorrow. I don't want to set mother off." She smiles and takes her cloak off, the sun making it too warm to keep it on. He notices she's out of uniform, with dark green skinny jeans and a white button down shirt. He notices her Slytherin tie is present though, the only part of the uniform she's wearing. Even her black heels were against regulation, which made her more appealing to him. Her fierce love paired with her apparent disregard for the rules enticed him. He couldn't help but remember how much shorter than him she was. Even with the heels on, she still only came up to his chest.
"That's a pity. It suits you, a lot." He compliments gently, following suit and takes off his own cloak before loosening his tie slightly.
"Well thank you, I'm partial to it, but I like my black hair as well." She blushes, pink dusting her cheeks lightly at his compliment.
"I think your black hair is beautiful. Like, I've always been jealous of Sirius's hair." He says, hoping to see her blush again. Her blush stays on her face at his words, and he has a smug grin internally.
"He's such a girl about his hair! I turned it pink last summer when mother was gone and he squeaked and screamed like a girl!" She grins at the memory. Her crystal blue eyes sparkle in happiness, a stark contrast to Sirius's grey ones.
James laughed loudly. "That would explain why when we came back to school this year, he kept muttering about evil sisters and his precious hair. He wouldn't elaborate on anything, but he was very testy about any hair comment for the first few weeks of school." James was happy to know the cause of his best friend's ire at the beginning of the year. He had assumed that the sister, Rosie, was following in the footsteps of the rest of the family. He was glad to know that she had just pranked her younger brother. James found himself warming to the girl more, she even enjoyed pranking. He felt a twinge of sadness as he remembered that she graduated this year, and he wouldn't see her at school next year. But he perked up as he remembered she agreed to come to Sunday dinner. He wanted to spend more time with her.
Roselyn stood up and re-fastened her cloak around herself. With a small sigh she says, "I must be going back to dungeons to finish packing. Farewell Monsieur Potter, I hope that you have a good rest of the evening."
"It's James, Rosie." He playfully chastises her. "But I'll see you around."
"Hopefully under better circumstances, but I look forward to our next meeting. Jamie" She gives him a small smirk, pink dusting her cheeks as she turns around and walks back to the dungeons. James's face turns pink at her nickname for him and he walks back to Gryffindor Tower with a goofy smile on his face, thinking of the striking blue-haired older sister of his best friend.