After dinner - and telling Lily and Alice about her date for Valentine's Day – Romy retreated back to the common room where she decided she would study for the night. Coal sat curled in to her side on the couch, often putting his head up to have a look around the room to see if anything had changed but Romy knew he would be looking for Sirius. The kitten had a strange attachment to Sirius and to Romy's luck, nothing would change that. It often made her smile that Coal was somehow best friends with a dog.
"Well you'll never believe what's happening right now."
"What?" Romy looked up to see Alice sitting next to her.
"Potter has just asked Lily for a word and it looks like he might be asking her out for Valentine's Day."
"Really?" Romy asked, trying to seem as surprised as possible.
"You already knew, didn't you?" Alice asked her with a mischievous smiled.
"Of course," she smiled back.
"I think she'll say yes."
"Me too."
Romy couldn't help but sigh. She wanted so badly to tell them why she and Sirius truly fell out but then that would hurt James and as much as she hated him for it, she couldn't do that to him.
"Can I ask you something, Roms?"
"Yeah, of course," Romy replied, sitting her Potions book away.
"Will you ever forgive Sirius for whatever it was he used you for?"
She didn't expect that. Romy didn't even know the answer to that question herself.
"I don't know," she said. "Why?"
"I've never seen him so depressed," Alice said. "I can't help think it's because you're not in his life anymore."
Romy sighed. "James was trying to tell me the exact same thing."
"All I'm saying is," said Alice. "I don't think he expected you to be such a big influence in his life."
"I know but that isn't an excuse for what he done."
"I know that Roms but I think he's suffered enough. Don't you?"
Just then Romy felt Coal leave her side and trot along to the portrait whole where Sirius had just walked in, the rest of the Marauders and Lily behind him. The kitten rubbed against his legs and called up to him to get attention. Although Sirius and Romy weren't speaking, Sirius was still entertaining Coal and that was something that she credited him for. She watched as he crouched down to clap him and play fight with him. Romy couldn't help but notice the smile on Sirius' face.
"So what was your word about?" Alice asked and Romy looked up to see that Lily had joined them, blushing.
"All I'm saying is all three of us now have dates for the 14th."
"We knew you'd say yes!"
Alice hugged Lily and Romy smiled at her friend.
"Oh and Roms," Lily said, pulling a piece of paper out of her back pocket. "I was asked to give you this."
Romy took it and opened it up.
Want to go for a fly around 9pm?
S
She looked up at Lily who was giving her a small smile and pointing to her wrist. Romy looked at the clock that sat at the table beside the couch and saw that it was 20 minutes to 9 and that Sirius seemed to have disappeared from the common room. She sighed, trying to stop the smile on her face from spreading much further and stood up.
"Better go get my broom then."
X
Romy nervously emerged on to the quidditch pitch with her broom in hand. She looked around and seen Sirius hovering in the air not that far from her. She took a deep breath before mounting her broom to fly up to meet him. As she got closer, she noticed the quaffle in his hand.
"I know we aren't on speaking terms," Sirius said. "But you need practice."
"You asked if I wanted to come for a fly," Romy said with a raised eyebrow. "Not to come for extra quidditch practice."
"Well it's not as much quidditch practice but a deal," he replied with a slight smile. "We both get 10 shots each to get the quaffle through the goal but during my shots, you go keeper and vice versa."
"And what happens to who wins?"
"If I win, you get to hear me out. If you win, I'll just leave you alone like you want."
Romy bit her lip. She wanted to say to tell him that wasn't what she wanted but she stopped herself.
"Okay."
"Ladies first," he said and threw the quaffle in her direction as he flew off to the goals.
She cursed silently as she stared at the three goals, Sirius in the middle. Did she want to win? Her competitive side did, of course but she wanted to hear him out at the same time. She wanted to listen for the first time in months. But how could she possibly make herself lose? Gripping the quaffle, Romy threw it with all the force she could. She decided she would score five and miss five.
Sirius proved to be a worse keeper than she thought. She had scored seven but even Romy knew she was probably a worse keeper than Sirius. They swapped places and she hovered over the middle goal watching him. He threw the quaffle and Romy was too late to react. One. Then the second one came but she caught it and threw it back instantly.
They ended up drawing and Romy couldn't help but feel angry about it all.
"What now?" She asked flying up to him.
"I never expected a tie," he shrugged.
"I want to hear you out."
She had caught him by surprise. He looked at her with wide eyes and slightly open mouth.
"Really?"
She nodded.
"Okay, erm, let's walk back to the castle."
They both landed and began their walk. It was the first time they had been awkward all night.
"You know I'm sorry, don't you?" Sirius said.
"Yeah," Romy replied quietly.
"I know you've heard this before but I honestly didn't expect to become so close with you and enjoy you're company so much. Literally from the moment I met you, I just knew I couldn't lose you. I'm an idiot for starting our friendship that way and if I could, I would go back in time and do it differently."
"But if it wasn't for James telling you to befriend me in the first place, you would of continued to see me as Lily's boring friend," Romy pointed out, bitterness entering her voice.
"Roms," Sirius pleaded. "I'm sorry. Not having you around me, it's like a part of me has just disappeared. I feel like there's something missing all the time and it's you. Seeing you and Spinnet in the hallway months ago – that killed me and I could tell you knew it."
He glanced at her before he carried on. She had guilt all over her face but she had to question it.
"Why did it bother you so much?" she asked.
"Because – because you're my Romy. You got me back then, I knew how hurt you were on Christmas Eve and that was how hurt I was when I saw you kiss his cheek. You broke my heart like I broke yours."
"Wait, what do you mean I broke your-"
Sirius had stopped and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her closer to him.
"This," he murmured before kissing her.
Your Welcome.
Cold Night by You Me At Six - I would post lyrics but the full song relates. Listen to it.
