A/N: It's really fun hearing from all you guys which Black Brother you like most, as an individual and as a potential love interest for Rowan, there's been some solid arguments given so we'll see what happens! Would love if you could let me know what you think after you've finished reading!
Sirius didn't just adore music, he flat out loved it to the point where he declares music was his religion. It was the initial bonding point between he and Rowan and he spent hours reading about music and listening to it.
What he loved most about music, was that there was a song for every possible emotion that existed. When he was brooding, which he was more often than not, Pink Floyd would be playing for hours on end. When he was in a good mood you could count on Aerosmith, The Ramones, and sometimes, Elvis being played. He loved everything from swing to punk to hippie rock to jazz. He simply loved it all.
At the moment, he was laying in his bed listening to Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven, making him miss Rowan more than ever. She was right, he realized, that this was probably their best song, even if everyone else says so. It just encompassed his entire emotional range at the moment.
The guitars were full out wailing as Sirius listened to his favourite part of the song and he closed his eyes.
"Padfoot?" Remus asked loudly over the music. Startled, he sat up and lowered the volume of the gramophone.
"'llo Mooney.'"
"Stairway to Heaven huh? Again?"
"Until the end of eternity. Or until I finish school and never see Rowan again and never have to think about her." Sirius lamented feeling pathetic.
"You know what you should do? Talk to her," Remus said firmly setting his things down. He changed into his sweats and yanked a jumper over his head.
"She won't even look at me Mooney. I haven't talked or even been in her radial orbits for over a month and half now," Sirius reminded him.
"Well that's your fault. You were the one who screwed things up so badly, so now it's your move, you have to be a grown up and go to her."
"She hates me."
"She doesn't hate you. I think she hates Rosier and Wilkes, but you? I just thing she's very disappointed in you."
"That's even worse!"
"I think she's also disappointed in herself too," Remus thought aloud. Sirius looked at him.
"Why?"
"'Cos she thrashed Rosier and Wilkes. And I think it bothers her that she didn't feel bad when doing it."
"How would you know?"
"She confided this to Lily and Lily told me." Remus shrugged. "She also told me that Rowan hadn't slept in a few days and once or twice she heard her crying in the shower."
"Oh." Sirius' heart plummeted. He hated that she was crying because of him.
"So go to her you big fat fool!" Remus cried frustrated. He tugged at his chestnut locks. Sirius could be so stupid sometimes!
"What if she doesn't want to talk to me?" Sirius asked nervously.
"Well, you won't find out until you go! So get out of here and go!" Remus shoved him towards the door.
"Hey! Hey! HEY!" Sirius shouted trying to stop himself from reaching the door.
"What? What now?" Remus demanded.
Sirius turned around and looked at him flatly. "At least let me go and put on a pair of pants!" he pointed at his boxers.
"Oh. Sorry."
Rowan was surrounded by her usual portable library of books, parchment and ink. She had deep purple bags under her eyes and her eyes seemed to have a glazed look to them. Still, her hand kept moving as she wrote out her notes steadily.
She was so fucking sick of being tired. She would literally kill someone so she could sleep. Just for a few hours, a few hours of proper, deep sleep.
Rowan felt her eyes well up again and furiously swiped at them. She was not going to cry. Not now. She had already cried enough today in the shower.
Unconsciously, her right hand came to finger the pendent that Sirius had given her for Christmas. Even after their terrible fight, she still hadn't taken it off, her neck would feel naked without, even if she wore her other necklaces, and even if that pendent had been the most recent edition to her neck, it was unconsciously to her, the most important along with the delicate bangle on her left wrist that Regulus had gifted to her.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her books being moved and her brow furrowed. Who was the idiot who decided to bother her now?
"Hey," a quiet voice said.
With a fierce look of disgust on her face, her head whipped up. Oh.
Sirius nearly recoiled at seeing the intensity of animosity on her face. Then the expression slid off and an unreadable one came on instead. He wasn't sure which one was worse.
She didn't say anything. In fact, they didn't say anything for a long time, instead looking steadily at each other, waiting for the other one to back down and concede defeat.
After what seemed like an eternity, Sirius broke the staring contest and leaned closer towards her, as if needing to close the distance between them physically before he could close the distance between them mentally.
Without thinking, Sirius put his hand over hers and she stiffened under his touch. But he did not let go. "I'm really sorry Ro, for fucking things up, for everyone, so badly. But mostly I'm really, really sorry that I've made you so miserable."
Rowan felt her eyes stinging again. Oh god, not again. She was not going to cry, especially in front of Sirius! She blinked hard and gruffly said. "Now you're sorry? It took you…fifty-seven days to realize that you're sorry for hurting all of us?"
"Fifty-seven days?"
"I've been counting," Rowan said trying to maintain her defence.
"Well it took me about five seconds after you left the room to realise how royally I messed up. And what really gets me the most…is that I hurt you, so, so badly. You were right, I really didn't think my stupid actions would affect so many people…"
"Well they do! Because you're you! You're like this magnetic force of nature." Rowan grumbled. Sirius nearly smiled at this.
"You know by now I am a royal class "A" prat." Sirius said trying to ease the conversation into lighter waters.
"Yeah, you are." She replied still not looking at him. This confused Sirius. He had said he was sorry. Why on earth was she refusing to look at him? Breaking all rules of their usual protocol, he tipped her chin up with his finger. "Why aren't you looking at me?"
Even with her face upturned she still was looking at everything but him. "Because."
"Because why? I said I was sorry!"
"Because I don't want to cry in front of you, you dope!" she replied irritated at her girlishness.
Oh. Sirius let her face drop and squirmed a little bit in his seat. "…It's okay if you want to cry."
"No, it's not. Especially in front of you." Rowan huffed. She rubbed her eyes wearily and then took a swig of water from her forgotten goblet.
"Crying isn't necessarily a bad thing," Sirius tried to comfort her.
"It is for me! It makes me nose swell up two sizes bigger!" Rowan exclaimed. This time Sirius laughed. He laughed for the first time in ages. She frowned at him. "It's not that funny."
"I'm sorry, it kind of is…but it's ok. You have a cute nose." Sirius said with a grin.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jesus Sirius, I swear to Merlin if you ever make me this miserable ever again, I will chop your hair off….in your sleep." Rowan threatened, though the smile on her face kind of ruined it.
Sirius gulped. Yikes. She would do something like that. "I won't… I swear Rowan. I don't ever, ever, ever want to make you this unhappy ever again. Seriously, when you're unhappy, the whole group is out of whack." Sirius said earnestly this time taking both of her hands in his.
"Ok good to know you've realised that your actions do affect more people than just you…seriously Sirius if you had gotten thrown out of school I don't know what I would have done. Do me a great big favour?"
"Anything," Sirius said immediately prepared to go and lay down his very life for her at that moment. She was talking to him!
"Study hard, do well on your exams, go for your Auror training and make me and everything else proud of you ok? Especially me." Rowan said sternly looking him in the eye.
"I will. I promise you, I will," Sirius vowed.
"Good. Cos you're bloody clever, when you're not acting like a dope half the time and I have a lot of hopes for you," Rowan sat back in her seat.
Sirius felt that stupid warm fuzzy feeling come over him again. He had always known that Rowan firmly believed that they could all achieve great things, but it made him feel especially special that she believed in him, believed in him so firmly that he could do anything. It was nice to have someone who was that confident in you.
"Rowan?" Sirius asked after a pause.
"What?"
"…Are we okay now?" he asked hesitantly.
"I suppose..." she grumbled and then softened, "We're okay now Sirius,"
He sighed in relief. "Is it cheesy to ask if can I hug you now?"
Rowan rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless. "Super cheesy but….fiiinnnnne, c'mere you prat,"
Sirius grinned lopsided and threw his arms around her, hugging her tightly. Rowan's arms came around him and she closed her eyes as she felt herself against his shirt. She felt as if this huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
He couldn't resist but running a hand down her hair, smoothing it, feeling the familiar bun that she nearly always had her hair tied up in. Rowan gripped him harder and then patted him on the back. She gently withdrew from his embrace and Sirius, a little bit disappointed, let his arms fall from her.
She did however, very gently run a forefinger over his brow and smiled faintly. "Life kind of sucks without you, you know?"
He laughed. "Life is utterly miserable without you," he said sincerely. Then he gently probed the deep shadows under her eyes. "Hey Ro, do me a favour love?"
"Anything,"
"Go to bed!" Rowan smiled thinking of how Regulus told her nearly the exact same thing a few nights ago. Those two were more alike than they thought.
"I will. I will. Help me gather up my library of junk." She gestured toward her cluttered table.
Together they cleared up their things. He slid a sideways glance at her. "So….how long do you think before Marlene makes a move on Remus?"
Her eyes brightened at this. "I predict…two more weeks, tops," she decided.
"I'll bet you five galleons if she takes three weeks or more," Sirius said spiritedly.
"You're on!"
For the first time, in a long very long time, Rowan slept for a solid six hours, which was an accomplishment for her by all means. Although it didn't make the shadows disappear entirely, they did seem less purple than they had before. She wasn't the only one who slept better. Sirius had gone to sleep pumping his fists into the air now that the world was right again with Rowan and him being ok.
He woke up in an exceptionally good mood and started off the day by blasting Aerosmith's Walk This Way, which had come out in 1975, then re-released this year and had developed into a massive hit. Peter and Remus groaned and rolled over their beds, but Sirius continued to sing and dance along to the song whilst he showered and dressed for the day.
"AND I SAID WALK THIS WAAAAYYY," He sang loudly imitating the singer's voice.
"And I say I'll give you five galleons if you shut the hell up," Peter grumbled with his head stuck in his cupboard.
"Sorry no can do," Sirius continued to sing and groove along. James shook his head. Something must have happened.
""Fess up padfoot. Why are you in such a good mood?" James asked as they made their way down the Boys Staircase to meet the girls.
"Because…."
"Because why? Stop acting like a fool you git!" James lightly whapped him and Sirius chuckled. Then he spotted Rowan and bounded towards her. Hugging her cheerfully he turned to James and moved Rowan in front of him, "That's why!"
"Morning love," Rowan greeting James with a smile, the first one he had seen in ages. His eye lit up. "You guys are talking again!" he cried happily.
"Or something like that," Rowan teased.
"Oh thank god. Now things can go back to normal," Lily said walking over to James. He kissed her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Rowan made a face. Lily laughed. "What?"
"Do we reeeallyyyy need to see PDA this bloody early in the morning?" Rowan half joked.
"Yeah. It's good for you. Softens your rough, tough independent armour," Lily said lightly flicking her forehead.
Marlene nodded and Rowan sighed and conceded that Lily was right on this one.
"Okay so now that everything is right in the world again, I think we need to celebrate this by pulling a massive prank," James said through a mouthful of toast.
Rowan nodded her head. "I'm in. It's been ages since we've inflicted mayhem on this place,"
"Good. You girls want to get on this one too?" James directed at Marlene and Lily. Lily rolled her eyes. "I'm Head Girl, it's bad enough that the Head Boy is going to be the brilliant brains behind said prank."
"I'm in," Marlene decided. Remus smiled at her and then bashfully looked at his breakfast when she returned it with a bright one of her own.
"Ohhhhh! You guys! I meant to tell you earlier but I got the pictures from the Winter Formal back, there are some really good ones," she exclaimed digging in her bag and withdrawing an envelope.
Clearing their plates and cups off to the side, the group peered interestedly at the assemblage of black and white moving photos.
"I like this one a lot," Lily pointed to a picture of her and James dancing.
"This one is good too," Rowan said examining a picture of the four boys all dressed up. She smiled at the tiny smiling faces who were waving at her.
"Oh my god! This one is so lovely! Look you guys!" Lily squealed showing everyone the picture.
It was a picture of Rowan and Sirius at the dance, they were sitting next to each other, Sirius was staring straight out in front of him with the brooding, quiet look that best became him and Rowan had her head tilted upwards looking at the ceiling, the enigmatic smile on her face that made her scars disappear. Sirius had an arm around her shoulder.
"It is a nice picture," Rowan agreed and Sirius nodded. "It's so fitting of you two!" Marlene said. "Rowan's always lost in her own world and Sirius is always more grounded in the real world. Complimentary opposites," she said thoughtfully.
"I like this one!" Sirius said decisively holding one up. Remus looked over his shoulder and grinned.
It was the one that Marlene had begged for so hard, for Rowan to be nice and smile. Rowan was smiling widely and Sirius was grinning looking at her, with his arm around her waist and her hand on his chest.
"That's a really pretty one Padfoot,"
"I want it!"
"Hey let me see!" Rowan insisted. Her eyes brightened at the picture. "I want one too!"
"I want all of them!" Lily exclaimed.
Marlene laughed. "Don't worry, I'll make copies of the set for all of you guys, and you were the ones who where whining about getting their pictures taken!"
"Yeah well we're idiots, what do we know?" James waved a hand.
"Not that much. Except we do know that by now Sirius is probably the biggest idiot to grace this school," Remus tucked his tongue in his cheek.
"At least I'm handsome!" Sirius said brightly the least bit fazed. Marlene chortled at this.
"So what prompted this incredible brokerage of peace between you two?" Peter waved a fork.
Lily raised an eye. "Brokerage? Of peace?"
"You know what I mean. Making up seems very couple-y."
"Truth. Anyhoooo. I dunno. Why did you suddenly decide to come and talk to me?" Rowan questioned giving Sirius a curious look.
"Because I was driving everybody bonkers and Remus finally snapped and made me man up and take responsibility for all mess that I've caused." Sirius replied.
"Thank you Remus, for playing superman and saving the day!" Lily said. Remus grinned. "Any time. You do know that's my professional night job."
Remus would once again play superman when he found Lily crumpled in a heap on the bottom of a staircase one night. Fear striking his bones, he dashed up towards her crying out her name, and when she didn't answer, he started panicking.
A/N: Yes. I'm evil. On the bright side though, I did tell you that Sirius would be back front and centre and voilà! I'd really appreciate if you could review! (So would Lily seeing as she's currently in a state of unconsciousness)