Chapter 18
Roseline was walking through the Great Hall. It was deserted. She was looking for something but she didn't know what. She left through one of the doors and found herself in an unfamiliar corridor; she rounded a corner and found a single window which filled the passageway with light. She felt suddenly happy, and the window changed into a door she went outside, and found herself in a beautiful garden.....
Tap, tap, tap.
The garden was fading into darkness.....
Tap, tap, tap.
She was alone in the blackness, silent apart from a strange tapping noise.....
Tap, tap, tap.
"Huh?" Roseline sat bolt upright in bed, shielding her eyes from the blinding sunshine as she tried to locate the source of noise. It was coming from the window. With a groan she tumbled out of bed and crossed the room, fumbling with the catch of the window. She opened it and something brushed past her. She turned away from the window, rubbing her eyes furiously in an attempt to clear the coloured spots dancing in front of her vision. When the spots cleared, she saw that a handsome screech owl had landed on her bed. It had an oddly bulky envelope in its beak and its large amber eyes had her fixed with an expectant stare. She went over to it and tugged the letter from its beak.
"Ow!"
Roseline stared at the drop of blood on her finger, then back at the envelope. There was something sharp inside. With a sense of apprehension, and carefully avoiding the odd bulk under the parchment, she took the envelope, opened it, and turned it upside down and shook the contents out onto her quilt. A red rose and a letter. She picked up the letter, unfolded it, and read:
Dear Roseline,
I am sorry you're angry with me, but I just want a chance to explain myself. Please meet me under the large beech tree by the lake at one o'clock today. Please come.
Love,
Sirius.
Roseline snorted. "Fat chance," she said to herself. She crumpled up the letter and threw it across the room into the bin.
Roseline got dressed quickly and headed down to breakfast. She took her seat between Lily and Cennia, and bolted down her breakfast, completely ignoring Sirius, who was trying to catch her eye.
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When the bell rang at one o'clock, Roseline headed for the Great Hall with Cennia. She caught a glimpse of Sirius heading out the front door, and her stomach twinged.
"Cut it out," she muttered.
Cennia glanced at her, eyebrows raised. "What was that? Talking to yourself, Ro?"
Roseline flushed. "I didn't say anything."
"First sign of madness, talking to yourself," continued Cennia's Irish accent from behind her as they headed towards the Gryffindor table.
"Oh, shut up," said Roseline with a grin as they reached the table. Sirius's place was empty, but Roseline paid no attention to it.
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"Right, so the freetsap juice goes into his goblet at breakfast, then the mirrors are cursed so he can't see any change, and we have to be out of the way by dinner, but we're meeting behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy so we can get a good view. That's all, isn't it?"
"Yep," said Remus in a satisfied voice, folding up the piece of parchment and pocketing it. "Snape won't know what hit him."
James grinned wickedly. "Snivelly, you mean. Should be interesting to watch. But I wish they hadn't been out of bulbadox powder, when you mix it with freetsap the effects triple in strength!" James closed his eyes and a dreamy expression came over his face. "Snivelly would be in the hospital wing for weeks! Just a big purple blob with boils all over him and an uncontrollable runny-nose problem...." James sighed rapturously.
"I wonder why our pranks always involve the colour purple," mused Remus. "Prongs, you buy the stuff. Why purple?"
"Why not?" asked James, shaking his head. Sometimes Moony came out with the weirdest things. So what if he liked purple?
"Hey Padfoot?" said James, suddenly remembering something. "You haven't got any bulbadox powder left from that pack you got at Christmas, have you?"
Sirius, who was sitting in a dark corner, was doodling on a scrap of parchment and turning his wand over and over in his left hand, did not look up.
"It's in my trunk," he said tonelessly, pointing his wand towards the staircase. "There's a load left."
James left to get it and Remus looked at Sirius in concern. "What's up mate?"
Sirius shrugged moodily.
James came back downstairs, and a few minutes later Sirius went up to bed. James frowned. It had been a week since he had found Sirius in the woods outside Hogsmeade and he was still depressed. He didn't talk, he didn't laugh, he wouldn't even help them with pranks, and any mention of Roseline and he left the room. It was unlike Sirius to go to bed early, but then everything Sirius did these days was out of character.
James had explained to Remus what had happened, and as Sirius's bad mood continued, each Marauder forged his own theory about what had happened. James thought Sirius had been taken over by aliens. Remus thought Sirius was sulking. Peter thought – well, nobody asked his opinion, but in truth he was just glad that there was now more chocolate to go round.
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"Just talk to him."
"No."
"Please?"
"Stop pestering me. He deserves to be miserable."
Remus threw up his hands in despair. "What do I have to do to get you to talk to him?"
"Kill me."
Remus rolled his eyes.
"I saw that."
He gave up.
"Fine! Be like that!"
He went back over to his seat by the fire. Roseline glared after him, then turned to Cennia, who was sitting beside her.
"Can you believe them? Him and James, they won't leave me alone! All day, every day, for the past two weeks!"
Cennia was watching Remus and James play chess. "Oh, give over Ro. Just talk to Sirius if they're annoying you that much."
Roseline glared at her. "Traitorous bitch."
"Unreasonable brat."
"Unsympathetic narcissist."
"Self-righteous cabbage."
Roseline slumped back in her armchair. "Some friend you are," she muttered.
Cennia ignored her.
"Oi, Cennia, want a game of chess?" James, who had just won, called across the room.
Cennia grinned. "Sure. Prepare to get your ass kicked!"
James returned the grin. "Don't be so cocky. Come on."
Cennia took her place opposite James, who glanced across the room and saw Roseline sitting on her own.
"Come sit over here, Ro. I need a cheerleader."
Roseline threw a cushion at him, but came over anyway.
"Come on, Remus, you can be Cennia's cheerleader," Roseline said.
Remus grinned and sat down beside her. James was laughing. Cennia, who had gone pink, gave Roseline the finger when the boys weren't looking. Roseline smirked. Cennia had fancied Remus for a while, and Roseline was enjoying her revenge.
"That's what you get for being unsympathetic," Roseline mouthed.
Cennia stuck her tongue out at her.
Three chess games later, Lily climbed through the portrait hole, flushed and out of breath.
"Hey, you lot," she said, collapsing into an armchair.
"Lilykins!" cried James ecstatically, running a hand through his hair.
Lily groaned and closed her eyes. "Make him go away," she pleaded to some invisible deity. It didn't work.
"Fancy coming to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?" James asked, sidling up to her.
Lily opened her eyes and glowered at him.
"No."
James sighed, looking utterly miserable. He gazed around the common room for no apparent reason, then sighed again and disappeared upstairs. Lily rolled her eyes.
A few minutes later, Lily went up to her dormitory, not being a big chess fan, and Cennia followed. The moment Lily was gone, James reappeared.
"Did it work?" He asked eagerly.
"Did what work?" asked Roseline, puzzled.
Remus however, laughed, and shook his head.
"Nope. Sorry mate."
"Oh well," James sighed, and threw himself into a chair.
Remus turned to Roseline.
"James' latest plan is to try and make Lily feel guilty every time she turns him down," Remus explained.
Roseline laughed.
James put on an injured face, but gave up when it just set Remus off as well.
"Speaking of things like that," said James leaning forward in his chair. "What's up with you and Sirius?"
Roseline stopped laughing and her face darkened. "Nothing is going on between me and that arrogant, bullying git," she spat.
"Arrogant, bullying git?" Remus repeated. He too had stopped laughing. "And what makes you say that?"
"Oh, maybe just the fact that he always picks on people weaker than him, he'll do anything to make himself look good and he treats other people like dirt." Roseline replied airily.
"Are you referring to anything in particular?" Remus was frowning.
"A certain incident with Snape a few weeks ago crosses my mind, yes," she answered.
James' eyes widened. "Are you saying that that's the reason you won't talk to him?" he asked, seemingly caught somewhere between anger and disbelief.
Roseline nodded.
"You selfish, ungrateful bitch."
"What?"
Roseline and James were both on their feet, glaring daggers at each other.
"You mean to tell me," James hissed, "that after all he went through for you, you're not talking to him because of it?"
"What the hell are you talking about, after all he went through for you? Are you telling me he attacked Snape for me? What for? To try and make himself look like a big man or something?"
"Do you know why Sirius attacked Snape?"
"No," said Roseline. "And I don't care. He's still a bully."
"Sirius attacked Snape because Snape attacked you," said James. "Snape was the one who cursed you and knocked you off your broomstick. Snape was the one who was trying to kill you. Sirius saw it, and brought you to the hospital wing. Sirius attacked Snape in your defence, to get him back for what he did to you."
"I don't believe you."
"Fine." James looked livid. "Don't believe me. Don't kid yourself that I care. I don't know why Sirius cares about you. You don't deserve him. He's worth a thousand of you." And with that, James spat on the floor and left the common room. Remus glared at her, then followed James, leaving Roseline on her own.
Roseline sank into an armchair. Her mind was in turmoil. She didn't know what to think. Was James telling the truth? Was Snape the one who attacked her? Had Sirius attacked Snape just to, as James said, defend her honour?
Roseline didn't know what to think. But she could see that James' story made sense. And if it was true........If it was true, she had made a huge mistake.
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Sirius Black was lying awake in bed, as he had done every night for a few weeks now. He was staring out the window at the darkening sky, thinking about nothing in particular.
It took him a few minutes to realise that something was flying towards the window. As he watched, an owl came into view. It soared straight in the open window and over to his bed, dropping an envelope on his pillow. He picked up the envelope.
Sirius Black,
Gryffindor Tower,
Hogwarts.
He knew that writing.
He opened the envelope and unfolded the letter.
Dear Sirius,
I don't know whether I should be sending this. I don't even know if I'm doing the right thing. But I know I have to say something. Tonight, James and Remus told me why you attacked Snape. I don't know if I believe them or not. Once you have a picture of something or someone in your mind, it's hard to come to terms with the fact that you might be wrong. Especially if being wrong means that you might need to swallow your pride.
Like I said, I don't know if I believe them. I still don't know if I can trust you, because even if they are right, you still aren't the person I thought you were. But even if I was right all along, I still want to apologise for something. Not everything. One thing. I want to say sorry that I didn't meet you to hear you out that time. It's probably too late for this and I still want to get my thoughts in order, and find out what really happened. But sorry for that. I should have listened.
Maybe I'll talk to you soon; maybe I'll never talk to you again. But either way, I'm glad I wrote this letter. It helps sometimes.
Roseline.
