Sorry for the wait again. Been busier than usual! As always, I don't own anything but my OCs. Enjoy!
"Miss Zeller, although I am hesitant to ask you what exactly in Merlin's name possessed you to do that to your hair, I will do so anyways. How did you end up with that particular shade?"
Ruby tried really hard to stifle her laughter, especially given how stern McGonagall's voice was but she couldn't help it. A little squawk of laughter passed through her lips but she immediately reigned herself in once she saw how far her Head of House's eyebrows shot up on her forehead.
"I wasn't aware that this was a laughing matter, Miss Zeller."
"I'm sorry Professor, I didn't mean to laugh. Nervous habit I suppose," It wasn't really a lie. Ruby had been nervous to see McGonagall's reaction to her new pink hair. After spending the first evening back at Hogwarts crying on the loo floor, Mary and the other girls decided it'd do Ruby some good to cheer up and took turns finding the proper tone.
"Should I be asking whether Mr. Black had something to do with this?" Professor McGonagall's eyes narrowed at her, no doubt thinking about how inappropriate it was that her students could possibly be hexing each other.
"No, ma'am, not at all." Roo was hasty in her answer, which didn't make exactly Sirius look innocent. "I wanted to do it. My mum would murder me though if she saw."
"So you chose to do this under my watch then?" Bad answer Ruby.
"Not exactly ma'am. It's just that with everything that had happened, it lifts my spirit a bit." She answered with a shrug knowing that was a bit of a low blow, but it wasn't necessarily a lie. It had been a lot of fun sitting around in her pajamas with her best friends. It reminded her of how she and Naomi did the same thing before Naomi was too worried about scaring her own sister.
"Hmm, well I suppose then." McGonagall's tone was softer now. "You are in luck Miss. Zeller. After Mr. Black's little stunt in third year, and your decision to keep that…eccentric color, I looked it up in the handbook, and hair coloring is not prohibited by the dress code. But bare in mind, you are a representation of this house and extension myself. I do not want to be made a fool of, Ruby."
"Yes Professor." Roo ducked her head a little bit. "It wasn't my intention to make Gryffindor look stupid or anything," she heaved a big sigh. "It makes me feel normal though, everyone's been walking around on eggshells around me, and I just don't want people to treat me different."
"Understandable," Professor McGonagall adjusted her glasses before snatching a tin off her desk and extending it to Ruby. "Have a biscuit Zeller, and be on your way to breakfast."
Grateful to not have been given a detention or have McGonagall write home to her mother, Ruby tentatively reached out and snatched a biscuit from the tin and smiled at her teacher before stuffing it in her mouth. "Cheers ma'am," Roo tried her very best not to spit crumbs all over her as she dashed from her office.
McGonagall had caught sight of her leaving the portrait hole and hastily pulled her from her friends so Ruby figured no one waited around for her. Toast and eggs were much more important anyways. So she was surprised to see Sirius leaning nonchalantly against the wall outside of the office.
"How did ol' McGoggles like your hair?" Sirius smirked, pushing himself off the wall and falling in line with her. He had been shocked to see a pink head bobbing down the girl's stairs but he couldn't say he was really surprised. Although he thought red was more her color, pink wasn't so bad.
"Definitely not a fan, but it doesn't violate any rules, so." Roo grinned, blowing her bubblegum colored bangs from her eyes. "Just said that I better not make a fool of Gryffindor, and told me to have a biscuit."
"That seems awfully lenient for our Head of House," He mused, throwing an arm around her shoulders as they walked.
"Well, I told her that I was tired of people treating me all weird and that it made me feel better," Ruby said, trying to keep the emotion from her voice. While she had appreciated the way Sirius and all her friends were willing to go to bat for her, it was still embarrassing. She didn't like how she froze up like that. Wilkes didn't scare her, and she didn't like that he was getting the best of her. Ruby felt like a little kid whose siblings had to come to the rescue.
Sirius stiffened beside her, and suddenly stopped walking, pulling Ruby to a stop as well. "Look Roo," He started.
"Don't Sirius, it's fine. I'm okay. I don't want to be coddled." Ruby's voice was hard as she regarded him, her slender arms crossing over her chest. "I can handle myself you know, and it's not as if Wilkes is even that intimidating."
"What happened to you is not fine," Sirius reached out and held her by her shoulders. "The fact that you think it is, is what makes me worry. No one thinks you can't handle yourself Roo. I knew that when I ran after you that night and I know it now. But I'm not gonna let Wilkes stomp around this school like some prima donna because his dad is a wanker, and try to work you over. Not because you couldn't string him up and beat him unconscious but because you're my best friend and I don't want you to go through that alone."
"Does this mean I've taken James' spot in your heart?" Ruby said with a small grin as she wrapped her arms around his middle.
"Yeah, just don't tell him. He'll go off the deep end and the last thing anyone needs to witness is Prongs' having a mental break down," Sirius hugged her back, his cheek resting against the top of her head. He always made fun of Roo for being so short, but he never realized how short until she was next to him.
"I don't want to be treated differently Sirius, it's hard enough." She spoke quietly, still wrapped around his waist. "I have nightmares all the time, and I have to stop myself from running out anytime I hear a noise outside my house."
"You're still Roo, ya know? No one thinks of you any differently but you aren't some super woman. You can protect everyone with some weird defense mechanism."
"Yeah, you're one to talk. Sirius Black, king of building walls." Ruby scoffed but with a smile in place as she playfully shoved him away, and starting walking towards the Great Hall again with an arm still wrapped around his waist. "I'm trying; it's hard to talk about."
He thought about his family, and his own inability to talk about them to anyone but James. "Yeah, I get it. Just stop shutting Amery out; he's a real git when you don't talk to him."
"Roger that," Roo answered with a grin, as they turned the corner and headed straight for the Gryffindor table.
The day passed in a blur, Ruby earning many compliments and strange looks about her new hair color. She had managed to completely avoid Wilkes except for one passing by in the corridors where her fear gripped at her heart for a moment before shaking herself out of it. She did see Mulciber and made sure to discreetly hit him with a tripping jinx that left him with a bloody nose.
All in all, it had been a good day.
At least it had been until she stumbled across Sirius shouting at Regulus in the middle of an empty corridor. All Ruby had been trying to do was take a short cut to the common room, she was trying to find Amery. She had felt bad about shutting him out all these weeks and wanted to actually sit down with him and try to explain where her head had been. Talking with Mary, and even Sirius a little bit that morning, had put things in perspective for her. Roo felt silly for thinking that she could ever dismiss her brother like that.
Roo had just been turning a corner when she heard Sirius's heated voice. Admittedly, she did detour from her course to the common room to see what was going on, she thought back to their conversation earlier and couldn't help but think he was confronting Wilkes or something.
Poking her head around the corner, Ruby saw that Sirius was confronting someone, just not Wilkes. Regulus Black stood facing his brother, arms over his chest with a haughty look on his face. While Regulus carried that regal Black look, Roo always thought Sirius was the more handsome of the two, but she was bias.
She quickly flattened herself back against a wall, unwilling to let Sirius see her. She knew how touchy he was about his family. Naturally Sirius would preach to open up to people all while shutting people down whenever they got too close to an issue he didn't like. He still hadn't told her what happened, Ruby only knew second hand what James had let slip. Even he was unwilling to let go of any information.
"I can't believe you're defending them Regulus. They kill people," Sirius's harsh voice cut through her thoughts. Ruby could easily picture the look of rage on his face.
"Not anyone who matters," Regulus voice was more drawn out and pinched sounding than his brothers, but Ruby suspected he always sounded like that. She never had any conversations with the boy to compare it to. "Is this because of that Mudblood girl you hang around with? The one who got Loren's father locked up in Azkaban?" Ah, there was the anger. He sounded more like Sirius now.
"Don't use that word in front of me," Sirius snarled, as Roo poked her head around the corner again to see him pointing his wand into Regulus's face. "Are you telling me you'd be okay if your mate's dad just decided to off a seventeen year old girl? Because that's almost what happened. You've been brainwashed Regulus. I can help you, it doesn't have to be like this." The edge fell from Sirius's voice as he pleaded with the younger man. "They're just using you Reg."
"I'm more than okay with it when it's someone like that," Regulus spat as he shoved Sirius away from him. "I don't want your help. I don't need it. I don't have a brother anymore."
Ruby ducked back down around the wall again, careful so Regulus wouldn't see her as he scurried away. Before she could even consider calling out for Sirius, she saw him turn heel and stomped away towards the opposite end. Roo sat there for a few moments, replaying the scene in her mind wondering if she should be chasing after Sirius. Naturally, she wanted too but Sirius was a live wire right now and would not appreciate her attempts at comforting.
She had too many run ins with Sirius's temper to go running after him. Knowing Sirius, he likely wanted to be alone to sulk and brood. Ruby didn't particularly like the thought of one of her best mates stomping around, especially after Sirius had gone out of his way to comfort her, it was best for her to leave this to someone else.
With no other ideas, she pushed herself off the floor and started back on her way to the common room. She'd find James and she could tell him to find Sirius. While Ruby loved Sirius very much and thought the world of him, she knew how self destructive he could be and didn't want him on his own for too long.
Luckily she encountered James just as he was crawling out of the portrait hole. After relaying the scene to him, James brushed Remus and Peter off, pulling a piece of parchment from his pocket and hurrying off.
"Is Amery around?" Ruby asked as she followed Remus and Peter back into the common room, the latter sitting himself down at his chess board.
"Yeah, he's up in the dorms. Working on our transfiguration essay," Peter replied with a grin as Remus considered his first move, with a gloomy look on his face. "Only McGonagall would give us an essay on the first day."
"Righto, thanks lads. Pete, you still up for teaching me some strategy later? James might take the piss out of you, but I think it'd be dead useful for Quidditch."
"Sure thing Roo," Peter gave her a grateful grin, not too many people were willing to listen to him prattle on about chess anymore, not when he went around on a regular basis destroying anyone who played him. Ruby took the stairs two at a time, and entered the boy's dorms without knocking. Since it was only Amery, she had no reason to, not really at least.
Amery laid in back, resting against his headboard only glancing up briefly when Ruby barreled through the door. "Hey Roo."
"Hey," Ruby said, softly closing the door behind her and hopping on the bed next to her brother. She leaned against him, reading off the parchment in his lap. Although she loved Hogwarts, Ruby still missed the times before when it was only her and Amery. "Did you even read the theory on human transfiguration?"
"I skimmed it," Amery admitted with a sly smile.
"You're hopeless."
"Only because I know my more skilled sister will look over this for me."
"Yeah well stop while you're ahead. Less to fix if you can't bullshit anymore." Ruby scoffed pulled the parchment from his hands and setting it on the nearby nightstand. She'd look over it tomorrow during their free period.
The twins sat in a comfortable silence for a while, both content to just be around each other. Ruby had spent so much of the summer avoiding the quiet, jumping at every noise she heard and Amery spent his time trying to quell his sister's fears even if she didn't want him too.
"I wasn't trying to shut you out, you know." Roo's voice was quiet, but it sounded so much louder in the silence of the room. Apologies and admitting she was wrong was not something that came easily to Ruby Zeller, and Amery knew it. "It was just something I had to wrap my own head around. I thought it would be better for everyone that way. I didn't want to worry you. Sirius told me about that night and how you reacted. I didn't want that to happen again."
Amery didn't say anything but slid his arm around his sister's shoulders. "I thought you were going to die Ruby. You were so pale, and you wouldn't stop screaming." His voice was thick with emotion when he finally spoke up. "But once you were better, you didn't have to keep running. You shouldn't have been concerned with anyone else's feelings but your own. You were the one healing, not me."
"Like you wouldn't have done the same thing." Ruby snorted, a smile on her face despite the serious subject manner. The twins were very different in a lot of ways but they were both frustratingly stubborn and determined to put one another above themselves. "And it wasn't just for you. Naomi was so skittish around me. I didn't want to be treated differently."
"Problem with that though Roo," Amery started, turning to face his sister. "Is people are gonna treat you differently no matter how you act. It wasn't like you tripped and hurt yourself. It was an intentional move on Wilkes part and you could have died. That's gonna change how you look at someone, whether they want it to or not." He shrugged.
Ruby sighed, but said nothing. She knew he was right, and he knew that she knew it. She could try to justify her actions, try to explain that her behavior had come from a well meaning place. That she wasn't trying to hurt anyone's feelings but it came across that way anyways. Roo glanced over at Amery who wore a smug little smile knowing that he had driven his point home.
"Oh piss off." She gave him a hard shove, pushing him off the bed. "You know that hurt me more than it hurt you," Roo grinned as she hastily pulled his duvet over herself.
"Right, Saint Ruby always looking out for others." Amery snorted, pushing himself off the floor and promptly plopping himself down on top of his sister who screamed in protest. "Always putting others before herself, how kind."
"Geroff!" Her voice was muffled considering her face was being smashed into the mattress. "God Amery, you've gotten fat." Ruby tried flailing her arms which proved a lot more work than she expected. Her brother had always been as scrawny as her but over the last few years he had filled out considerably. Gone were his baby cheeks, replaced by a strong chiseled jaw. His shoulders had broadened, and even though he still wasn't that much taller than his sister, he definitely had the upper hand.
"Not until you promise you're done with self sacrificing bullshit and let other people be there when you need it. No more Saint Roo and her righteous protecting everyone else stick."
"Ugh!" She let out a frustrated groan, trying in vain to kick her legs back. He was so lucky that her bat wasn't anywhere near in reach or she'd clobber him. Amery might have more weight on him, but he didn't have Ruby's aim or swing. Remembering how she had broken the jaw of Slytherin's beater last year was almost enough for Amery to release her.
Almost.
"Promise Ruby!" Amery gave her one sharp jab to her ribs which caused her to let out a loud squeal. At this point Remus and Peter had come running up the stairs, afraid that the twins had gotten into some kind of brawl. Although they rarely fought, it tended to get nasty when they did.
"Fine, I promise! Now get off!" Roo gave her brother an extra shove as he rolled off her laughing hysterically. "I ought to kill you, you know." She muttered darkly, emerged from underneath the covers, her pink hair sticking up in every which direction.
"Oh, hi Remus. Pete." She greeted her friends with a cordial smile as she straightened herself out. "Good seeing you chaps." Said Ruby as she clapped them on the shoulders as she passed to leave the boy's dorms. "Watch your back Zeller," she hissed back at Amery before bolting down the steps.
"You lot really have a funny way of sorting things out, don't you?"
So there you have it. Amery and Roo finally hashed things out, the only way they really know how. Hope you guys enjoyed Regulus's little cameo. He's not a big part of the story yet, but he will definitely play huge role later so I'm loving slipping him in when I can :) Please review and let me know what you think. They really motivate me to get more chapters up, quicker!