The Rosier Runaway: A Sirius Black Love Story

Chapter 3: Starry Eyes

'𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚎𝚢𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚜𝚠𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜, 𝚐𝚊𝚕𝚊𝚡𝚒𝚎𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚎𝚜. 𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝙸 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎?'

-𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚍 𝙹𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜

.•° ✿ °•.

'Excuse me.' 

Flo turned from the small window at the side of the train, where she had been watching her mother on the platform. 

Two boys stood next to her, both around her age. One of them had very untidy black hair, and a mischievous glint in his eye. The other, who Flo assumed had spoken, had dark brown hair that was almost black, and a splash of freckles on his tan face. His grey eyes matched his friend's glint of defiance.

Both of them were out of breath and looked as if they had just been running. 

'Oh,' Flo said. 'I'm sorry.' And she turned her back to them, walking along the corridor. 

'No worries.' a voice called behind her, and it sounded like the boys had followed.

As she looked around for a compartment with space, she said, 'Did you run to catch up with the train?'

'Yep,' she heard from behind her.

'We nearly missed it.' a different voice said.

Flo started to continue but realized that she had walked pass an empty compartment while talking.

The messy-haired boy was already inside, and the dark-haired boy held the door open for her.

'Care to join us?' he said.

'Oh.' Flo said, very eloquently. She did not think her mother would approve of her joining two boys in a compartment, especially on the first day of school. 'Um. No thank you.'

She turned around before she could see how the boy reacted, and continued along the corridor. 

.•° ✿ °•.

As she walked, she saw some carriages with space, but the students looked too old. There were some with girls her age, but she didn't want to bother anyone by squeezing in the minimal space. At one point she even saw her cousin, Araminta, sitting with some other mean-looking girls.

Finally, she found a compartment with only two passengers. As she slowly slid open the door, the other two young girls looked up.

'Hi,' she said, doing her best to hide her nerves. 'There wasn't much space anywhe-'

'Hello!' they said together, and both stood.

'I'm Alice Allen,' the girl on the left said. She was short and plump, with mousy brown hair, and a sunny smile. Flo could feel her own mouth curving upwards just looking at it.

The other girl was above average height, but next to Mary she looked like a giant. She looked Flo up and down and decided she was worth her time. 'Mary MacDonald.'

'I'm Florence Gleeson,' she said, holding out her hand. 

Alice looked at it, then pushed it aside, in favour of a long hug. 'I have a feeling we're going to be good friends Florence.'

Flo could feel tears close to the surface but quickly blinked them away when Alice finally pulled away. 'Please call me Flo, Florence feels way too formal.'

Alice sat down, and Mary held out her hand before Flo could open her arms for a second hug.

'I take it you're not as affectionate as Alice?' Flo said while shaking Mary's hand.