I Believe You

The thing Rose had worried about most since the start of term had been resolved without a hitch. She lay in a Hospital Wing bed, every muscle and bone in her body feeling languid. Outside the window, dark, bare branches rustled loudly in the cold wind, but her heart was as calm as the Black Lake on a clear day.

Madam Pomfrey brought her a cup of dark Potions that tasted like a mixture of sour cheese and some kind of crustacean. Rose grimaced and drank it all in one go, then clutched her throat and retched.

"This is good for you," Madam Pomfrey told her. She stood beside the bed, staring at her without blinking, looking as though she would make Rose drink another cup if she dared spit out a single drop.

Under Madam Pomfrey's watchful eye, Rose kept her lips clamped shut as if sealed with a Permanent Sticking Charm, even as her stomach churned as though it held the enormous waves of a North Sea storm.

The storm in her stomach finally subsided, and the dull ache in her head gradually faded.

Perhaps because Rose's expression was easing, or because she hadn't wasted a drop of the Potions, Madam Pomfrey looked at her with what could almost be called kindness and pity.

"Poor child, Dumbledore said you nearly didn't wake up—and you missed the Christmas feast!" Madam Pomfrey reached out and touched her forehead. The soft, warm touch stirred an inexplicable reluctance to let it go and a sense of grievance deep in Rose's heart.

She had come to this world and been forced into life at an orphanage without understanding what was happening. She had tried to ignore the rejection and hostility of the people around her, pretending not to care. Later, even after she discovered it was a world she knew, she had always felt lonely.

That loneliness came from having no ties in this world, no one she could depend on. She was like a seed scattered on unfamiliar soil, breaking through the hard earth and desperately putting down roots and sprouting, trying to prove to this world that she existed.

It was late at night. Madam Pomfrey had left, and the warmth she had left on Rose's forehead had long since faded. Before leaving, she had drawn the curtains around the bed and thoughtfully left a small lamp on.

The dim light reached only half an inch. Rose lay in bed, quietly watching the ceiling. The Hospital Wing was silent, and the whole castle was asleep.

Perhaps because she had slept all day, Rose felt unusually alert.

Did Madam Pomfrey forget to give me a cup of sleeping potion? Jumbled thoughts flashed through her mind as her alert mind and tired body fought for control.

Suddenly, a faint creak snapped her to attention-someone had entered the Hospital Wing.

Her first thought was: Voldemort found out the Diadem was destroyed and snuck into Hogwarts!

Soft footsteps gradually drew closer to her, and a tall shadow fell across the curtain in the light of the wall lamp. Rose quietly held her breath, her hand feeling for her wand beneath the covers and gripping it tightly.

The curtain was pulled sharply aside, and a head that clearly didn't match the height of the shadow poked through the gap.

Sirius Black grinned at her. "Did I scare you again?" His gray eyes shone with the excitement of a successful prank. "You're always getting startled. You're even more of a scaredy-cat than Peter!"

Rose didn't want him comparing her to Peter Pettigrew, and he really had given her a fright just now. Her heart was still pounding.

She shot him an annoyed glare and said with a pout, "Of course not. I knew it had to be you."

"Don't lie! I bet you're holding your wand really tight!" As he spoke, Sirius reached under her covers and went straight for her right hand. His fingers slipped nimbly between hers. "It's all sweaty!"

He lifted his chin high, his expression seeming to say, See? I guessed right!

"Oh, stop it! Just bring the plate over. I'm starving-" A little embarrassed by what he had done, Rose pulled the covers up to her chin. Her muffled voice came from beneath them, neatly hiding how she felt.

"Hey! I never said I brought food!" Sirius produced a silver plate from behind his back, laden with dishes commonly found on a Christmas table. "The House-elves didn't have time to make anything else, so I just grabbed a few things." He sounded a little awkward as he added, "I made you miss the feast, and now all you can have is these cold leftovers-"

"Don't be silly." Rose sat up in bed and leaned back against the cushion at the headboard. "This is the second-best Christmas dinner I've ever had!"

Sirius looked at her as though he didn't believe her, his expression saying, You don't have to say it. I know you're just trying to make me feel better.

"It's true-" Rose picked up a roasted lamb chop and took a ravenous bite. After hastily swallowing it, she looked at Sirius seriously. "Back at the orphanage, we had to go out and work even on Christmas. There were more people in town that day than on any other, and twice as many chances to work as usual. Everyone was busy until late, and in the evening Mr. Johnson would give each of us a piece of Christmas pudding. The child who did the best got an extra roast turkey leg-"

"That's abuse!" Sirius shouted angrily.

"Shh-keep your voice down!" Rose patted his head. His black hair was stiff, like his personality, but surprisingly silky and smooth. "You don't want Madam Pomfrey to throw you out, do you?"

"Why didn't you leave?!" Sirius tried to lower his voice, but it didn't seem to help much. He made a hissing sound that was even more noticeable in the quiet Hospital Wing.

Rose looked helplessly at Sirius. He came from a noble, wealthy pure-blood family, had a bold personality and outstanding abilities. It seemed there was nothing in the world that could truly hold him back—not tradition or prejudice, and not even Azkaban.

"If it were me, I'd definitely run away from there-" Sirius said with conviction. He seemed to have linked the place where she had stayed with his own stuffy, twisted, gloomy old house. The resolve in his gray eyes seemed to be for her sake, but even more for his own.

"I believe you-" Rose braced herself with her hands at the edge of the bed, bringing her eyes level with Sirius's as he sat on a low stool. The distance between them was just right: closer than normal social distance, but far from intimate.

"I believe you," she repeated. "You're the first Gryffindor in the Black family, after all!" She leaned back against the headboard, picked up a Christmas pie packed with filling, and ate it slowly.

"You're right!" Sirius's mood instantly improved. Following Rose's example, he picked up a pie too, but after two bites he put it down at the other end of the plate. He didn't like pies with dried fruit.

"Spoiled young master." Rose scoffed at his behavior and turned her head away, refusing to watch him waste food.

A little embarrassed by her words and disdainful expression, Sirius picked up the pie again and swallowed it in a few hurried bites. Then he felt thoroughly uncomfortable, unable to understand why he had to put himself through that.

Complicated emotions clashed in young Master Black's heart. He sat by himself on the little stool, pouting and sulking.

Rose keenly and quickly noticed his mood and divided the food on the plate into two small piles. She suggested they each choose one, and whoever finished first would win.

I'm not a child.

Those words were written plainly in Sirius's speechless expression, but he quickly grabbed the pile that looked smaller and stuffed it into his mouth.

Rose scolded him for his shameless cheating while trying to catch up.

In the end, they polished off everything on the silver tray. Their stomachs were stuffed full, and they chatted on and off.

They talked a little about everything: how funny James's failed prank had been, how Marlene hadn't realized she was in the wrong classroom until halfway through the lesson, and the origins of the Whomping Willow in Hogsmeade-until neither of them could stay awake any longer. They leaned against each other and fell fast asleep.